The song The Who want to be remembered for: “Roger does a very good job”
Having recently announced their imminent farewell tour and retirement from music, there has been plenty of discussion over the legacy of The Who and how they’ll be fondly remembered for their incredible impact on rock music. As one of the main groups to break out of the UK in the 1960s and establish a dedicated worldwide following, their status as innovators and pioneering musicians will undoubtedly live on in their absence due to how unique their contributions have been.
They’ve achieved plenty in the past that the two remaining original members, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend can be proud of, with several genre-defining albums that tested the limits of where hard rock and power pop could be taken. Records such as The Who Sell Out, Tommy, Who’s Next and Quadrophenia are timeless classics, but even buried beneath these momentous moments in their catalogue are some hugely underappreciated gems that don’t deserve to be forgotten following their retirement.
Among their other achievements are a number of stylistic choices that have been adopted by several other acts in their wake. The Who are arguably the band responsible for popularising the rock opera, with Tommy and Quadrophenia being prime examples of albums that follow a conceptual narrative from start to finish. On top of this, their explosive live shows and blisteringly loud sound was due to how they performed through oversized PA systems and amplifier stacks, something that remarkably hadn’t already been coined by several other bands before them.
From their early days as a Mod and R&B group to their eventual status as progressive pop titans, the group were constantly evolving, and their dedication to furthering their sound at every available opportunity is something that should be lauded considering how many of their peers were unable to find ways to develop and ultimately faltered as a result. However, things fell apart for the group following the death of their drummer, Keith Moon, in 1978, and five years later, the group would separate for the first time.
Several reunions have taken place since, with original bassist John Entwistle being involved in all of them until his passing in 2002, but their studio releases since the original split have been limited to only two releases which were completed by Daltrey, Townshend and a select group of stand-in musicians who joined in the absence of their deceased members. Despite this, their commitment to performing as a live act has remained steadfast over the last 30 years, but now appears to be where they wish to call it a day for good.
It’s interesting to consider what the two remaining members look back on most fondly from their time as a group, and in a recent press conference where they announced their imminent retirement, the two fielded a number of fan questions where the subject of which song they’d most like to be remembered for came up. Townshend responded quickly by offering his suggestion, stating: “Roger does a very good job on ‘Love, Reign O’er Me’”, the song that concludes the story of Quadrophenia with the protagonist, Jimmy, going through a crisis and eventually finding solace.
While the sentiments of this epic closer feel like an appropriate pick for a song to be remembered for, it took Daltrey longer to admit that this was the definitive song that The Who should be immortalised with, offering the counter-option of ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ from Who’s Next. However, his eventual concession that ‘Love, Reign O’er Me’ was their crowning achievement in song did arrive, and it would make for a perfect farewell song to close out their final show when it arrives.
