Keith Moon digs that West Coast Sound!
The Who all come from Shepherd's Bush, London, which is a very tough area, where lots of boys end up in street gangs. But Roger Daltrey, the lead singer of The Who, and John Entwistle, the bass player, were more interested in pop as a passtime. So they joined a group called The Detours, which didn't lead anywhere, as Roger and John were interested in their own, way-out sounds. They figured it best to branch out on their own.
Things began to get moving when Roger and John met Pete Townshend. They remember that he was playing weird R & B in a coffee-bar on the jukebox, and the three got talking. They had found their lead guitarist.
Now The Who needed a drummer who fitted their weird wild image. He wasn't too easy to find. Their drummer in their early club dayes was too ordinary and didn't mean anything.
One night about two months later in a gig near their own locale, a long-haired boy shouted in Roger's ear that he would like to have a go on the drums. he said he was better than the drummer they had.
Roger gave him a try, and Keith Moon had arrived!
On his first night, Keith broke four sets of drumsticks, but everyone thought his performance was great. Keith has different musical tastes from the rest of the group. He doesn't go after way-out R & B the whole time, but is very partial to the West Coast surfing sound of the Beach Boys, and Jan and Dean. But despite this, everything fell into place, and soon The Who had bookings at London's Marquee and Scene clubs and were breaking records every night.
The Who's first big year was 1965. Their first record, "I Can't Explain", was a fair-sized hit, but their third release . . . and third hit, "My Generation", took them straight to the top of the charts, although it was criticized by a lot of people.
Unlike a lot of other groups, The Who are four very different people with very different tastes who only seem to come in unison when theybare on stage. Roger Daltrey is blond and blue-eyed. he spends most of his time dancing backwards and forwards on stage while he sings. Sometimes he throws his microphone onto the drums.
John Entwistle is the quiet moody one who seldom moves. "If someone didn't act as an anchor, the whole group would take off and fly", says ex-public school co-manager, Kit Lambert.
Keith Moon is one of England's most unusual drummers, as he doesn't set out to play them. he attacks them. And the result is that he often winds up with several sets of broken sticks after a date.
Pete Townshend writes all the group's songs. he was an art student before he joined The Who, and is very interested in pop art. He covers his loudspeaker cabinets in Union Jacks. So far, since joining The Who, he has smashed nearly twenty guitars.
With several Top Twenty hits behind them and a top-selling LP, everyone is wondering what The Who will do next.
One thing one can be sure of - it will be original.
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