(Credits: Far Out / Flickr)
Sat 28 March 2026 9:30, UK
Few bands survive the deaths of their core members, particularly if those members are as essential to the group’s sound as Keith Moon and John Entwistle were to The Who. Yet, well over 20 years on from Entwistle’s death and nearly 50 years since Keith Moon left this mortal coil, The Who still limp on.
Initially, when Moon tragically passed away in 1978, the future of The Who looked as though it was in irrefutable jeopardy. From the very beginning of their existence, the anarchic, amphetamine-fueled percussion laid down by that force of rock and roll nature formed the backbone of The Who’s sound, and a drummer as unique as Keith Moon is truly irreplaceable. For a short while, it seemed as though The Who itself had died, and with subsequent albums like Face Dances and It’s Hard, it seemed as though the band probably should have died.
Nevertheless, the band continued on in the face of that loss, and reached an admittedly good middle ground between the Moon era and a new direction for the band in the form of the now-sacked Zak Starkey, who had once been mentored by ‘Moon the Loon’ himself. Then, the band was once again rocked by the death of bassist John Entwistle in 2002, ripping the final remnant of The Who’s original rhythm section out of the group.
Like Moon, Entwistle was irreplaceable and, like Moon’s death, Entwistle’s departure looked as though it might (and potentially should) spell the ultimate end of The Who. However, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey made the executive decision to carry on anyway.
“Music has got that ability to transcend life, and they’re the reasons we went on,” Daltrey once told Classic Rock. “And, believe it or not, it feels like we’ve still got all the best of what John brought to the band.”
That last point is certainly debatable, given just how many utterly iconic basslines Entwistle was responsible for during his extensive tenure with the band. Still, the frontman affirmed that the bassist’s replacement, Pino Palladino, brings another layer to The Who’s sound: “Pino doesn’t play like John played at all, but what Pino does play, and what is structured within the songs, reflects enough of what John did.”
“So you get all the best of what John and Keith did, but it’s opened up space where Pete and I can stretch out,” he continued. It makes sense that both Entwistle and Moon would be replaced with entirely different performers in Starkey and Palladino, rather than the alternative of hiring a few two-bit impersonators, but that doesn’t take away from the colossal loss to the band’s sound that those two deaths represented.
What’s more, since Daltrey gave that interview, Palladino himself has left the band, with his bassist role taken over by Jon Button, another player of an entirely different ilk.
With their 2025 ‘farewell’ tour now done and dusted, it remains to be seen whether The Who have actually retired for good, but whatever the future holds for Daltrey and Townshend, the memory of both Moon and Entwistle will undoubtedly live on within the music, with their performances still so beloved all these decades later.
