The controversial The Who songs that The Who hated
The final night of The Who’s last ever tour started with the song ‘I Can’t Explain’. This began what would be the band’s final ever show.
“I suppose, you know, it’s goodbye,” said Pete Townshend when speaking to the crowd, “That’s what it is. To what we know as the Who, it’s goodbye. What Roger and I will get up to next, who knows? If we last any longer, I’m sure we’ll get up to all kinds of mischief, We’ll do stuff together, I’m sure sharing some stuff, all kinds of bits and pieces. But for this kind of thing, it’s goodbye. And you were last!”
It’s a teary farewell, as throughout the band’s career, they have managed to write a range of great hits, each of which expands and covers various aspects of music. Whether you want a quick hit or feel tempted to immerse yourself in some exciting and dynamic narratives entwined within the band’s concept albums, there are plenty of The Who songs out there for you.
Of course, when you have a band with so much range, you can guarantee some band members will despise certain tracks which they’ve previously released. The Who are no exception, and here are the songs that each individual band member hates the most.
The Who songs that even The Who hated:
‘Dreaming From The Waist’
Given that Pete Townshend is one of the defining creative voices behind what The Who put out, it’s surprising to hear that there are songs by the band that he despises. One of the tracks that he admitted to hating was ‘Dreaming From The Waist’, however, it wasn’t the actual song he didn’t like, rather, the fact that Roger Daltrey loved it.
Call it bitter, maybe, but his fellow bandmates’ adoration for the song was enough for Townshend to admit it’s one he didn’t enjoy. “‘Dreaming From The Waist’ is the song I hate more than anything on Earth,” he said, “In fact, I think I hate it most because it’s a song Roger used to live to play.”
‘Sister Disco’
One of the things that Townshend always put ahead of anything else when he was writing music was authenticity. Even when he was writing concept albums based on fiction, he drew from real places in a bid to create emotive music that people could still relate to. It’s this devotion to authenticity that made him hate the song ‘Sister Disco’, as once again, the attitude of his bandmate ruined the song for him.
“‘Sister Disco’ I hate even more than ‘Dreaming From The Waist’ because there is a point in which every time we’ve done it where Roger comes over to me, stands next to me and makes some kind of soppy smile, which is supposed to communicate some kind of Everly Brothers relationship we have for the audience, which isn’t actually there,” said Townshend.
He went on to say how much he despised “the act” that the song created.
‘Pinball Wizard’
How do you know when you’ve come across a hit? A chord progression and a melody might come to mind, but who is to say whether it’s any good or not? When Townshend started writing one of the band’s biggest hits, ‘Pinball Wizard’, he figured it was a piece of garbage. In fact, there’s a good chance that song would have never seen the light of day were it not for people around him convincing him it was a hit.
“Oh my God, I’m embarrassed […] I was just grabbing at ideas,” said Townshend when he was discussing the track, “I knocked a demo together and took it to the studio, and everyone loved it. Damon Lyon-Shaw said, ‘Pete, that’s a hit.’ Everybody was really excited, and I suddenly thought, ‘Have I written a hit?’ It was just because the only person that we knew would give us a good review was a pinball fanatic.”
‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’
Is it the most iconic scream in rock history? It may well be. No matter how many times you listen to the song ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, hearing that scream feels like you’re experiencing a pivotal moment in rock. As such, whenever people see The Who live, they get excited about hearing such a classic. That expectation wore Daltrey down to the point where he began to resent the track.
“That’s the only song I’m bloody bored shitless with, I don’t know why, but I’m being honest,” he said, “All the others I can approach like I’m singing for the first time […] I don’t know what’s happening there psychologically. Maybe it’s the song, but I never seem to be in the same pocket where I’m singing it for the first time.”
‘Music Must Change’
Keith Moon is often celebrated for being a musician who completely ripped up the drumming rule book and wrote his own. It was incredibly exciting to hear him play drums, and he brought an unfathomable rhythm to The Who. However, the problem was, when he was asked to play what Roger Daltrey called “normal drums,” he wasn’t able to.
It’s for this reason that Daltrey grew tired of the track ‘Music Must Change’. While he didn’t hate the song, Keith Moon’s inability to play it grated on him. “Keith couldn’t play the drums to it,” said Daltrey, “It was in a three-four. Keith couldn’t play normal drums. Keith could play great Moon drums, and that was it.”
‘Magic Bus’
Sometimes, it’s not about the notes which make up a song that can make it great, but it’s more about the way they’re played, which stands out to people. For instance, The Kinks’ classic ‘You Really Got Me’ is a relatively simple song to play, but it’s the attitude with which it was played that really caught people’s attention.
While this might be the case, musicians need at least some variation to get excited about a song, and that was John Entwistle’s problem with the song ‘Magic Bus’.
“I really hated playing ‘Magic Bus’,” said Entwistle, “‘Magic Bus’ was sometimes, like, eight minutes of A.”
