Killing your darlings is tough for any artist. These creative ideas and musings are often highly sentimental, which can make letting go of something that\u2019s not working a difficult task. When you\u2019re an internationally famous rock \u2018n\u2019 roll band like The Who, this hurdle is made doubly challenging by the fact that the charts will tell you\u2014for better or worse\u2014whether saving that darling was a mistake.<\/p>\n
And for The Who in June 1968, they got their answer after \u201cDogs\u201d marked the lowest point in the band\u2019s career since breaking through with genre-defining tracks like \u201cMy Generation\u201d<\/a> and \u201cAnyway, Anyhow, Anywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n Pete Townshend Wasn\u2019t Interested in Shopping His Song Around<\/strong><\/p>\n If there were any questions about what the rest of The Who thought about Pete Townshend\u2019s composition, \u201cDogs\u201d, vocalist Roger Daltrey makes it plainly clear in a 2002 conversation with Uncut<\/a>. \u201c\u2018Dogs?\u2019 Oh\u2026 [buries face in hands] S***! That\u2019s just bizarre. Actually, I\u2019ll tell you what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just Pete\u2019s tribute to Ronnie Lane,\u201d Daltrey continued. Lane was the bassist and co-founder of Small Faces, an English rock group known for hits like \u201cItchycoo Park\u201d<\/a> and \u201cLazy Sunday\u201d. The latter track, specifically, shared many sonic similarities with The Who\u2019s \u201cDog\u201d, which backs up Daltrey\u2019s argument that Townshend was emulating Small Faces when he wrote his song.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019d have been better if Pete had just given the song to Ronnie in the first place,\u201d Daltrey said. \u201cAs a Who record, it was all a bit frivolous to me.\u201d<\/p>\n