Backstage (The Who – Who Are You)

     Welcome Backstage. I’m your host, Damian DeadLove. Tonights band is Britain’s own, The Who. I’m a huge fan of their work, it was later in life that I really got into them. They were part of the British Invasion, along with, The Beatles, and The Stones.  
 
      The Who are: Roger Daltrey – Vocals, Pete Townshend – Guitar, Vocals, John Entwistle – Bass, and Keith Moon – Drums. They formed in 1964, with this lineup. They essentially coined the phrase, “Rock Opera”. With double albums like, “Tommy”, and “Quadrophenia” leading the way. Also these were concept albums, meaning all the songs intertwined to tell a story.
 
      Not that they didn’t have hits, they had plenty of those including, “My Generation, Baba O’Riley, Won’t Get Fooled Again, I Can’t Explain, The Seeker, and Pinball Wizard” to name a few. Pete Townshend was their primary songwriter.  
 
      Pete, once said, “Their recording process went kinda like this. Him and John would start the song, Keith would come in playing a drum solo, and Roger would put vocals over the top. And if everything went to plan they’d be ending the song right as Keith was finishing his drum solo”. I dig that a lot.  
 
      But the song we’re here to talk about is “Who Are You”, off the album of the same name. It was released in 1978, and would be the last with, Keith on drums. The album was kinda overshadowed by the passing of, Moon a few months later. Ending the reign of the original lineup.
 
      Keith, was a wild man on and off stage. With many of his antics making headlines, like blowing up his drum set after a song on a T.V. show, while other band members joined in by destroying their instruments as well. He threw a television out a hotel window while it was still plugged into the wall, only to top that by driving a Lincoln Continental into a hotel pool. He must of had a thing for pools because the television also landed in one.  
 
      Where were we? Oh, yes the song. “Who Are You”, is one of the only tunes that had the f-bomb in it, and still was played on the radio without editing it out. No bleeps.. It’s played in it’s entirety. At least 2 times in the song, Daltrey, screams out the phrase, “Who the fuck are you.” And once he says, “Well who the fuck are you”.  
 
      Well that’s our show for tonight. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Remember music is the soundtrack of our lives. Peace, Love, and Lennon.
 
 
 
Damian DeadLove