The Who album Roger Daltrey wants to delete from history: ‘It should never have been released’
In the early 1980s, The Who found themselves in a difficult position, facing an uncertain future. The tragic loss of drummer Keith Moon in 1978 had left an irreplaceable gap at the heart of the band. Despite this, they found themselves back in the recording studio, a place they arguably didn’t need to be, as creating another album seemed like an ill-advised move, given the circumstances.
Although they didn’t immediately rush back into making their next move, The Who felt they couldn’t continue waiting forever, as giving up was never an option for the group. Only a day after Moon’s passing, Pete Townshend issued a statement on the band’s future, which read, “We are more determined than ever to carry on, and we want the spirit of the group to which Keith contributed so much to go on, although no human being can ever take his place.”
Only eight months after Moon’s passing, The Who returned to the stage for the first time with Faces drummer Kenney Jones alongside them. However, later in 1979, tragedy struck once again when 11 fans were sadly killed at their concert in the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati during a crowd crush. Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Townshend suffered an unspeakable amount of pain when they had to endure these two horrific events in the space of back-to-back years. Understandably, they took a break from touring in 1980 before reuniting to make 1981’s Face Dances.
The album marked their first record without Moon, and his absence was audible across the LP. Face Dances was the sound of a group who had lost their identity and was bereft of that special spark that once catapulted them to superstardom. It came 16 years after the release of their angsty debut LP, My Generation. Within that period, their lives had substantially changed, and their eyes began to slip off the ball.
While The Who were still live specialists, the low quality of their new output was unavoidable. With every performance, the band proved they could still put on a world-class show, but their new material gravely lacked the firepower that previously made millions fall in love with them. Additionally, tension between Townshend and Daltrey escalated significantly around this time. While they’ve always had their issues, tensions boiled over like never before on one fateful night at London’s Rainbow Theatre in 1981. That night, an inebriated Townshend allegedly drank four bottles of brandy before getting into a physical altercation with his bandmate.
This event wasn’t the first time the two had come to severe blows. Much of their early career was littered with bleeding noses and bruised eye sockets. However, their relationship was never quite the same again, and the two men famously try to keep their distance from one another as much as possible, even today. The guitarist was going through personal turmoil at this period, and his drinking had spiralled out of control. Still, Townshend remained desperate to make it up to his bandmates by returning to the studio to let out his creative juices, which was disastrous.
“I managed to convince the guys in the band that I would stay alive if they allowed me to work with them again,” Townshend recalled years later. “I had difficulty proving to Roger in particular that I was going to enjoy working with the Who, and that it was important to me that the band end properly, rather than end because of my fucking mental demise,” he added.
Despite the failure of Face Dances, they returned to the studio to make 1982’s It’s Hard, which proved to be another mistake. The recording sessions strained their relationships even further, and judging by Daltrey’s remarks, it was seemingly no longer an enjoyable experience. Instead, it had become just a job.
The album wasn’t up to Daltrey’s standards, and he saw it as a half-baked effort that should never have been released. As much as the frontman would have liked to have never released the project, The Who had already agreed to do a hugely lucrative tour. Therefore, rather than postpone the dates, they succumbed to pressure from the label and reluctantly released It’s Hard. Even at the time of release, Daltrey poured scorn on the album by calling it a “stop-gap album”. However, his criticism has been less subtle as the years have passed.
Some years later, Daltrey admitted: “It’s Hard should never have been released”, and in another interview, he honestly noted: “Face Dances and It’s Hard were made by a band who were very unsure about whether or not they wanted to be making a record, and I think that’s a terrible doubt.”
This period of The Who’s career marked their transition from a relevant rock powerhouse to a nostalgia act. Their focus shifted towards selling tickets for stadium tours as they morphed into this corporate entity rather than a band with something interesting to say. Perhaps their history would look different if they’d listened to Daltrey and held back on releasing the project. Instead, they waited a further 24 years before making another studio album.
