‘A Legal Matter’: The Who single intended to sabotage the band
Rock and roll is a messy business. What often starts out with a few friends jamming together in a bedroom or garage eventually descends into a battle dominated by egos, record executives, and teams of high-paid lawyers. During the 1960s, when the record industry was arguably at the peak of its power, The Who came face-to-face with this ugly side of the rock business, engaging in a legal dispute with their producer and comrade Shel Talmy, which was channelled into a 1966 single.
Talmy was an utterly essential figure in the history of The Who. After producing for fellow mod rockers The Kinks, Pete Townshend became determined to have Talmy work on his music, too. In fact, the songwriter was so keen to have the American producer on board that he wrote a song specifically designed to appeal to Talmy. ‘I Can’t Explain’, which became the band’s first single under The Who’s name, was written in an attempt to evoke the sounds of The Kinks’ ‘All Day and All of the Night’ and ‘You Really Got Me’, that Talmy had produced for Ray Davies and the gang.
After producing that debut single, Talmy continued to work with The Who on the majority of their early hits, including their 1965 debut album My Generation. That record built upon the hit singles already created by The Who and Talmy, capturing the zeitgeist of Britain’s youth at the time and launching the band into the popular consciousness. For all its success, however, the album also ushered in the end of the relationship between The Who and Shel Talmy.
Reportedly, the producer began to butt heads with one of The Who’s managers, Kit Lambert, during the production process of My Generation. Lambert sacked Talmy, but the producer went on to sue the band and their manager for breach of contract, a dispute which he won. Ironically, one of the songs that Talmy had produced for My Generation was ‘A Legal Matter’, which, although not directly inspired by the battle between Lambert and the band’s producer, did play a part in the conflict.
Amid the dispute, The Who chose to break away from their US label, Decca Records – and, by extension, Shel Talmy – to release the song ‘Substitute’ as a single. Put out by Atco Records in the US and Robert Stigwood’s Reaction label in the UK, the Motown-inspired song reached number five in the UK singles chart, infuriating the band’s old label.
So, in retaliation for sacking Talmy and abandoning Decca, the producer pushed to release ‘A Legal Matter’ as a single via Decca at the same time as ‘Substitute’.Seemingly, the idea was that having two songs out at the same time would detract sales from ‘Substitute’, in addition to showing the band the power of Decca as a publishing company.
There is no doubt that Talmy and the label chose the song due to its lyrical content reflecting their own legal battle, but the fact that it is sung by Pete Townshend rather than the usual Roger Daltrey likely entered into proceedings, too.
Ultimately, Decca’s plan to sabotage the band did not work. ‘A Legal Matter’ only reached number 32 in the UK charts, and Talmy never produced another track for the band. Nevertheless, Townshend and company soon returned to the arms of Decca in the US, where they stayed until the label was absorbed into MCA Recordings in 1972. Still, the song and its tumultuous backstory are a fitting reminder of how strenuous relationships can be within the music business.
