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.

It's Hard

It's Hard is the tenth studio album by the English rock band The Who. Released in September 1982, it was their last album until 2006's Endless Wire, and therefore the last to feature bassist John Entwistle, who died in 2002. It was also the final Who album with drummer Kenney Jones, as well as the last to be released on Warner Bros. Records in the US. It was released on Polydor Records in the UK, peaking at #11, and on Warner Bros. in the US where it peaked at #8 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. The US rights to both this album and Face Dances subsequently reverted to the band, who then licensed them to MCA Records (later Geffen Records, itself once distributed by WB) for reissue. The album achieved gold status by the RIAA in the US in November 1982.

Cover artwork

The album cover, designed by Graham Hughes (Roger Daltrey's cousin), depicts a young boy playing an Atari Space Duel arcade game. This is a reference to their rock opera Tommy, with the pinball machine that the main character played updated to the then-modern times.

It's Hard (song)

"It's Hard" is a song written by Pete Townshend that featured on British rock band The Who's tenth album, It's Hard, of which it was the title track. It was released as the third and final vinyl single from the album in 1983, backed with the John Entwistle written song "Dangerous", but failed to chart, although it reached number 39 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. This would become the last Who single of new material until "Real Good Looking Boy" in 2004, and the last album single by them until "Black Widow's Eyes", two years later.

Background

The lyrics to "It's Hard" were written long before the actual song. It was originally presented to the Who in 1981 for the Who's previous album, Face Dances, in the form of a demo called "Popular", but the band's reaction was cool towards it, as the album was nearly finished at the time. The music of "Popular" was later re-written and the lyrics slightly altered and the song, as "It's Hard", was shown to the Who again and this time featured on the album. Pete Townshend said of the song: