I think this is a POLL of shit while John Sinclair rots in prison: THE WHO RESULTS THREAD (ilm artist poll #25)

Aw, I love "Silas Stingy"

This list would make an excellent Portuguese or Argentinian semi-official greatest hits LP from 1985.

2. "Who Are You" (110 points, two #1 votes)

OK, now I'm shocked

I'd second that one, too. It sounds so bombastic now. (Again, I liked it way back when.)

1. "Squeeze Box" (240 points, six #1 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9WivuyE_PU

wuh at 2 and 3. my least fave list was surprisingly hard (tbf i somehow forgot 'long live rock', which i do kinda hate), many songs i was 'eh' about but none i actually loathed (again, somehow forgot 'long live rock'), not the case w/ the kinks or the stones, two bands i like more than the who but had no trouble coming up w/ hated candidates.

I should note that all votes for "Squeeze Box" as least-fave were #1 votes. I dig the song myself, but the live versions (Moon-era) put the studio recording to shame.

and now on to the top ten albums!

Missed the worsts during yardwork/lunch/nap, but the only one that surprises me is "The Real Me." The only one I voted for was "Silas Stingy," a real turd imo.

10. TIE: Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970 (56 points)
The Kids Are Alright soundtrack (56 points)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51mTFd61ORL._SL500_AA300_.jpghttp://www.rhythmhouse.in/ProdImages/images/D168903.jpg

The film of the The Who's set at the IoW festival is awesome.

(I may have to bail soon due to incoming stormage and a dog that will need comforting during said storm)

9. The Who By Numbers (61 points)
http://www.thewho.info/images/75WBN-Ad-Who.jpg

Underrated record; glad to see it made the top, er, 10.

It almost snuck in as my #5, but not quite.

One of the best ever sleeves, btw

8. A Quick One (228 points)
http://jojoplace.org/Shoebox/Valis/QuickOne/thewhoq1.jpg

Will pick this back up hopefully later this afternoon!

Some people consider "The Real Me" one of the worst Who songs!?

― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, September 8, 2012 2:27 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

kinda surprised contrarians didn't manage to rally around one of the big Tommy or Who's Next singles for the worst list

Late to this, but the most perplexing thing about the ten worst was how did "Guitar and Pen" miss? (Other than me not being arsed to do any worst songs.)

"Long Live Rock" (which would've made a great Sleater-Kinney cover) and "Magic Bus" almost but didn't make my main ballot. It's funny how the latter and both "The Real Me" and "Love, Reign O'er Me" (which is a little too portentious out of context, and that Sandler/Cheadle movie didn't help) went from deep cuts to near-staples on classic rock radio in the Clear Channel era.

TKAA soundtrack is SO awesome.

TKAA sndtrack has moments but the late-Keith live stuff where he sounds old and slow really bum me out.

i heard the soundtrack before seeing the movie and i thought it was just the shittiest-sounding live album ever, really don't think the audio from a lot of those TV performances hold up when divorced from the visuals.

^ this is kinda true. old man Pete power sliding into the camera in slo mo is -___-

The way this band decayed and atrophied and the way Pete n Rog are still going as "the who" makes me very, very sad. This band was so important to me growing up and I look back and feel like all the lessons I should have learned from them are how NOT to do things.

on one level i do have more respect for Zep for knowing it wouldn't be the same after the drummer died and more or less leaving it at that. i have a hard time begrudging The Who for carrying on, if they still wanna play the songs and people still wanna hear 'em (I'd jump at the chance if i could afford a ticket). the last 30 years of touring probably haven't dilluted their legacy as much as two Kenney Jones LPs, tbh.

A Quick One only number 8 on the albums list? Well I guess I can keep loading up those mixes with "obscurities."

Everybody who voted for "Silas Stingy" as a bad song actually was thinking of "Sister Disco" and just got confused, please correct THANK YOU.

Late to this, but the most perplexing thing about the ten worst was how did "Guitar and Pen" miss? (Other than me not being arsed to do any worst songs.)

"Guitar And Pen" didn't even get any votes in the worst poll! (I don't mind the song too much myself; it's endearingly, and uncomfortably, awkward)

But the vast majority of their sub-par/crapulent songs are consolidated on about two and a half albums. Since most people steer clear of those entirely, and thus probably haven't heard, say, "It's Your Turn," those songs didn't place high in the worst results.

the Petra Haden version of "Silas Stingy" on her a cappella cover of Sell Out (which i heartily recommend to any fans of the original album) warmed me up to the track

TKAA sndtrack has moments but the late-Keith live stuff where he sounds old and slow really bum me out.

What's perplexing is that he's far more on his game on the 1977 Kilburn show -- the one which was thought inferior to the later Shepperton show used in the film.

who hates Love Reign O'er Me? It was in my top 10

I'm glad people didn't vote for newer Who songs for worst. Where's the fun in voting for an obvious room clearer like In The Ether? I voted Squeeze Box worst too, but now I wish I went with The Real Me. FM radio murdered that song, not that it was any good to begin with.

The way this band decayed and atrophied and the way Pete n Rog are still going as "the who" makes me very, very sad. This band was so important to me growing up and I look back and feel like all the lessons I should have learned from them are how NOT to do things.

Townshend has repeatedly expressed regret over not stopping the band:

- after the 1997 tour
- after the 1989 tour
- after the 1982 tour
- the morning after the Cincinnati tragedy
- after Keith died
- after the 1976 tour
- after recording Quadrophenia

That said, the 2000 shows were the best since '76, and Endless Wire was their best record since The Who By Numbers. So if they want to keep doing it, good. It's when they didn't want to -- as was the case from 1980-82 -- that they shouldn't have.

7. Tommy (350 points, one #1 vote)
http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/35080012/aview/_B209pUwEWk___KGrHqV__h8E_qqEGRffBMj_uhWk7w___1.JPG

Tommy album cover is so cool. So trippy.

I saw them in '96 or so with the Quadrophenia tours and it was great, and again in the 2000's before Entwistle passed and that was amazing. At least they were touring as The Who and not selling their songs to P. Diddy for that lousy Godzilla movie.

That list of shoulda-stopped-thens is great. Should be mandatory for everyone past a certain point, me included.

surprised people consider "The Real Me" a radio staple, i don't think i'd even heard it before my brother bought Quadrophenia

It probably has to do with approaching a band from the viewpoint of a session musician (which 1/2 of Zep were) vs. a non-session musician. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones did studio work before and after Zeppelin, whereas The Who was to a greater extent all Pete, Roger, and John have ever done.

voted "The Real Me" (not worst but best), great Daltrey vocal on the chorus

also wtf at Tommy #7, you people are deaf dumb & blind

my #1

6. My Generation (407 points, one #1 vote)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3413/3540047765_7732567b24.jpg

Real Me one of the worst? Really?

5. Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy (502 points, four #1 votes
http://www.thewho.info/images/71MBBAB-UK-Who.jpg

One of the best first tries at a greatest-hits ever, and I'm guessing one of the first twenty albums I bought.

4. Quadrophenia (524 points, one #1 vote)
http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/4274/5478108_1.jpg?v=8C81BC5F42FB830

Cool! I was wondering why they were both by the same author, lol. 'Wow he must really like Moony'

I once worked in a pub where the landlord was a Who fanatic. His solution for clearing reluctant customers at closing time was to crank up Won't Get Fooled Again to scary volumes. Trouble was, they liked it and wouldn't leave.

Crank some Squeeze Box, that'd clear the corners, lol

I once worked in a pub where the landlord was a Who fanatic. His solution for clearing reluctant customers at closing time was to crank up Won't Get Fooled Again to scary volumes. Trouble was, they liked it and wouldn't leave.

A local bar tried the same tactic years ago, only they normally played alt/punk/metal and after closing time they started playing Frank Sinatra, figuring that would clear the place quickly. But to their dismay, they found lots of their patrons liked Sinatra and stayed to listen. It nonetheless became a tradition there for a couple of years.

The Who - 20 Greatest Songs

Q - The Who SE

Q Special Edition May 2004

As Voted By Q Readers.

• Won't Get Fooled Again
• My Generation
• Substitute
• Pinball Wizard
• Behind Blue Eyes
• I Can't Explain
• Baba O' Riley
• 5:15
• Pure & Easy
• I Can See For Miles
• Bargain
• The Real Me
• The Kids Are All Right
• Who Are You
• A quick One While He's Away
• Tattoo
• I'm A Boy
• Pictures Of Lilly
• See Me, Feel Me
• Love Reign O'er Me
• The next 5....
• Naked Eye
• Boris The Spider
• Dreaming From The Waist
• My Wife
• Anyway, Anyhow Anywhere

2015 Farewell Tour!

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/24/the-who-quit-touring-after-2015-pete-townshend

New book by original drummer Doug Sandom, with a foreword by Pete (which is part of the preview on Amazon).

New film on managers Kit Lambert & Chris Stamp, so far getting raves at Sundance.

Just heard "I Can't Reach You" on a web radio station — so, so good. Checked to see where it landed in this poll and #12 is too low.

out on the road today i saw a bullseye sticker on a red scooter

There's a lengthy recorded message from Townshend at the beginning of this Dave Marsh panel. He says they're friends--so he's joking around like friends do, or else he actually kind of hates Marsh!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXu0alWqjOA

Something VegemiteGrrl inquired about above: Townshend's 1971 review of Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy for Rolling Stone. I found it on the Rolling Stone site--they don't identify it as such, but it is--then when I went back, it was behind a paywall. So I went icongnito and put it on a Google Doc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-_XAr43Q4GB7YKz3GitV868DOGzdTokiRWIgZvRu6TI/edit?usp=sharing

:D

I think Pete and Dave are genuinely friends, but Dave never let that get in the way of, say, calling out some of Pete's bullshit politics. In early 2002, Townshend posted the following on his website:

"Dave Marsh took me to task in Before I Get Old - his book about the Who - for doing a commercial in 1967 for the U.S. Aerospace Programme during the Vietnam War. Maybe I was naïve. But recent events make me wonder who was right or wrong. ... I am grateful for American military might."

I sent a link to that post to Dave, who wrote a column about it (and I can't for the life of me remember the site...it wasn't Addicted to Noise), pointing out the numerous problems with Pete's "reasoning." It ultimately led to Pete removing the message board and many blog posts from his site. So yeah, there's been some bumps in the road, but they're still friends.

The ad in question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1VR-QnIw3Y

Marsh wrote in his column:

As my colleague John Swenson said when he read my book, "If I'd heard that spot in 1967, I'd never have become a fan of the Who." The teenage boys who loved the Who took such things personally in 1967. Not only because we didn't want to get drafted, but because we didn't want to kill. It was way different for Townshend, who did not live in a country with military conscription and whose father had been part of the heroic Royal Air Force (albeit in the band) in World War II. Still, my wife was involved with anti-Vietnam demonstrations at the London School of Economics in '67, so the atrocities of Vietnam weren't unknown in Pete's neighborhood.

In Before I Get Old, Marsh wrote that Townshend was "mortified" that he'd ever done such a thing, and how it was fortunate that the ads weren't widely aired.

Interesting, thanks.