(Credits: Far Out / Flickr)
Wed 25 March 2026 13:00, UK
The Who was never meant to be the be-all-end-all for what Pete Townshend wanted to do.
It was bad enough trying to find a band that was going to last for a few months, let alone a few decades, but when Townshend found that he could throw his artistic side into the mix, it wasn’t only about getting people to dance along to the loudest music in the world. This was the start of a new movement, but that didn’t mean that he had to get along with every single member of the band during their time together.
Because, really, all of them seemed to be leading completely different lives the minute they walked out of the studio or offstage. Townshend didn’t want to be tied to the band for the rest of his life, and that probably explains why he ended up folding the band after only a few years following Keith Moon’s death. There was no way anyone could capture that magic again, but it’s not like Moon was always the most stable company when they started partying throughout the 1970s.
You could chalk up half the reasons why The Who were banned from hotels to how Moon behaved. There was simply no ‘off’ switch between the animal he was onstage and the guy that you saw swigging liquor bottles offstage, and while that could be a ton of fun for a few hours, there’s a fine line between watching a television get thrown into a hotel pool and potentially getting into serious trouble whenever Moon’s actions started to get a little too out-of-hand.
And while Moony was pretty much the epitome of excess, John Entwistle looked like the exact opposite. He did his fair share of partying and did like a good drink here and there, but the fact that he could throw his fingers all across the fretboard while looking like he would rather be anywhere else only contributed to him looking like the coolest person in the room whenever he performed.
Townshend was more about showmanship whenever he performed, but there were more than a few moments where that encroached on Roger Daltrey’s territory. There was already the bust-up between them where Daltrey tried to beat the shit out of Townshend during the Quadrophenia era, but even after having a few swings in his direction, Townshend felt that no one could have really understood what he was going for with his songs quite like Daltrey could.
And even after Moon and Entwistle have long since departed, Townshend felt that Daltrey was the one who he could relate to the most as far back as the days of ‘My Generation’, saying, “I’ve often said, although I miss them terribly, for me, the relationship with Roger is so much easier than being in a band. With those two members gone, Roger and I have been able to draw a much more leisurely course. There was a whole hunk of time where we weren’t even working together at all from ‘82 to ‘96.”
Everyone understands that the band known as The Who might be a shell of its former self without Moon and Entwistle, but it’s easy to see the singer and guitarist as the living legends they are during their final shows. Even if the regular band’s not there, the voice and the person who’s written it all will always be there to preach the good word of rock and roll whenever they have the chance.
Because beyond being one of the greatest tandems in rock history, Townshend understood that what he and Daltrey generated together was about much more than being friendly with each other. They knew their music could mean more than a couple of power chords, and every time Townshend performed his trademark windmill strum, he was looking to break down what traditional rock and roll stars were supposed to be.
