The Who’s debut album, ‘My Generation’, came after the band morphed from Beatles copyists to figureheads of teenage England amid a controversial management takeover and riotous live performances.
Pete Meaden, a top mod and music publicist, had taken control of the then-named Detours in 1963 after being sacked by The Rolling Stones for being a ‘pigheaded mod’.
An ace face on the scene since its infancy, he was one of a select pack of main movers who set the pace. Convinced the movement needed a group to act as spokesmen, Meaden quickly made the band prime candidates.
Meaden rechristened the band The High Numbers and modelled them in his image. He worked fast, wanting to fill the void for a mod group before the moment passed.
All was going well, until a performance at The Railway Tavern in North West London, when aspiring manager Kit Lambert vowed the band would be his. Lambert and partner Chris Stamp were film directors looking to get into pop management. At the Railway, Lambert was blown away by the band’s relationship with the audience: they had found a “group of mods playing to an audience of mods”. Meaden – no businessman – was quickly elbowed aside, bought off with a below-par £500.
With the lion’s share of work already done, the new managers set about amplifying Meaden’s plan. It didn’t take long. After changing the band’s name to The Who, the managers hit upon something missed by Meaden that would give them an identity beyond mod: their live performance. Noticing conflicts between band members and a primal energy onstage, the managers encouraged the band to be wild and rebellious when they played.
Suddenly gigs were raucous and unpredictable. Instrument trashing became a regular part of their show after the audience reacted hysterically to guitarist Pete Townshend accidentally smashing his guitar through a venue’s ceiling. The audience, frustrated and confused by being the first generation to escape national service and war, felt the performances summed up their emotions.
Suddenly the press was all over the band, with broadsheets quoting Townshend on the influence of auto destructive artist Gustaz Metzke. Unsurprisingly, teenagers fell quickly under the band’s spell.
Keen to capitalise on the success, Townshend wrote a guaranteed hit: ‘My Generation’. As the band tired of the mod scene, ‘My Generation’ offered a final love letter to the scooter-riding pill poppers to whom the band owed much.
On 3rd December 1965 The Who released their debut album. Recorded at breakneck speed, the band had captured the ear-splitting volume of their live shows on disc, with ferociously powerful guitars and Keith Moon’s drums striving for attention. Nowhere was this more prominent than ‘The Ox’ – a feedback-drenched instrumental over which crashed endless drum rolls reminiscent of their gigs. On standout tracks ‘The Kids Are Alright’ and ‘La La La Lies’, Townshend fused the angst-ridden teenage lyrics of the past with sophisticated Beatles harmonies.
Running to little more than thirty minutes, ‘My Generation’ barely stopped for breath, reaching number five in the charts and capturing The Who amid a chaotic and unfiltered arrogance they would quickly refine. As the band and managers toasted their newfound success and looked to the future, Pete Meaden was forgotten.
Words by Shane Gladstone
The Who – ‘My Generation’
Released: 3rd December 1965
Producer: Shel Talmy
Musicians:
Pete Townshend – guitars, vocals
Roger Daltrey – vocals, harmonica
John Entwistle – bass, vocals
Keith Moon – drums, vocals.
TRACKLIST:
1. ‘Out In The Street’
2. ‘I Don’t Mind’
3. ‘The Good’s Gone’
4. ‘La-La-La-Lies’
5. ‘Much Too Much’
6. ‘My Generation’
7. ‘The Kids Are Alright’
8. ‘Please, Please, Please’
9. ‘It’s Not True’
10. ‘The Ox’
11. ‘A Legal Matter’
1965 IN THE NEWS:
– Sir Winston Churchill dies.
– Bob Dylan ‘goes electric’ at Newport Folk Festival.
– The racially fuelled Watts Riots erupt in LA.
1965 THE ALBUMS:
The Kinks – ‘Kinda Kinks’
Otis Redding – ‘Otis Blue’
The Temptations – ‘Temptin’ Temptations’
