Rock's Outer Limits

Through turmoil and triumph, The Who makes music that will last

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Whether witting or withdrawn, like savings, from some secret zinc-lined stockpile, the honesty of the performance and of the music was armor piercing. "The Who sound came from us playing as a three-piece band and trying to sound like more," Entwistle told TIME's Janice Castro. "I play standard bass, but I combine it with long runs where I take over the lead while Pete bashes out chords." Townshends guitar style—a sort of flywheel progression from rhythmic chords to melody and back again, all performed with whirling arms, splits, slides and high jumps—attracted as much attention as his songs. An early Townshend tune like My Generation, with a chorus od stuttered definace ("Why don't you all f-f-f-fade away") and its refrain like a middle-finger salute ("Hope I die before I get old") put everyone on notice. In the 14 years since that single came out, The Who has lost none of its power. Townshend may have refined the song musically, shaped the message a little more deftly, as in Won't Get Fooled Again, but the spirit remains the same and just as impossible to tame. That spirit turns Won't Get Fooled Again into rock's best and most furious political manifesto. Its sardonic observations on the bicameral process ("The parting on the left/ Is now the parting on the right") and the bitter truth of its conclusion ("Meet the new boss/ Same as the old boss") make it a fine anthem for any election year, anywhere.

The Beatles fell prey to divisiveness, disarray. The Rolling Stones traveled fast, turned gangrenous. The Who kept its distance, stayed strong by staying stubborn, contentious. Buoyed by the great breaking wave of British rock during the '60s, the group managed to swim clear. "We've sometimes been able to hide behind bands like the Beatles and the Stones, who got so much flak," Townshend says. "Yet we were significantly stronger than other contemporaries. Stronger in live performance, for example. And much more daring with material."

Not only does The Who's old material sound vital now, the new songs are as powerful as anything the punks or the new wave set down. There are other supergroups, like the Eagles or Fleetwood Mac, who turn out a kind of well-tooled pop that beats The Who in the charts. There are even other hard-rock groups, like Led Zeppelin, that lay down a kind of sugar-lined bombast that can razzle-dazzle the record buyer. The Who's cumulative sales exceed 20 million records. The members' individual wealth—Townshend, Entwistle and Daltrey are all millionaires several times over—is nothing to sulk about, even if the band is not in the highest OPEC aristocracy of rock. This is a matter of no particular moment to the group. It coasts past trends and floats over sales curves just by staying a little outside and to the left of the main current.

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