The Who: “Substitute” and “Who Are You”

It seemed like a good idea to feature one of the bands that played in last night’s Sandy-a-thon at Madison Square Garden, so here is the beginning of AllMusic’s profile of The Who:

Few bands in the history of rock & roll were riddled with as many contradictions as the Who. All four members had wildly different personalities, as their notoriously intense live performances demonstrated. The group was a whirlwind of activity, as the wild Keith Moon fell over his drum kit and Pete Townshend leaped into the air with his guitar, spinning his right hand in exaggerated windmills. Vocalist Roger Daltrey strutted across the stage with a thuggish menace, as bassist John Entwistle stood silent, functioning as the eye of the hurricane. These divergent personalities frequently clashed, but these frictions also resulted in a decade’s worth of remarkable music — it took some five years to find their audience, but at the tail end of the 1960s they suddenly achieved a level of popularity rivaling the Rolling Stones, both as a live act and in album sales. Continue Reading…

The band will resume a long tour in Anaheim on January 28. Here are the band’s and Peter Townshend’s sites. Substitute is above and Who Are You, which apparently doesn’t have a question mark, is below.