{"id":522987,"date":"2025-10-23T20:14:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/522987\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T20:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:14:13","slug":"the-who-album-pete-townshend-called-below-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/522987\/","title":{"rendered":"The Who album Pete Townshend called below standard"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pete<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

Thu 23 October 2025 17:00, UK <\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose, you know, it\u2019s goodbye,\u201d said Pete Townshend<\/a> as he addressed the crowd at The Who\u2019s final show. <\/p>\n

It was an emotional goodbye, which only took place a few months ago (at the time of writing), as the iconic band played their hearts out, letting the curtain fall on them one final time before properly calling it a day. Throughout their long and successful career, the band have managed to make a plethora of exciting music which has touched the hearts of listeners around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what it is,\u201d Townshend continued. \u201cTo what we know as The Who, it\u2019s goodbye<\/a>. What Roger and I will get up to next, who knows? If we last any longer, I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll get up to all kinds of mischief, we\u2019ll do stuff together, I\u2019m sure. Sharing some stuff, all kinds [of] bits and pieces. But for this kind of thing, it\u2019s goodbye. And you were last!\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a lot that people liked about The Who, which contributed towards their success. Their live show was certainly a big factor in it. For instance, the band were always reluctant to do encores because they felt as though it encouraged bands not to leave their very best out there the first time around. When people watched The Who, they were watching the best version of them, nothing being held back for a cheeky, \u201cWe\u2019re going now\u2026 No, we\u2019re not!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Equally, the band were always pretty hesitant to write solos and incorporated them into their music. They didn\u2019t think the writing process should be a selfish one and felt as though by introducing elongated solos, band members were thinking of themselves more than they were thinking of the song as a whole.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDrum solos are fucking boring<\/a>. Any kind of solo is,\u201d said Keith Moon. He was never one to mince his words when it came to passing down his expertise on music. \u201cIt detracts from the group identity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the band\u2019s live performance certainly played a big part in setting them apart from other bands at the time, it\u2019s not the only factor that has contributed towards their success. Another massive element is the versatility which has always existed throughout their career. When you peruse The Who\u2019s discography, there is no escaping the fact that, regardless of what you\u2019re into, there really is something for everyone. If you want hard-hitting and exciting hits, you\u2019ve got them. If you want complicated concept albums which draw on strange narratives and genuine emotion, you\u2019ve got them. And unfortunately, if you want the odd spell of mediocrity, you\u2019ve got that as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The truth is that, as one of the chief songwriters for The Who, there was nothing that Pete Townshend wanted more than to take his time with every single project he worked on; however, the music industry doesn\u2019t often work that way. Instead, Townshend was forced to write and record music which would be published according to a strict schedule. It means that there are some records The Who have put out that Townshend doesn\u2019t love, and one in particular that he called below The Who\u2019s standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[If] The Who were gonna wave their banner for standards, Odds & Sods would still have remained unreleased. Standards have got absolutely nothing to do with it,\u201d Townshend concluded. \u201cI feel that it\u2019s the pressure at the front of your mind that\u2026not necessarily your fans\u2026 but then, maybe your fans really are the most important people\u2026are actually sitting twiddling their thumbs waiting for your next album.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy) Thu 23 October 2025 17:00, UK \u201cI suppose, you know, it\u2019s goodbye,\u201d said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,269,14569,14566,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-522987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-pete-townshend","11":"tag-the-who","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115425317266193184","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}