Forum.RttP{THE BEAtLES WERE NOT A FUCKING BOY BAND IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM}

Niccolai said:

KillerKadoogan said:

Sure, tons of little teenybopper girls screamed about em and peed themselves, but THEY FORMED THEIR OWN BAND, WROTE THEIR OWN SONGS, and most importantly, HAD TALENT.

Shut your faces.

They aren't the same as a modern boy band, but to say they are in 'no way shape or form' related is poppycock. a deaf blind hooker with no arms or legs who freebases preparation H could come up with solid similarities.

Even, Ozzy Osbourne said in an online 2002 Bender Magazine interview that The Beatles Are The Greatest Band To Ever Walk The Earth! He's been a huge fan since he's been a teenager and he says not loving The Beatles is like not loving oxogen! The Rolling Stones were very good friends and fans of The Beatles and Mick Jagger was at 4 Beatles recording sessions and Keith Richards was at 2 of them with them! Also,The Beatles even wrote one of The Rolling Stones first hits with the song, I Wanna Be You're Man in late 1963.

And The Beatles Were *NEVER* a boy band at all not even in their 1963,1964,1965 and 1966 period. The Beatles started out playing 8 hours a night for two years in a row in the sleazy strip clubs of Hamburg Germany wearing tight black leather jackets and pants ,smoking,drinking,cursing and taking speed pills to stay awake and going to bed with a lot of young women groupies. There were a lot of rough German thugs that came into those clubs and if The Beatles didn't play good live they would have beaten the crap out of them playing for 8 hours a night for two years,instead they became the most successful and popular group in Hamburg even with a lot of competition from other German and English groups playing in those clubs. The Beatles cleaned up image was a totally fake image created by their manager Brian Epstein which John hated and resented the most.And The Beatles also played successfully at The Cavern Club in Liverpool for several years before their manager Brian Epstein discovered them. too.

As for the other inaccurate comments that some people say The Beatles didn't even stay together for 2 decades,well they didn't have to because they did about 50 years worth of innovative,creative,diverse,prolific great critically acclaimed popular songs and albums in just a remarkable 8 year recording career! The Beatles are in The Song Writing Hall Of Fame & The Vocal Hall of Fame,and As The All Music Guide says in their excellent Beatles biography,"So much has been said and written about The Beatles and their story is so mythic in it's sweep that it's difficult to summarize their career without restating cliche's that have already been digested by tens of millions of rock fans ,to start with the obvious,they were the greatest and most influential act of the rock era ,and introduced more innovations into popular music than any other rock band of the 20th century." "As vovalists John Lennon & Paul McCartney were among the best and most expressive in rock and the groups harmonies were intricate and exhillirating."

And music critics as well as brilliant classical composer Leonard Bernstein called John & Paul the most brilliant song writers of the 20th century when they were still a band . As for The Beatles playing live,they sounded pretty good playing live considering that when they were playing in 1963,1964,1965,and 1966 the sound systems back then were very limited and primitive,they only had 100 watt amplifiers,no feedback monitors so they couldn't even hear themselves play and sing,yet they amazingly played in tune and in sync anyway,and at the August 1965 Shea Stadium concert which was the first big outdoor rock concert with over 55,000 fans,they were plugged into the PA system that they announce baseball games with plus the screaming crowds drowing out their great music! Can you imagine The Rolling Stones and The Who playing on these very limited primitive sound systems? They wouldn't have sounded much better! Thats why they gave up touring,because they were serious music artists,composers,and musicians and they wanted their great music to be heard and valued. It would be like Beethoven playing on these limited primitive sound systems and screaming crowds! Also they were now writing music that was too complex to reproduce on stage at that time. I also forgot to mention two more great Beatles rockers, Paul's Get Back and John Lennon's great 1968 rocker Hey Bull Dog.

On the roof top concert in The Let It Be Film,they sounded great,because by January 1969 the sound systems had improved somewhat(although not anywhere near the 1970's,1980's,1990's and especially today's!) and they had changed and people had changed so there were no more screaming crowds so they could be heard.When I was a teenager I met 3 people who saw The Beatles in concert two of them were teachers who saw them in 1966 and he and she told me they were great,and my cousin saw them at age 16 at The Baltimore Colsieum in 1964 the year before I was born,and she said they were great. Former Kiss guitarist and grammy winning producer Bob Kulick who made the heavy metal Beatles tribute album Butchering The Beatles last year,says in an online interview,that he saw The Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1966 and that he could only make out pieces of the songs because of the screaming,but he could make out the songs Baby's In Black and Paperback Writer and he said they sounded amazing! He also calls The Beatles The Greatest Rock Band Ever!

George Harrison at only age 14 would stay up playing his guitar until he got all of the chords exactly right and his fingers wer e bleeding! And One of The Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick says that in early 1966 when The Beatles were recording John's song I'm Only Sleeping,George Harrison played backwards guitar the most difficult way possible even though he could have taken an easy way,and it took him 6 hours just to do the guitar overdubs! He then made it doubly difficult by adding even more distorted gitars and Geoff says this was all George's idea and that he did all of the playing! Eric Clapton said in a 1992 interview when he and George were asked what they admired about each other during their Japan tour,that George is a fantastic slide guitar player. He and George were very good friends and they obviously admired and respected each others guitar playing and George played guitar on Cream's song Badge. Roger McGuinn of The Byrds says The Beatles used unusual folk rock chords in their early music and that they invented folf rock without even knowing it! He started to play a 12 string guitar after he saw and heard George Harrison playing one in The Beatles great film A Hard Day's Night in early 1964.

In an online Eric Clapton interview called,Eric Clapton In His Own Words he says that John Lennon was a pretty good guitar player and he would have known since he played live in concert with John as a member of John's 1969 Plastic Ono Band! On an excellent site called,The Evolution Of Rock Bass Playing McCartney Style by Dennis Alstrand Stanley Clarke,Will Lee,Billy Sheehan,Sting,George Martin,and John Lennon are all quoted saying what a great,melodic,influential bass guitar player Paul McCartney has always been! The 1992 Rolling Stone Album Guide calls Paul a remarkable bass player and rightfully calls John & Paul the 2 greatest song writers in rock history! Both Phil Collins and Max Weinberg both Beatles fans and both praise Ringo's drumming and Phil Collins says that Ringo's great drumming on A Day In The Life can't even be repeated even by him!

Also on Rankopedia The Beatles are # 1 Greatest Rock Band,# 1 Greatest Most Innovative Rock Band,John & Paul are # 1 Greatest Rock Song Writers,John &Paul are on The Greatest Rock Male Vocalist list,and Paul McCartney is # 2 after John Enwistle as Greatest Rock Bass Players,John Paul Jones is # 6,and Bill Wynman is # 20! And on Digitaldreamdoor where many musicians post,The Beatles are # 1 Greatest Rock Artists,John &Paul are # 1 Greatest Rock Song Writers,they are both on The Greatest Rock Male Vocalists list,and Paul McCartney is # 8 out of 100 Greatest Rock Bass Players,John Paul Jones is # 21,and Bill Wynman is # 95! George Harrison is # 54 On The Greatest Rock Guitarists out of over 100.

And there are many music professors teaching music courses at good universities on the brilliance of The Beatles especially of John &Paul,including by award winning music professor and composer Dr.Glen Gass,who has been teaching a course on The Beatles and rock music at Indiana University since 1982. On his web site for his course it says the main purpose of this course is to get students to have a better appreciation of this extraordinary group and their remarkable recordings. Dr.Gary Kendal's Beatles course is the most requested course at North Western University. And a music professor by the last name of Heinonen teaches a Beatles course at JYVASKYLA University in Finland,and the university of California also teaches a Beatles course etc.

Also check out Ken's Classic Rock n Roll Site he also runs a Rolling Stones & John Lennon fan site. And he made a Top 10 List and voted and the fans voted. He voted John &Paul # 2 after Bob Dylan as Greatest Rock Song Writers,the fans voted them # 1! He voted Paul McCartney # 2 after John Entwistle as Greatest Rock Bass Player,the fans voted Paul # 3. He voted John Lennon # 2 after Keith Richards as Greatest Rock Rhythm Guitarist,and the fans voted John in a tie with Jimi Hendrix and Brian Jones at # 4 ! He voted John Lennon # 1 in a tie with Elvis as Greatest Male Rock Vocalist and the fans voted John # 1,he voted Paul # 6 and the fans voted him # 7. Ken says Darn The Beatles were one great group in his review of The Beatles album 1967-1970,and he also says that John on Get Back showed why he should have played lead guitar more often because he did such a good job! He also said that John on their hard rocking great 1968 single Revolution,played one of the first and best acid guitar parts.And he also said that John played a pretty good slide guitar on George's For Your Blue. And he says in his review of The Beatles 1962-1966,that if you don't love or at least like The Beatles and their music than you are not a true rock fan and more than likely will never get it.

And Brian Wilson said on a 1995 Nightline TV Beatles tribute show,that Sgt.Pepper is the single greatest album he ever heard,and he played With A Little Help From Friends on the piano and he said I just love this song. He also said he thinks John Lennon & Paul McCartney were the 2 greatest song writers of the 20th century! He also said when he first heard The Beatles great 1965 album Rubber Soul,that he was blown away by it,he said all of the songs flowed together and it was pop music but folk rock at the same time,and this is what he couldn't believe. He said this inspired him to make Pet Sounds. Elton John said in a 1991 CBS morning news show,when he was asked who he musically admires,he said You can talk about your Rogers & Hammerstein but for the quality of quanity songs that Lennon & McCartney did in that short period of time,they were the 2 greatest song writers of the 20th century! Most music artists want to believe and want the public to believe that *their* the greatest so when they say other music artists are the greatest it really means a lot!

The Beatles are also the most covered music artists of all time with everyone from Motown,jazz,classical,and even heavy metal music recording their great diverse music! And in 2001 VH1 had a panel of well known musicans and music critcs,that voted The Beatles The Greatest Rock Band Ever,and in 2004 Rolling Stone did the same thing and several people said on message boards that Rolling Stone had a recent pael poll like this and The Beatles were voted # 1 again and for darn great reasons too! Nobody created as much innovative,creative,quality,critically acclaimed,popular diverse songs and albums in such a short amazing period of time as The Beatles and thats why most people know that The Beatles Are The Greatest Rock Band That Ever Was Or Will Be!!!!

Oh and A Day's Night is a great pop rock album!!!! And even Bob Dylan said decades ago about The Beatles early music,that their chords were outrageous,and the harmonies were wonderful and they were doing things in music that nobody had done before,and music critics of The London Times were praising their interesting and unusual chords that they used even in early songs like She Loves You & I Want To Hold Your Hand. Which were not as simple as they seemed and had clever subtleties in them.Infact Bob Dylan said in a Rolling Stone interview this Spring that he's in awe of Paul McCartney and he said he's the only one he's in awe of. He said that Paul has the melody,he has the rhthym and he can sing the ballad very good,and he can play any instrument. He also said there were no better singers than John Lennon &Paul McCartney and he said if George wasn't stuck in the shadow behind John &Paul and he said who wouldn't get stuck,he would have emerged as a great song writer in his own right anyway.

And by the way I have read some people saying on message boards that they don't think The Rolling Stones were the best technical musicians,and many even some fans have said they haven't done anything good in 35 years, and that their overrated and I have also found many people saying they hate or don't like The Rolling Stones and many people say the only Rolling Stones song they like is Paint It Black! Oh and by the way,in every major poll of The Beatles vs The Rolling Stones,The Beatles always win as # 1 even on sites and message boards that are not Beatles fan sites!

And when we look at the solo career comparison of Mick Jagger's and Keith Richards solo careers with John,Paul &George's,the facts are John Lennon's first brilliant solo album,and his second great album Imagine are rightfully critically acclaimed, and I love John's Walls & Bridges album and Paul McCartney's first solo album McCartney is very good,and he played every instrument all by himself at age 27,and he played so many different instruments great! Wings 1975 Venus & Mars is a great rock album too! And he and Denny Laine are the only musicians on Paul's great 1973 Band On The Run album,which is critically acclaimed and popular,and he played every instrument by himself again on McCartney 2 in 1979,and most of the instruments on his 1997 Flaming Pie album,and his 2 recent acclaimed popular albums,Chaos And Creation In The Backyard,and Memory Almost Full.And John Paul Jones,David Gilmore,John Bonham &Pete Townsend all played on 2 songs with Paul and Wings on the last Wings album Back To The Egg, in 1979,and they played in the last Wings concert too in December 1979. You know I have found over 50 former Beatles haters on many message boards and web sites that are noe HUGE Beatles fans and many say they are now their favorite band and that they were the Greatest Band Ever! I didn't communicate with these people but they said in their posts that they had a lot of inaccurate misperceptions of The Beatles and they hadn't even heard most of The Beatles great songs and albums! Most people don't hate The Beatles in the first place,most people of all ages all around the world love or at least like their music,but it's really something for former haters to turn into big fans and it just goes to show how Great The Beatles music is!!!!

And what an insult to the great rock artist John Lennon was as the the founder and leader of the greatest ROCK Band Ever, to have many young people mistakenly believe that he was the founder and leader in their early days of a boy band! This is the epitme of what he hated,and thats a excatly why he resented and hated Brian Epstein creating their fake cleaned up image the most and this is excatly what he was afraid of! He definitely would be pissed and have a few choice curse words for any ignoramous who says the ridiculous garbage that The Beatles were ever a boy band!

John and George hated Beatlemania the most,and not only was their music not being heard but they had no life at all and they basically lived trapped in hotel rooms,because they were mobbed everywhere from the Beatlemania sh*t! Here is a recent interesting interview with Roger Daltry,

Roger's journey with The Who

By SIMON COSYNS

Published: 21 Dec 2007
[rigTeaserImage]

HIS blond curls are way shorter than the lion?s mane of his Tommy days.

But there?s no mistaking the iconic singer sitting opposite me ? The Who?s Roger Daltrey.

At 63, he looks in fine fettle. He comes across as thoughtful, perceptive yet prone to throwing his head back in peels of laughter when recounting the good times.

To celebrate the brilliant new DVD, Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who, Roger takes SFTW through the highs and lows of his own amazing journey. He talks about how music became his passion, how he met The Who?s other members ? Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon ? how they became superstars and the time he got expelled from the band after a ruck with Moon.

[Out now ... DVD]

Out now ... DVD

He says rock opera Tommy was the band?s defining moment. He remembers performing at Woodstock in 1969 and talks about the thrill of playing Glastonbury this year. He speaks of his sadness at the early deaths of Moon and Entwistle but says their spirit lives on in The Who today. On the DVD, through countless interviews and fantastic footage, you can follow the story of a Great British Band but here we get the remarkably candid views of its singer.

I?M A BOY

Roger Harry Daltrey was born on March 1, 1944, during an air raid.

What was it like in the late Forties and early Fifties?

It was post-war England. People say ?everyone was very poor? but I never felt we were poor. We had an incredible social structure that supported us. The neighbourhood was working class Shepherds Bush. My life was really good up to when I passed my 11-plus. From then on, it all turned to s**t!

Why was that?

My parents moved to Chiswick which is, as the crow flies, probably no more than a mile and a half away, a much more dormant neighbourhood, more of a suburb. I had to move to Acton County Grammar School which took in kids from middle class areas. I?d never met a middle class person in my bloody life! They were talking a foreign language.

Did you become a tearaway?

No, I didn?t. First of all, I shut off and then I started getting a little bit bullied ?cos I?m a little bloke. I had a terrible, terrible explosive temper. One time I got bullied, I lost my temper and I went off like a firework. When I was a strong young man, it was terrifying. It used to frighten me ?cos I didn?t used to know what I became but people backed off. From then on, I got a reputation as a tearaway but I don?t think I knowingly picked on anyone. I just loved to fight . . . that?s what boys did.

ANYWAY, ANYHOW, ANYWHERE

After discovering Elvis, all Roger wanted to do was hear music and play it ? anyway, anyhow, anywhere.

You discovered you could sing?

Yeah, I had perfect pitch. I didn?t know what perfect pitch was but I actually had it, which was a help! Then when I saw Elvis it was just ?f*** me, what?s that?? He turned my head. It was like watching someone from outer space. I said to my teacher: ?Did you see Elvis on the TV?? and he said: ?It was bloody disgusting, wasn?t it?? That did it!

[Curly look ... Daltrey]

Curly look ... Daltrey

Who else made an impact?

Well, Elvis made me notice ?that?s a good thing to do? but Lonnie Donegan made me realise ?I can do that?.

You played guitar in your first band?

The skiffle thing was taking off. I just had to get a guitar. We couldn?t afford to buy one so I bought some wood and some guitar strings and made one. It wasn?t very good, like playing a cheesewire, but it taught me. It made the noise of a guitar and I could play, relatively in tune, the first three chords that anyone needed for most skiffle songs.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

Teenage Roger was expelled from school and had to get a job. By day, he was an apprentice sheet metal worker, by night he played guitar.

How did your band progress?

We got our skiffle group together but my first guitar folded up within three to four months. It literally couldn?t stand the strain on the strings. The second one was quite reasonable. Someone at my dad?s work had a guitar and we copied it. It was a big step up and allowed me to go on playing.

[Influential ... The Who]

Influential ... The Who

Did you write your own stuff or was it all covers?

It was all copy, copy, copy, copy. We went through the Buddy Holly/Cliff Richard period and, all of a sudden, instead of acoustic guitars there was this spaceship, the Fender. Wow!

How was school by this point?

On my 15th birthday I was thrown out. They wanted to get rid of me and used the excuse that I was smoking. My mum and dad were devastated. In those days it was a big deal and, on reflection, I?m sad I didn?t learn more because I?m a bright bloke. But in a lot of ways it was the best day of my bloody life because I got out into the ?real? world. I was not untalented and I was willing to work. The first job I did was for £2.50 a week in today?s money as an electrician?s mate. It was the winter of ?62 and, after six weeks, I thought ?this is slavery?. It was also bloody freezing. I became a tea-boy and apprentice sheet metal worker.

But you still had these music ambitions burning inside you?

Oh, yeah, I was still playing every night at the boys? club in the Goldhawk Road. I went from acoustic material into electric. My Fender was copied from a guitar shop window. They were more than £100 then. You could buy a house for £100. That?s how much money they were. My dad had to get the equivalent of a mortgage to buy my first factory-made guitar.

[Following ... girls came in tow]

Following ... girls came in tow

When did you think you could make a living out of music?

It was just a progression. We got ?would you come and play my party?? and we?d say ?yeah, all right?. By then we were The Detours. We were doing covers of whatever was in the charts. We had a Cliff Richard sound-a-like singer and I was the guitarist. We all did the leg movements like every band. It was wonderfully, innocently magical.

WHO ARE YOU

Things really began to take off for Roger when he met bassist John Entwistle, who introduced him to guitarist Pete Townshend. Then a certain larger-than-life drummer barged his way in.

How did you get to the next level?

John Entwistle joined. Our bass player left and I saw Entwistle walking down the street with a homemade bass. There was immediate kinship. I recognised John from Acton County Grammar. He was in a band, playing bass but also trumpet, doing trad jazz along with pop. In those days you did what people wanted.

[Bass ... John Entwistle]

Bass ... John Entwistle

Did you feel something different when John joined?

What?s weird is how I remember John from school. I was a year older but I remember his character. He stuck out in a crowd. He had a wicked sense of humour and was a nice, quiet guy, a technically and immediately brilliant musician.

Then what happened?

Our rhythm guitarist left and John introduced Pete and again, when Pete joined, he stood out like a sore thumb. Of the 100 kids who came through that year, I remember those two.

[Guitar and vocals .... Pete Townshend]

Guitar and vocals .... Pete Townshend

What was Pete like then?

Same as he is now. He had a certainty about him. He knew that what he was going to do was always going to be different. I recognised that. As a musician, he just had it. I had a thing about making the music ?drive? and he understood it. When it gets sloppy, it?s all over.

At what point did you have confidence to take over the singing?

Singers came and went. I started singing because we were let down by them getting drunk. Lead singers are f***ing temperamental, you know. So I started filling in for the singer as well as being the roadie. Driving the van was useful ?cos I got to use it for all kinds of extra-curricular activities!

Did you meet girls as a musician?

Oh, mate, it was amazing. That?s all you want to do at that age. You just want to party every night. Go out and play music, dance, have fun and have women. It was easy access. Your brain doesn?t go any further at that age. It?s what we?re put here for. It was wonderful.

[Drums ... Keith Moon]

Drums ... Keith Moon

How did Keith Moon come into the picture?

That was after The Beatles had arrived which was ?whoa, whoa, whoa, this is all different.? We started doing their numbers and then we discovered Tamla Motown and the blues.

What other things did you play?

Lots of blues bands did Chuck Berry but we did Howlin? Wolf and John Lee Hooker. They were doing the easy, accessible stuff but we were doing Smokestack Lightnin?. Imagine this 18-year-old Roger Daltrey singing Howlin? Wolf songs, f***ing terrifying, frightening the women to death! I did quite a good impression.

[Sell Out ... third album]

Sell Out ... third album

What was it like as the frontman?

Maybe because I don?t see the band at all (being out front), everything comes to me through a sixth sense. All I can tell you is that when Moon joined, we?d found the missing link. Our whole world changed.

Moon introduced himself by saying ?He?s crap (about our drummer). I?m going to be your new drummer, can I have a go?? We started playing Bo Diddley?s Roadrunner and Moon got on the drums. All of a sudden, Moon started doubling the beat and this roar started up. Then there was Townshend with his rhythmic sense. It was magic, like putting the key into the most perfect Ferrari you?ve ever driven. With Entwistle and his melodic bass, everything gelled.

I CAN?T EXPLAIN

By the mid-Sixties, The Who?s blend of power chords and stirring melodies gave them that elusive, superstar quality and Roger and Co had turned from scruffs into sharp-suited Mods.

Who chose the name The Who?

A guy called Richard Barnes, a friend of Pete?s at art school, came up with it. We were throwing up all kinds of absurd names but we kept coming back to The Who. The sound of it is encompassing.

Can you explain your success?

I ask myself, ?How did it come together, how?? It?s like Lennon and McCartney. The sound of their voices together was so unique. You think of all the billions of f***ing people on this planet, so how did they go on the stage and do what they did? There must be a God.

What about your image?

We were like most blues bands in London ? long hair, scruffy, like the Stones, the Yardbirds, everyone. Then we met a guy who had worked for Andrew Oldham with the Stones and he understood the value of image and he recognised things were changing very, very fast. He recognised this new wave of youth culture coming through. The Mod era. He said: ?They need spokesmen? and overnight we were turned from long-haired scruffs into Mods.

[Mod era ... band were at forefront]

Mod era ... band were at forefront

Didn?t Mods get terrible publicity during that period over their fights with Rockers?

You can?t judge what?s really going on by tabloid newspapers. You should know that! It was more about kids running around more than anything. It wasn?t like it is today with guns and knives. If anyone got killed, it was probably by accident. When you look back at the photographs, you see one copper on the beach with a truncheon chasing 500 Mods. it was more ?let?s just cause a bit of havoc?. Every teenage group with that energy will do something.

Did The Who have screaming girls at that point?

Not in the early days but after Can?t Explain, yeah. It was the screaming era every band had on the way up. It was fun but the trouble for a performer when you?re that young and inexperienced, you start to judge your performance by the amount they scream. It?s nonsense, which is why Lennon gave up.

MY GENERATION

Songs like My Generation (?hope I die before I get old?) and The Kids Are Alright were rallying cries for Sixties youth everywhere. But Roger kept his feet on the ground.

How did you regard Pete?s classic early Who songs?

He had his finger on the pulse and we suddenly saw it. He?s always had the courage to break away from the norm.

What was it like when you first sang My Generation?

It was just another song, to be honest. I remember saying ?this is a good song, Pete, let?s do this, yeah great?. But it?s only another song.

When were The Who first mentioned in the same breath as The Beatles and the Stones?

Well, people probably perceive it as being around the My Generation era but there was a fallow period after that. We had hit singles and we were a singles band. What cemented us with any kind of musical cred was Tommy.

[A Quick One ... fun]

A Quick One ... fun

Pete developed the ?concept album? with A Quick One.

A lot of it was to do with our producer Kit Lambert because his father was Constant Lambert, who founded Sadlers Wells. Pete and Kit used to talk about a pop single being great for three minutes but how it could be much more. A Quick One is a kind of mini-opera, basically a tribute to the pirate radio stations. It?s one of my favourite Who albums. So much fun.

TOMMY, CAN YOU HEAR ME

The revolutionary rock-opera concept album Tommy told the story of a deaf, dumb and blind kid who sure played a mean pinball. The Who came of age.

[Iconic ... Tommy]

Iconic ... Tommy

How did Tommy come into being?

Pete didn?t come with it. It just grew from one or two songs. Then it was going to be the story of a deaf, dumb and blind boy. ?Oh, really!?? Again I just trusted that Pete could carry all before him. Each day, he would say ?here?s another song? and we built it up in the studio.

How important was the album for you?

It was doubly important for me because in ?65, after My Generation, I got expelled from the band on our first tour of Europe. I had a ruck with Keith. The others had started taking amphetamines. I wasn?t because I?m a singer.

Start taking that stuff and the first thing that happens is your voice disappears. At the end of the tour, they were playing so bad, a f***ing racket. It was awful. I went in the dressing room and flushed the gear down the toilet. Moon went nuts. Of course, I was the wrong person to have a go at. Ended up in a huge brawl and I was thrown out for six to eight weeks.

[On stage ... Roger]

On stage ... Roger

How did you feel during that time you were out?

I thought ?If they want to be like that, b******* to them. I started a band once and I?ll do it again?. I was never down about it but when I got the chance to go back, it was all I wanted. Once I was back in on parole, they made life miserable for me for the first year! Then in 1967, we went to America and bonded again, especially on the Herman?s Hermits tour. Even then, if you were the butt of some of Moon?s jokes, it wasn?t always very funny.

Tommy turned things around?

Once we started doing Tommy, I suddenly realised that I was singing about me. I?d been the deaf, dumb and blind boy. I?d become compressed into that character. So I had something. I came out of myself and thought ?f*** it, I?m going to do it this way?.

What was it like playing the Tommy songs live?

Often when I come off stage, people will say: ?God, you?re so unhappy, what?s the matter?? I?m actually not unhappy at all. I?m actually, in my life, very happy. I suggest that Pete writes songs from very complicated parts of our psyche and if I really want to inhabit a song, I have to go to where he?s been to sing the damn thing.

I CAN SEE FOR MILES

By the end of the Sixties, The Who were one of the world?s most celebrated live acts, playing to ever larger audiences, including Woodstock.

How did it feel playing to all those people?

It was an extraordinary period. It felt like it just happened overnight. We went from 500 people at a gig which was a big crowd in those days to 5,000. And we did Woodstock and we did the Isle Of Wight over here with Bob Dylan.

[Prime ... memorable summers]

Prime ... memorable summers

What was Woodstock like?

It was amazing to be there because it was one of the first concerts that had captured the public?s imagination. It was more than just a concert. It was a movement. Woodstock did change America?s thinking about the war. It was the beginning of the end of the Vietnam War but when people ask me about the show, my memory of it is that we weren?t very good.

Your shows got pretty long.

It?s always several hours. And it?s never half throttle.

The Who got a reputation for smashing things up on stage.

What people don?t get about the smashing thing is that wasn?t just violent destruction. It created sound you can only get by smashing instruments. Like Harrison Birtwistle got it from hoovers or boiling kettles.

WON?T GET FOOLED AGAIN

The early Seventies marked a purple patch with Live At Leeds and Who?s Next and Quadrophenia.

[Who's Next ... ahead of its time]

Who's Next ... ahead of its time

Who?s Next was a terrific album.

It was ahead of its time. People weren?t ready for it and it didn?t do very well initially. It was, ?What?s this weird music?? It came off the back of Live At Leeds.

That?s regarded by some as the best live album ever.

Yet I was unhappy after Leeds. Like I say, the artist is always, ?Oh, that could have been better? and I know Pete feels the same. I thought, ?Oh f***, we were recording it?. But I can hear it now and say, ?Yeah, we were quite good?.

Then, Quadrophenia revisited the Mod era.

You can hear Townshend?s progression in his writing and the classical qualities of Quadrophenia. To write a psychologically-driven musical without it being about ?what you had for tea? was so, so clever.

It?s amazing how he got inside the character of Jimmy.

He?s always had that ability but I think Pete is the kind of guy who could possibly write some of his best work at the age he is now because of the way his brain works ? with the immensity and complexity of his brain. And you have to have tremendous courage to do what he does.

YOU STAND BY ME

When Keith Moon died aged 32 in 1978, things were never the same. After many fallow years, punctuated by the occasional show and the sad early death of John Entwistle, the remaining members are back. New album Endless Wire appeared last year and this year they headlined Glastonbury.

Why was there such a long time when The Who didn?t happen?

I think other ego drives got in the way. The biggest problem in this business is the ego. It can collapse any artist. But the ego drops away, as with looks and everything else, and you become invisible. Then you can be happy just to be here.

On your recent album Endless Wire, there was this flicker of a new rock opera, wasn?t there?

I know that was Pete?s intention but listen to the album as a whole. It?s a wonderful opera. The album is you and me and everyone. That?s what?s so cool about it. I think it?s a great album but how the f*** do you get it heard in today?s world?

[Finger on the pulse ... Pete]

Finger on the pulse ... Pete

It?s very difficult to get actual exposure for most bands.

We don?t even get played on Radio 2 and, if they don?t play you, you don?t get heard.

But you feel The Who is an ongoing project?

Very much. We?re enjoying ourselves. If Pete plays one of his songs, it will be this thing. If I play one of his songs, it will be another thing. When we play one of his songs together, it becomes The Who and that is so special. That ingredient, f*** knows what it is! It?s there and stronger than ever. I hope Pete enjoys it as much as I do ?cos it?s just as good as sex.

Losing Keith and then, recently, John must have been hard.

Keith was so young and that was hard to deal with. With John, you saw it coming. You wouldn?t have changed him. He was a real rock ?n? roll character and that?s how he wanted to go and I?ve got to respect that. In some ways, I admire it because he made no compromises. I?m sure he knew what road he was on and didn?t give a toss. But I think the underlying reasons we carried on was the subconscious knowledge the music between the two of us, or the three of us with John, had the same drive as the music between the four of us. When either of us goes now, it?s going to be a solo act but that doesn?t matter. The spirit will carry on.

So, you?ve never reunited?

People keep saying ours? is a reunion. Can we please, please have the luxury of giving up first? We would love to have the luxury of saying, ?Oh f*** it, we?ve had enough, we?re giving up? and then we can reunite. I?m sick of being called the former singer of The Who.

How did you find Glastonbury?

Fantastic. Wonderful. We thought who the f***?s going to be there after three days of horrendous weather? It was like Paschendaele. The conditions were horrendous and you think no one is going to stay to the end. It was like the Seventies when the crowds got bigger.

You?re in The Who for life, aren?t you?

Yes. I?ve only ever wanted to be the singer in The Who.

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