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“Who’s Next”: An Album Without Flaw
Who’s Next (1971) was the Who’s fifth studio album. It’s such a uniquely glorious output of rock, despite being whittled down from an abandoned concept called Lifehouse. That album began after the huge success of their 1969 rock opera Tommy.
Pete Townshend’s vision for Lifehouse was even more arcane than the notion of a pinball-playing deity. It was a science fiction-y, futuristic musical experiment so complex that the other bandmates could not get with it. Ultimately, Pete came close to a nervous breakdown and abandoned that project until decades later. But much of the material became the basis for an album ranked among the greatest rock albums of all time.
Who’s Next displays the band at the top of their game. It’s filled with fury and tenderness, not to mention the most extraordinary use of synthesizers and studio enhancement.
Let’s begin with that iconic cover. Photographed by Ethan Russell, the Who’s Next album art captures the gents after peeing on a concrete piling – with a Dystopian slag heap below and an otherworldly sky above. (For the record, only Townshend peed on demand – rainwater provided the visuals for the others.)
“Baba O’Riley” begins the magic with a half-minute of spellbinding synthesizer, concluding with a hypnotic fiddle solo. The rest addresses the angst-y counterculture of the era. The title merged the names of guru Meher Baba and minimalist composer Terry Riley, whose style informed the track. (The “O’” was likely for the Irish vibe of the violin solo.)
Townshend’s love for his spiritual guide Meher Baba continues in “Bargain.” His devotion makes him desire to give up material goods, suffer any indignity, and even put himself on the cross (“To win you, I’d stand naked, stoned and stabbed/I’d call that a bargain – the best I ever had.”). Pete’s plaintive vocals amidst Daltrey’s muscular ones and the theme of spiritual sacrifice deliver a stunning result.
Shifting to a gentler tone, “Love Ain’t for Keeping” celebrates shared romantic love. With its vision of an intimate, cozy twosome, it’s pure acoustic bliss. An earlier rendition, with Leslie West on lead guitar, rocked harder but not as sweetly.
In a moment of clever song sequencing, next up is John Entwistle’s ode to marital misery, “My Wife.” Entwistle has taken a few days’ drunken leave from his marriage and is fretting about how his spouse will exact revenge:
All I did was have a bit too much to drink
And I picked the wrong precinct
Got picked up by the law and now I ain’t got time to think…she’s comin’!
Entwistle utilizes his brass chops here over standard guitar riffs, yielding a dark, witty delight.
“This Song is Over” follows, co-written and sung by Townshend and Daltrey, a lilting tribute to lost love. It was intended as the final song in the Lifehouse movie that never materialized. While it lost this context on Who’s Next, it still holds up beautifully on its own.
Side Two begins with “Gettin’ in Tune.” Synthesizer-free and leading with some sweet Nicky Hopkins keyboard, “Gettin’ in Tune” uses the metaphor of getting into musical tune with getting in touch with spirituality and, ultimately, with a loved one.
More grace arrives with “Going Mobile,” about the joys of hitting the open road. It conjures up what people now call “going off the grid,” with a delightful buoyancy. Yet it winks at the inconsistency of being an “air-conditioned gypsy,” putting pollutants out during these freewheeling hippie trips.
Things grow bleaker with “Behind Blue Eyes,” a melancholy classic about a troubled man (presumably Townshend, during a particularly dark period). A gentleman who wants people to understand that “…my dreams, they aren’t as empty/as my conscience seems to be.”
After an unpleasant, unconsummated groupie encounter, Townshend went to his hotel and wrote the following prayer: “When my fist clenches, crack it open.” This lyric made it into the track as our sad hero looks for guidance. The blue eyes are metaphors; the heartbreak is real.
The closing number is the anti-revolutionary anthem “Won’t Get Fooled Again” featuring eight and a half minutes of synthesizer and pounding rhythm that stays in one’s cells. The Who lays out their frustration that true revolution will never take root, because the new guard never changes.
Daltrey’s anguished scream at the 7:45 mark is rock’s most chilling sound bite. The closing line, “Meet the new boss/same as the old boss,” has a weary acceptance.
Roger and Pete’s powerful vocals, John “The Ox” Entwistle’s stellar bass and brass, and Keith Moon’s drumming coalesce to conclude an album that reflects a visceral understanding of the human condition.
-Ellen Fagan
Photo: Getty Images
Absolutely one of my favorite albums – ever. Powerful and beautiful. Every song is a gem. If you only own one album by The Who, THIS is the ONE.
A funny memory (funny now, but definitely not at the time): I was 17 years old and driving my best friend home in my really old car. I had installed an awesome cassette car stereo and speakers. The sound system was worth more than the car. We were rocking ‘Who’s Next’ at a volume appropriate for the music and that perhaps only teenage boys could appreciate.
It was a bleak snowy day in the dead of winter. The roads were slippery and treacherous. We hit a patch of black ice, frozen beneath the freshly falling snow. The car drifted and slid toward a large truck with an extended bumper, parked on the side of the road. No amount of brake pumping nor steering maneuvers could prevent the inevitable. The noisy impact occurred at the EXACT moment that Roger Daltrey let loose with his ferocious scream in ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’!
No one was injured. The truck owner was a complete jerk (“Yours is the third car to hit my truck today!” “Then move your damn truck!”, was my friend’s response.) No perceivable damage to the truck, but my car was totaled – not a huge loss, I salvaged the sound system.
All in all? An epic tale for two teenagers in the mid 1970’s.
That encapsulates all that was great about being a teenager in the 70s!
I first heard Won’t Get Fooled Again played live by the Who in Charlotte NC, three weeks or so before Who’s Next” was released. Incredible show. Who’s greatest album.
Dang! That’s a musical memory for the ages.
Super sweet stuff, min venn!
Interestingly, and most puzzlingly, Townshend barely discusses “Who’s Next” in his autobiography, “Behind Blue Eyes”. I, and I assume most Who fans, really wish he would have given us more inside “Scoop”. Such a monumental achievement.
Pete did, however, prattle on in his book about the enigmatic and long unrealized “Lighthouse”. I’m with the band. I challenge ANYONE to comprehend what in the hell our lad was going for with this completely inaccessible weirdness. The album the boys ultimately opted for was indisputably the right call.
In retrospect, wanna bet even a certain windmill ax thrasher agrees? 🤪
Tell it, John!! Could not agree more. I am touched by Pete’s devotion to “Lifehouse,” but this is a far far better yield. ✌🏼❤️🎵
Tell it, John!! Could not agree more. I am touched by Pete’s devotion to “Lifehouse,” but this is a far far better yield. ✌🏼❤️
Edd! An epic rock & roll/real life take indeed. Total synchronicity. So sorry it happened, but what a piece of grace that the sound system remained.
I turned 15 and with a friend ordered my first albums, by two get three free. He got two, I got sticky fingers, steppenwolf 7 and this album. Sadly at the time, I thought I was ordering a guess who album because they were all over the radio. I never heard of the who. Put the album on the turntable and rectified that mistake. Wore it out till it became part of my DNA. My parents went out of their way to buy me my first headphones without me asking!
What an extraordinary intro to the band!! Amazing time capsule of a story.
Nothing wrong with discovering a great band by mistake. I bought my first Who album because I thought they were t he guys who did “Lola.”
I found out later that Pete was aiming for a Ray Davies sound with his first compositions, though he certainly developed his own voice soon after.
I took me several seconds to come back to everyday life after listening to the closing notes of Who’s Next for the first time ever. After several decades it has lost none of its power.
I completely agree. A mind-bender, always & forever.
It’s great to read articles written by people who know how to write. This is a great tribute to a great album – some good trivia in here too.
Thank you ever so much, Mark! What a joy for me to revisit this transcendent musical moment.
Who Beatles doors stones Simon and Garfunkel Dylan late 60s early 70s incredible music
An astounding musical era for sure!
Who’s Next is one of the three greatest albums ever made. Care to guess the other two?
1) Pink Floyd – DSOTM
2) Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Bring it on! 🙂
1) Pink Floyd – DSOTM
2) Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
When I got sent to Germany in my first year of my enlistment I was immediately joined by a couple slightly older Ohio boys from Parma and Toledo no less. One immediately invested in a huge vinyl stereo set up, as many dudes did, and thus began my education in many things of life not the least of which was a education in all the great rock music. Of course The Who and particularly Who’s Next. I’ve been a lifetime fan of the Who and Pete Townsend since, as a matter of fact I just purchased Who’s Next from the Apple Store again a couple months ago having owned it in virtually every format at one time or another.
A lifetime album for sure.
A lifetime album for sure! What a gift…
Pete should make Lifehouse film mow with the Who’s Next music as the soundtrack.
Another great, and important, piece, Ellen. Thanks for gathering all those very suitable praises in that compact form. Definitely in my top ten albums of all time (if you count all of The Beatles’ and The Beach Boys’ output as one “album” each, of course). Among the many things that just slay me about “Who’s Next” is the fact that one of the most powerful pieces of music ever recorded — “Going Mobile” — is just an acoustic guitar, drums, a single voice (not even Roger’s!), and some electric guitar lines and synth overdubs thrown in late in the tune!
Thank you, Henry!! So much. & a million thanks for the fabulous observation on “Goin’ Mobile.” Truly stunning …