![\"Roger](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Roger-Daltrey-Pete-Townshend-The-Who-2017-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Dena Flows)<\/p>\n
Tue 30 December 2025 16:31, UK <\/p>\n
From almost blowing up a TV studio with cherry bombs to waging war against hotel rooms, The Who<\/a> pretty much invented the anarchistic tenets of punk.\u00a0<\/p>\n Only a few years earlier, Elvis Presley was being hauled over the coals for simply twisting his hips a little too suggestively, but now the English rock \u2018n\u2019 roll band were leading a far more liberated revolution for a new generation, and they were doing it in a defiantly influential style.<\/p>\n Even the band\u2019s edgy fashion was evident in the roaring rally cry of punk that soon followed, and the members of The Who were very proud fathers of this glaring new movement. Pete Townshend said the London scene of the late 1970s was just about unrivalled in the whole of music history. \u201cI mean it was unbelievable. It was absolutely unbelievable,\u201d the windmilling guitarist claimed.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the punks were just really total anarchy, the audience and the bands,\u201d he adds, notably bringing the fans into the picture on an equal pedestal. \u201cIt was completely anarchistic, not destructive, just completely outrageously free,\u201d he asserted. Many of these punks grew up listening to The Who. Their guitar-smashing ways, hellraising antics, and rollicking rock \u2018n\u2019 roll songs were a huge inspiration.<\/p>\n This came as little comfort when the new revolution threatened to overhaul them. \u201cWe were getting incredible accolades from some of the new punk bands,\u201c frontman Roger Daltrey recalled of the praise the likes of The Clash were heaping upon them when the late \u201970s came around.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey were saying how much they loved The Who,\u201c the singer told Uncut<\/a>, \u201cthat we were the only band they\u2019d leave alive after they\u2019d taken out the rest of the establishment! But I felt very threatened by the punk thing at first.\u201d<\/p>\n Naturally, this praise warmed them to the cause. The band went from feeling threatened to feeling like the old forebearers, seeing their own legacy illuminated. All the same, this took a while to settle in. In fact, it took a tour with one of the leading lights to truly hit home. <\/p>\n \u201dWe toured with The Clash in 1982. We took them to the US with us, and I used to fucking love watching \u2019em. I\u2019m still a huge Joe Strummer fan,\u201d Daltrey recalled, reflecting similar lofty praise from Clash fans who still claim their live act remains unmatched.<\/p>\n They played a whopping 67 dates in America that year, and The Clash left them in awe<\/a> when they shared a stage. That is saying something, given the plethora of talent who also played alongside them on the stateside jaunt. The likes of Jethro Tull, Joan Jett, Joe Jackson, and The B-52s were all also part of the run of shows, but none of them matched The Clash.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/The-Who-John-Entwistle-Keith-Moon-Pete-Townshend-Roger-Daltrey-Far-Out-Magazine-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Daltrey and The Who in their colourful pomp. (Credits: Far Out \/ Flickr)<\/p>\n