The Who

The Who are an English rock band that formed in 1964. Their classic line-up consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century, selling over 100 million records worldwide and establishing their reputation equally on live shows and studio work.

The Who developed from an earlier group, the Detours, and established themselves as part of the pop art and mod movements, featuring auto-destructive art by destroying guitars and drums on stage. Their first single as the Who, "I Can't Explain", reached the UK top ten, followed by a string of singles including "My Generation", "Substitute" and "Happy Jack". In 1967, they performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and released the US top ten single "I Can See for Miles", while touring extensively. The group's fourth album, 1969's rock opera Tommy, included the single "Pinball Wizard" and was a critical and commercial success. Live appearances at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival, along with the live album Live at Leeds, cemented their reputation as a respected rock act. With their success came increased pressure on lead songwriter and visionary Townshend, and the follow-up to Tommy, Lifehouse, was abandoned. Songs from the project made up 1971's Who's Next, which included the hit "Won't Get Fooled Again". The group released the album Quadrophenia in 1973 as a celebration of their mod roots, and oversaw the film adaptation of Tommy in 1975. They continued to tour to large audiences before semi-retiring from live performances at the end of 1976. The release of Who Are You in 1978 was overshadowed by the death of Moon shortly after.

The Who discography

The Who have been with several labels over the years. In the United Kingdom and elsewhere outside North America, they were signed originally to Brunswick Records. In 1966, they moved to Polydor Records and took the rights to their Brunswick recordings with them. They created and moved to Track Records the following year with distribution by Polydor. They left Track in 1974 and returned to Polydor directly, remaining with the label ever since.

In North America, they were originally on Decca Records. They moved to Atco Records for one single in 1966 before returning to Decca later that year. In 1972 the US Decca label was absorbed into MCA Records. The band changed North American labels again in 1981, to Warner Bros. Records. The label released Face Dances and It's Hard and their singles, before The Who disbanded. In later years, MCA would acquire the US rights to the WBR albums. In 2003, MCA Records (now under common ownership with Polydor, under Universal Music Group) was folded into Geffen Records - which, ironically, was originally an independent label distributed by WBR. Geffen now controls the US rights to The Who's catalogue up through It's Hard. Their 2006 comeback album, Endless Wire, was released through Universal Republic in the US.

Baba O'Riley

"Baba O'Riley" (sometimes erroneously called "Teenage Wasteland") is a song by the English rock band The Who. It is the opening track to the band's studio album Who's Next, and was issued in Europe as a single in November 1971, coupled with "My Wife".

Roger Daltrey sings most of the song, with Pete Townshend singing the middle eight: "Don't cry/don't raise your eye/it's only teenage wasteland". The song's title is a combination of the names of two of Townshend's philosophical and musical influences, Meher Baba and Terry Riley.

"Baba O'Riley" was included in Time magazine's list of the All-Time 100 Songs, Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. It has appeared in a number of films and television shows, including CSI: NY, Miami Vice and The Peanuts Movie in 2015.

Background and composition

Townshend originally wrote "Baba O'Riley" for his Lifehouse project, a rock opera that was to be the follow-up to the Who's 1969 opera, Tommy. In Lifehouse, the song would be sung at the beginning by a Scottish farmer named Ray, as he gathers his wife Sally and his two children to begin their exodus to London. When Lifehouse was scrapped, eight of the songs were salvaged and recorded for The Who's 1971 album Who's Next, with "Baba O'Riley" as the lead-off track.