The Who

Further festival appearances at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight, along with the concert album Live at Leeds (1970), established their reputation as a respected rock act. The success put pressure on lead songwriter Pete Townshend, and the follow-up to Tommy, Lifehouse, was abandoned. Songs from the project made up Who's Next (1971), including the hits "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Baba O'Riley", and "Behind Blue Eyes". The group released another concept album, Quadrophenia (1973), as a celebration of their mod roots, and oversaw the film adaptation of Tommy (1975). They continued to tour to large audiences before semi-retiring from live performances at the end of 1976. The release of Who Are You (1978) was overshadowed by Keith Moon's death shortly after.

Kenney Jones replaced Keith Moon and the group resumed touring, and released a film adaptation of  Quadrophenia and the retrospective documentary The Kids Are Alright. After Pete Townshend became weary of the group, they split in 1983. The Who occasionally re-formed for live appearances such as Live Aid in 1985, a 25th anniversary tour in 1989 and a tour of Quadrophenia in 1996–1997. A full reunion began in 1999, with drummer Zak Starkey. After John Entwistle's death in 2002, plans for a new album were delayed until 2006, with Endless Wire. Since John Entwistle's death, the Who have continued to perform and tour, most commonly with Zak Starkey on drums, Pino Palladino on bass, and Pete's brother Simon Townshend on second guitar and backing vocals. In 2019, the group released the album Who and toured with a symphony orchestra.

The founding members of the Who, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, grew up in Acton, London and went to Acton County Grammar School. Pete Townshend's father, Cliff, played saxophone and his mother, Betty, had sung in the entertainment division of the Royal Air Force during World War II, and both supported their son's interest in Rock and roll. Pete Townshend and John Entwistle became friends in their second year of Acton County, and formed a Trad jazz group; John Entwistle also played French horn in the Middlesex Schools' Symphony Orchestra.

Both were interested in Rock, and Pete Townshend particularly admired Cliff Richard's début single, "Move It". John Entwistle moved to guitar, but struggled with it due to his large fingers, and moved to bass on hearing the guitar work of Duane Eddy. He was unable to afford a bass and built one at home.

After Acton County, Pete Townshend attended Ealing Art College, a move he later described as profoundly influential on the course of The Who.

Roger Daltrey, who was in the year above, had moved to Acton from Shepherd's Bush, a more working-class area. He had trouble fitting in at the school, and discovered gangs and Rock and roll. He was expelled at 15 and found work on a building site. In 1959 he started The Detours, the band that was to evolve into The Who. The band played professional gigs, such as corporate and wedding functions, and Roger Daltrey kept a close eye on the finances as well as the music.

Roger Daltrey spotted John Entwistle by chance on the street carrying a bass and recruited him into The Detours. In mid-1961, John Entwistle suggested Pete Townshend as a guitarist, Roger Daltrey on lead guitar, John Entwistle on bass, Harry Wilson on drums, and Colin Dawson on vocals. The band played instrumentals by The Shadows and The Ventures, and a variety of Pop and Trad jazz covers. Roger Daltrey was considered the leader and, according to Pete Townshend, "ran things the way he wanted them". Harry Wilson was fired in mid-1962 and replaced by Doug Sandom, though he was older than the rest of the band, married, and a more proficient musician, having been playing semi-professionally for two years.

Colin Dawson left after frequently arguing with Roger Daltrey and after being briefly replaced by Gabby Connolly, Roger Daltrey moved to lead vocals. Pete Townshend, with John Entwistle's encouragement, became the sole guitarist. Through Pete Townshend's mother, the group obtained a management contract with local promoter Robert Druce, who started booking the band as a support act. The Detours were influenced by the bands they supported, including Screaming Lord Sutch, Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, Shane Fenton and the Fentones, and Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. The Detours were particularly interested in the Pirates as they also only had one guitarist, Mick Green, who inspired Pete Townshend to combine rhythm and lead guitar in his style. John Entwistle's bass became more of a lead instrument, playing melodies. In February 1964, The Detours became aware of the group, Johnny Devlin and the Detours, and changed their name. Pete Townshend and his house-mate Richard Barnes spent a night considering names, focusing on a theme of joke announcements, including "No One" and "The Group". Pete Townshend preferred "The Hair", and Barnes liked "The Who" because it "had a pop punch". Roger Daltrey chose "the Who" the next morning.

By the time The Detours had become the Who, they had already found regular gigs, including at the Oldfield Hotel in Greenford, the White Hart Hotel in Acton, the Goldhawk Social Club in Shepherd's Bush, and the Notre Dame Hall in Leicester Square. They had also replaced Robert Druce as manager with Helmut Gorden, with whom they secured an audition with Chris Parmeinter for Fontana Records.

Parmeinter found problems with the drumming and, according to Doug Sandom, Pete Townshend immediately turned on him and threatened to fire him if his playing did not immediately improve. Doug Sandom left in disgust, but was persuaded to lend his kit to any potential stand-ins or replacements. Doug Sandom and Pete Townshend did not speak to each other again for 14 years. During a gig with a stand-in drummer in late April at the Oldfield, the band first met Keith Moon. Keith Moon grew up in Wembley, and had been drumming in bands since 1961.

He was performing with a semi-professional band called The Beachcombers, and wanted to play full-time. Keith Moon played a few songs with the group, breaking a bass drum pedal and tearing a drum skin. The band were impressed with his energy and enthusiasm, and offered him the job. Keith Moon performed with The Beachcombers a few more times, but dates clashed and he chose to devote himself to The Who. The Beachcombers auditioned Doug Sandom, but were unimpressed and did not ask him to join.

The Who changed managers to Peter Meaden. He decided that the group would be ideal to represent the growing mod movement in Britain which involved fashion, scooters and music genres such as  Rhythm and blues, Soul and Modern Jazz. He renamed the group The High Numbers, dressed them up in mod clothes, secured a second, more favourable audition with Fontana and wrote the lyrics for both sides of their single "Zoot Suit"/"I'm the Face" to appeal to mods. The tune for "Zoot Suit" was "Misery" by The Dynamics, and "I'm the Face" borrowed from Slim Harpo's "I Got Love If You Want It". Although Peter Meaden tried to promote the single, it failed to reach the top 50 and the band reverted to calling themselves The Who. The group – none of whom played their instruments conventionally – began to improve their stage image; Roger Daltrey started using his microphone cable as a whip on stage, and occasionally leapt into the crowd; Keith Moon threw drumsticks into the air mid-beat; Pete Townshend mimed machine-gunning the crowd with his guitar while jumping on stage and playing guitar with a fast arm-windmilling motion, or stood with his arms aloft allowing his guitar to produce feedback in a posture dubbed "the Bird Man".

Peter Meaden was replaced as manager by two filmmakers, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. They were looking for a young, unsigned rock group that they could make a film about, and had seen the band at the Railway Hotel in Wealdstone, which had become a regular venue for them. Kit Lambert related to Pete Townshend and his art school background, and encouraged him to write songs. In August, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp made a promotional film featuring the group and their audience at the Railway. The band changed their set towards Soul, Rhythm and blues and Motown covers, and created the slogan "Maximum R&B".

In June 1964, during a performance at the Railway, Pete Townshend accidentally broke the head of his guitar on the low ceiling of the stage. Angered by the audience's laughter, he smashed the instrument on the stage, then picked up another guitar and continued the show. The following week, the audience were keen to see a repeat of the event. Keith Moon obliged by kicking his drum kit over, and auto-destructive art became a feature of the Who's live set.

By late 1964, The Who were becoming popular in London's Marquee Club, and a rave review of their live act appeared in Melody Maker. Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp attracted the attention of the American producer Shel Talmy, who had produced The Kinks. Pete Townshend had written a song, "I Can't Explain", that deliberately sounded like The Kinks to attract Shel Talmy's attention. Talmy saw the group in rehearsals and was impressed.

He signed them to his production company, and sold the recording to the US arm of Decca Records, which meant that the group's early singles were released in Britain on Brunswick Records, one of UK Decca's labels for US artists. "I Can't Explain" was recorded in early November 1964 at Pye Studios in Marble Arch with The Ivy League on backing vocals, and Jimmy Page  played fuzz guitar on the B-side, "Bald Headed Woman". "I Can't Explain" became popular with pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline.

Pirate radio was important for bands as there were no commercial radio stations in the UK and BBC Radio played little Pop music. The group gained further exposure when they appeared on the television programme Ready Steady Go! Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp were tasked with finding "typical teens", and invited the group's regular audience from the Goldhawk Social Club. Enthusiastic reception on television and regular airplay on pirate radio helped the single slowly climb the charts in early 1965 until it reached the top 10. In early 1965, The Who made their first appearance on the television music show, Top of the Pops, at the BBC's  Dickenson Road Studios in Manchester, with "I Can't Explain".

The follow-up single, "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", by Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, features guitar noises such as pick sliding, toggle switching and feedback, which was so unconventional that it was initially rejected by the US arm of Decca. The single reached the top 10 in the UK and was used as the theme song to Ready Steady Go!.

The transition to a hit-making band with original material, encouraged by Kit Lambert, did not sit well with Roger Daltrey, and a recording session of R&B covers went unreleased. The Who were not close friends either, apart from Keith Moon and John Entwistle, who enjoyed visiting nightclubs together in the West End of London. The group experienced a difficult time when touring Denmark in September, which culminated in Roger Daltrey throwing Keith Moon's amphetamines down the toilet and assaulting him. Immediately on returning to Britain, Roger Daltrey was sacked, but was reinstated on the condition that the group became a democracy without his dominant leadership. At this time, the group enlisted Richard Cole as a roadie.

The next single, "My Generation", followed in October. Pete Townshend had written it as a slow blues, but after several abortive attempts, it was turned into a more powerful song with a bass solo from John Entwistle. The song used gimmicks such as a vocal stutter to simulate the speech of a mod on  amphetamines, and two key changes. Pete Townshend insisted in interviews that the lyrics "Hope I die before I get old" were not meant to be taken literally. Peaking at No. 2, "My Generation" is the group's highest-charting single in the UK.

The self-titled debut album My Generation was released in late 1965. Among original material by Pete Townshend, including the title track and "The Kids Are Alright", the album has several James Brown covers from the session earlier that year that Roger Daltrey favoured. After My Generation, the Who fell out with Shel Talmy, which meant an abrupt end to their recording contract.  The resulting legal acrimony resulted in Shel Talmy holding the rights to the master tapes, which prevented the album from being reissued until 2002. The Who were signed to Robert Stigwood's label, Reaction, and released "Substitute". Pete Townshend said he wrote the song about identity crisis, and as a parody of The Rolling Stones's "19th Nervous Breakdown".

It was the first single to feature him playing an acoustic twelve-string guitar. Shel Talmy took legal action over the B-side, "Instant Party", and the single was withdrawn. A new B-side, "Waltz for a Pig", was recorded by the Graham Bond Organisation under the pseudonym "The Who Orchestra".

In 1966 the Who released "I'm a Boy", about a boy dressed as a girl, taken from an abortive collection of songs called Quads; "Happy Jack"; and an EP, Ready Steady Who, that tied in with their regular appearances on Ready Steady Go! The group continued to have conflict; on May 20, Keith Moon and John Entwistle were late to a gig having been on the Ready Steady Go! set with The Beach Boys' Bruce Johnston. During "My Generation", Pete Townshend attacked Keith Moon with his guitar; Keith Moon suffered a black eye and bruises, and he and John Entwistle left the band, but changed their minds and rejoined a week later. Keith Moon kept looking for other work, and Jeff Beck had him play drums on his song "Beck's Bolero" (with JImmy Page, John Paul Jones and Nicky Hopkins) because he was "trying to get Keith out of the Who".

To alleviate financial pressure on the band, Kit Lambert arranged a song-writing deal which required each member to write two songs for the next album. John Entwistle contributed "Boris the Spider" and "Whiskey Man" and found a niche role as second songwriter. The band found they needed to fill an extra ten minutes, and Kit Lambert encouraged Pete Townshend to write a longer piece, "A Quick One, While He's Away". The suite of song fragments is about a girl who has an affair while her lover is away, but is ultimately forgiven. The album was titled A Quick One (Happy Jack in the US), and reached No. 4 in the UK charts. It was followed in 1967 by the UK Top 5 single "Pictures of Lily".

By 1966, Ready Steady Go! had ended, the mod movement was becoming unfashionable, and the Who found themselves in competition on the London circuit with groups including Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp realised that commercial success in the US was paramount to the group's future, and arranged a deal with promoter Frank Barsalona for a short package tour in New York. The group's performances, which still involved smashing guitars and kicking over drums, were well received, and led to their first major US appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival.

The group, especially Keith Moon, were not fond of the hippie movement, and thought their violent stage act would stand in sharp contrast to the peaceful atmosphere of the festival. Jimi Hendrix was also on the bill, and was also going to smash his guitar on stage. Pete Townshend verbally abused Jimi Hendrix and accused him of stealing his act, and the pair argued about who should go on stage first, with the Who winning the argument. The Who brought hired equipment to the festival; Jimi Hendrix shipped over his regular touring gear from Britain, including a full Marshall stack.

According to biographer Tony Fletcher, Hendrix sounded "so much better than the Who it was embarrassing". The Who's appearance at Monterey gave them recognition in the US, and "Happy Jack" reached the top 30.

The group followed Monterey with a US tour supporting Herman's Hermits. The Hermits were a straightforward pop band and enjoyed drugs and practical jokes. They bonded with Keith Moon, who was excited to learn that cherry bombs were legal to purchase in Alabama. Keith Moon acquired a reputation of destroying hotel rooms while on tour, with a particular interest in blowing up toilets. John Entwistle said the first cherry bomb they tried "blew a hole in the suitcase and the chair". Keith Moon recalled his first attempt to flush one down the toilet: "[A]ll that porcelain flying through the air was quite unforgettable. I never realised dynamite was so powerful." After a gig in Flint, Michigan on Keith Moon's 21st birthday on August 23, 1967, the entourage caused $24,000 of damage at the hotel, and Keith Moon knocked out one of his front teeth. Roger Daltrey later said that the tour brought the band closer, and as the support act, they could turn up and perform a short show without any major responsibilities.

After the Hermits tour, the Who recorded their next single, "I Can See for Miles", which Pete Townshend had written in 1966 but had avoided recording until he was sure it could be produced well. Townshend called it "the ultimate Who record", and was disappointed it reached only No. 10 in the UK. It became their best selling single in the US, reaching No. 9. The group toured the US again with Eric Burdon and The Animals, including an appearance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, miming to "I Can See For Miles" and

"My Generation". Keith Moon bribed a stage hand to put explosives in his drum kit, who loaded it with ten times the expected quantity. The resulting detonation threw Moon off his drum riser and his arm was cut by a flying piece of a cymbal. Pete Townshend's hair was singed and his left ear left ringing, and a camera and studio monitor were destroyed. The next album was The Who Sell Out – a concept album  paying tribute to pirate radio, which had been outlawed in August 1967 by the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967. It included humorous jingles and mock commercials between songs,

a mini Rock opera called "Rael", and "I Can See For Miles".  The Who declared themselves a Pop art group and thus viewed advertising as an artform; they recorded a wide variety of radio advertisements, such as for canned milkshakes and the American Cancer Society, in defiance of the rising anti-consumerist ethos of the hippie counterculture. Pete Townshend stated, "We don't change offstage. We live pop art." Later that year, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp formed a record label, Track Records, with distribution by  Polydor. As well as signing Jimi Hendrix, Track became the imprint for all The Who's UK output until the mid-1970s.

The group started 1968 by touring Australia and New Zealand with the Small Faces. The groups had trouble with the local authorities and the New Zealand Truth called them "unwashed, foul-smelling, booze-swilling no-hopers". After an incident that took place on a flight to Sydney, the band were briefly arrested in Melbourne and then forced to leave the country; Prime Minister John Gorton sent a telegram to The Who telling them never to return to Australia. The Who would not return to Australia again until 2004. They continued to tour across the US and Canada during the first half of the year.

By 1968 the Who had started to attract attention in the underground press. Pete Townshend had stopped using drugs and became interested in the teachings of Meher Baba. In August, he gave an interview to Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner describing in detail the plot of a new album project and its relationship to Meher Baba's teachings.

The album went through several names during recording, including Deaf Dumb and Blind Boy and Amazing Journey; Pete Townshend settled on Tommy for the album about the life of a deaf, dumb and blind boy, and his attempt to communicate with others. Some songs, such as "Welcome" and "Amazing Journey", were inspired by Meher Baba's teaching, and others came from observations within the band. "Sally Simpson" is about a fan who tried to climb on stage at a gig by The Doors that they attended and "Pinball Wizard" was written so that New York Times journalist  Nik Cohn, a pinball enthusiast, would give the album a good review.

Pete Townshend later said, "I wanted the story of Tommy to have several levels ... a rock singles level and a bigger concept level", containing the spiritual message he wanted as well as being entertaining. The album was projected for a Christmas 1968 release but recording stalled after Pete Townshend decided to make a double album to cover the story in sufficient depth.

By the end of the year, 18 months of touring had led to a well-rehearsed and tight live band, which was evident when they performed "A Quick One While He's Away" at The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus  television special. The Stones considered their own performance lacklustre, and the project was never broadcast. The Who had not released an album in over a year, and had not completed the recording of Tommy, which continued well into 1969, interspersed with gigs at weekends. Kit Lambert was a key figure in keeping the group focused and getting the album completed, and typed up a script to help them understand the story and how the songs fitted together.

The album was released in May with the accompanying single, "Pinball Wizard", a début performance at Ronnie Scott's, and a tour, playing most of the new album live. Tommy sold 200,000 copies in the US in its first two weeks, and was a critical smash, Life saying, "for sheer power, invention and brilliance of performance, Tommy outstrips anything which has ever come out of a recording studio". Melody Maker  declared: "Surely the Who are now the band against which all others are to be judged." Roger Daltrey had significantly improved as a singer, and set a template for rock singers in the 1970s by growing his hair long and wearing open shirts on stage. Pete Townshend had taken to wearing a boiler suit and  Doctor Martens shoes.

In August, the Who performed at the Woodstock Festival, despite being reluctant and demanding $13,000 up front. The group were scheduled to appear on Saturday night, 16 August, but the festival ran late and they did not take to the stage until 5 am on Sunday; they played most of Tommy. During their performance, Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman interrupted the set to give a political speech about the arrest of John Sinclair; Pete Townshend kicked him off stage, shouting: "Fuck off my fucking stage!"

During "See Me, Feel Me", the sun rose almost as if on cue; John Entwistle later said, "God was our lighting man". At the end, Pete Townshend threw his guitar into the audience. The set was professionally recorded and filmed, and portions appear on the Woodstock film, The Old Grey Whistle Test and "The Kids Are Alright". Woodstock has been regarded as culturally significant, but the Who were critical of the event. Roadie John "Wiggie" Wolff, who arranged the band's payment, described it as "a shambles". Roger Daltrey declared it as "The worst gig they ever played" and Pete Townshend said, "I thought the whole of America had gone mad."

A more enjoyable appearance came a few weeks later at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival in England, which Pete Townshend described as "A great concert for the band". According to Pete, at the end of the Isle of Wight gig the field was covered in rubbish left by fans (which the band's roadies helped to clear up), which inspired the line "teenage wasteland" from their single "Baba O'Riley".

By 1970, the Who were widely considered one of the best and most popular live rock bands; Chris Charlesworth described their concerts as "Leading to a kind of rock nirvana that most bands can only dream about". They decided a live album would help demonstrate how different the sound at their gigs was to Tommy, and set about listening to the hours of recordings they had accumulated. Pete Townshend baulked at the prospect of doing so, and demanded that all the tapes be burned. Instead, they booked two shows, one in Leeds on February 14, and one in Hull the following day, with the intention of recording a live album. Technical problems from the Hull gig resulted in the Leeds gig being used, which became Live at Leeds. The album is viewed by several critics including The Independent, The Telegraph and the BBC, as one of the best live rock albums of all time.

The Tommy tour included shows in European Opera houses and saw the Who become the first rock act to play at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. In March the Who released the UK top 20 hit "The Seeker", continuing a theme of issuing singles separate to albums. Pete Townshend wrote the song to commemorate the common man, as a contrast to the themes on Tommy. The tour included their  second appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival. A record attendance in England which the Guinness Book of Records estimated at between 600,000 and 700,000 people, the Who began their set at 2:00 A.M. on Sunday August 30.

Tommy secured the Who's future, and made them millionaires. The group reacted in different ways – Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle lived comfortably, Pete Townshend was embarrassed at his wealth, which he felt was at odds with Meher Baba's ideals, and Keith Moon spent frivolously. During the latter part of 1970, Pete Townshend plotted a follow up Tommy, Lifehouse, which was to be a multi-media project symbolising the relationship between an artist and his audience. He developed ideas in his home studio, creating layers of synthesizers, and the Young Vic theatre in London was booked for a series of experimental concerts. Pete Townshend approached the gigs with optimism; the rest of the band were just happy to be gigging again. Eventually, the others complained to Pete Townshend that the project was too complicated and they should simply record another album. Things deteriorated until Pete Townshend had a nervous breakdown and abandoned Lifehouse. John Entwistle was the first member of the group to release a solo album, Smash Your Head Against the Wall, in May 1971.

Recording at the Record Plant in New York City in March 1971 was abandoned when Kit Lambert's addiction to hard drugs interfered with his ability to produce. The group restarted with Glyn Johns in April. The album was mostly Lifehouse material, with one unrelated song by John Entwistle, "My Wife", and was released on Who's Next in August. The album reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 4 in the US. "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" are early examples of synthesizer use in rock, featuring keyboard sounds generated in real time by a Lowrey organ; on "Won't Get Fooled Again", it was further processed through a VCS3 synthesizer. The synthesizer intro to "Baba O'Riley" was programmed based on Meher Baba's vital stats, and the track featured a violin solo by Dave Arbus.

The album was a critical and commercial success, and has been certified 3× platinum by the RIAA. The Who continued to issue  Lifehouse-related material over the next few years, including the singles "Let's See Action", "Join Together" and "Relay". The band went back on tour, and "Baba O' Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" became live favourites. In November they performed at the newly opened Rainbow Theatre in London for three nights, continuing in the US later that month, where Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times described the Who as "the Greatest Show on Earth". The tour was slightly disrupted at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on December 12, when Keith Moon passed out over his kit after overdosing on brandy and barbiturates. He recovered and completed the gig, playing to his usual strength.

After touring Who's Next, and needing time to write a follow-up, Pete Townshend insisted that the Who take a lengthy break, as they had not stopped touring since the band started. There was no group activity until May 1972, when they started working on a proposed new album, Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock!,  but, unhappy with the recordings, abandoned the sessions. Tensions began to emerge as Pete Townshend believed Roger Daltrey just wanted a money-making band and Roger thought Pete's projects were getting pretentious. Keith Moon's behaviour was becoming increasingly destructive and problematic through excessive drinking and drugs use, and a desire to party and tour. Roger Daltrey performed an audit of the group's finances and discovered that Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp had not kept sufficient records. He believed them to be no longer effective managers, which Pete Townshend and Keith Moon disputed. The painful dissolution of the managerial and personal relationships are recounted in James D. Cooper's 2014 retrospective documentary, Lambert & Stamp. Following a short European tour, the remainder of 1972 was spent working on an orchestral version of Tommy with Lou Reizner.

By 1973, the Who turned to recording the album Quadrophenia about mod and its subculture, set against clashes with Rockers in early 1960s Britain. The story is about a boy named Jimmy, who undergoes a personality crisis, and his relationship with his family, friends and mod culture. The music features four themes, reflecting the four personalities of the Who. Pete Townshend played multi-tracked synthesizers, and John Entwistle played several overdubbed horn parts. By the time the album was being recorded, relationships between the band and Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp had broken down irreparably, and Bill Curbishley replaced them. The album reached No. 2 in both the UK and US.

The Quadrophenia tour started in Stoke on Trent in October and was immediately beset with problems. Roger Daltrey resisted Pete Townshend's wish to add Joe Cocker's keyboardist Chris Stainton (who played on the album) to the touring band. As a compromise, Pete Townshend assembled the keyboard and synthesizer parts on backing tapes, as such a strategy had been successful with "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again". The technology was not sophisticated enough to deal with the demands of the music; added to this issue, tour rehearsals had been interrupted due to an argument that culminated in Roger Daltrey punching Pete Townshend and knocking him out cold.

At a gig in Newcastle, the tapes completely malfunctioned, and an enraged Pete Townshend dragged sound-man Bob Pridden on-stage, screamed at him, kicked all the amps over and partially destroyed the backing tapes. The show was abandoned for an "oldies" set, at the end of which Pete Townshend smashed his guitar and Keith Moon kicked over his drumkit. The Independent described this gig as one of the worst of all time. The US tour started on 20 November at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California; Keith Moon passed out during "Won't Get Fooled Again" and during "Magic Bus". Pete Townshend asked the audience, "Can anyone play the drums? – I mean somebody good."

An audience member, Scot Halpin, filled in for the rest of the show. After a show in Montreal, the band (except for Roger Daltrey, who retired to bed early) caused so much damage to their hotel room, including destroying an antique painting and ramming a marble table through a wall, that federal law enforcement arrested them. By 1974, work had begun in earnest on a Tommy film. Robert Stigwood suggested Ken Russell as director, whose previous work Pete Townshend had admired. The film featured a star-studded cast, including the band members. David Essex auditioned for the title role, but the band persuaded Roger Daltrey to take it. The cast included Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Elton John and Jack Nicholson. Pete Townshend and John Entwistle worked on the soundtrack for most of the year, handling the bulk of the instrumentation. Keith Moon had moved to Los Angeles, so they used session drummers, including Kenney Jones (who would later join the Who). Elton John used his own band for "Pinball Wizard". Filming was from April until August. 1500 extras appeared in the "Pinball Wizard" sequence.

The film premiered on March 18, 1975 to a standing ovation. Pete Townshend was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Tommy was shown at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, but not in the main competition. It won the award for Rock Movie of the Year in the First Annual Rock Music Awards and generated over $2 million in its first month. The soundtrack reached number two on the Billboard charts. Work on Tommy took up most of 1974, and live performances by the Who were restricted to a show in May at the Valley, the home of Charlton Athletic, in front of 80,000 fans, and a few dates at Madison Square Garden in June. Towards the end of the year, the group released the out-takes album Odds & Sods, which featured several songs from the aborted Lifehouse project.

In 1975, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend disagreed about the band's future and criticised each other via interviews in the music paper New Musical Express. Roger Daltrey was grateful that the Who had saved him from a career as a sheet-metal worker and was unhappy at Pete Townshend not playing well; Townshend felt the commitment of the group prevented him from releasing solo material. The next album, The Who by Numbers, had introspective songs from Pete Townshend that dealt with disillusionment such as "However Much I Booze" and "How Many Friends"; they resembled his later solo work. JohnEntwistle's "Success Story" gave a humorous look at the music industry, and "Squeeze Box" was a hit single. The group toured from October, playing little new material and few Quadrophenia  numbers, and reintroducing several from Tommy. The American leg of the tour began in Houston to a crowd of 18,000 at The Summit Arena, and was supported by Toots and the Maytals. On December 6, 1975, the Who set the record for largest indoor concert at the Pontiac Silverdome, attended by 78,000. On May 31, 1976, they played a second concert at the Valley which was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's loudest concert at over 120 dB. Pete Townshend had become fed up of touring but John Entwistle considered live performance to be at a peak.

After the 1976 tour, Pete Townshend took most of the following year off to spend time with his family. He discovered that former The Beatles and The Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein had bought a stake in his publishing company. A settlement was reached, but Pete Townshend was upset and disillusioned that Allen Klein had attempted to take ownership of his songs. Pete Townshend went to the Speakeasy where he met The Sex Pistols' Steve Jones and Paul Cook, fans of the Who. After leaving, he passed out in a doorway, where a policeman said he would not be arrested if he could stand and walk. The events inspired the title track of the next album, Who Are You. The group reconvened in September 1977, but Pete Townshend announced there would be no live performances for the immediate future, a decision that Roger Daltrey endorsed. By this point, Keith Moon was so unhealthy that the Who conceded it would be difficult for him to cope with touring.

The only gig that year was an informal show on December 15 at the Gaumont State Cinema in Kilburn, London, filmed for the documentary The Kids Are Alright. The band had not played for 14 months, and their performance was so weak that the footage was unused. Keith Moon's playing was particularly lacklustre and he had gained a lot of weight, though Roger Daltrey later said, "even at his worst, Keith Moon was amazing."

Recording of Who Are You started in January 1978. Roger Daltrey clashed with Johns over the production of his vocals, and Keith Moon's drumming was so poor that Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle considered firing him. Keith Moon's playing improved, but on one track, "Music Must Change", he was replaced as he could not play in 6/8 time. In May, the Who filmed another performance at Shepperton Sound Studios for "The Kids Are Alright". This performance was strong, and several tracks were used in the film. It was the last gig Keith Moon performed with the Who.

The album was released on August 18, and became their biggest and fastest seller to date, peaking at No. 6 in the UK and No. 2 in the US. Instead of touring, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and Keith Moon did a series of promotional television interviews, and John Entwistle worked on the soundtrack for "The Kids Are Alright".

On September 6, Keith Moon attended a party held by Paul McCartney to celebrate Buddy Holly's birthday. Returning to his flat, Keith Moon took 32 tablets of clomethiazole which had been prescribed to combat his alcohol withdrawal. He passed out the following morning and was discovered dead later that day.

The day after Keith Moon's death, Pete Townshend issued the statement: "We are more determined than ever to carry on, and we want the spirit of the group to which Keith contributed so much to go on, although no human being can ever take his place." Drummer Phil Collins, having a temporary break from Genesis after his first marriage had failed,

was at a loose end and asked to replace Keith Moon, but Pete Townshend had already asked Kenney Jones, who had previously played with the Small Faces and Faces. Kenney Jones officially joined the band in November 1978. John "Rabbit" Bundrick joined the live band as an unofficial keyboardist. On May 2, 1979, the Who returned to the stage with a concert at the Rainbow Theatre, followed by the Cannes Film Festival in France and dates at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Quadrophenia film was released that year. It was directed by Franc Roddam in his feature-directing début, and had straightforward acting rather than musical numbers as in Tommy. John Lydon was considered for Jimmy, but the role went to Phil Daniels. Sting played Jimmy's friend and fellow mod, the Ace Face. The soundtrack was Kenney Jones' first appearance on a Who record, performing on newly written material not on the original album. The film was a critical and box office success in the UK and appealed to the growing mod revival movement. The Jam were influenced by the Who, and critics noticed a similarity between Pete Townshend and the group's leader, Paul Weller.

The Kids Are Alright was also completed in 1979. It was a retrospective of the band's career, directed by Jeff Stein. The film included footage of the band at Monterey, Woodstock and Pontiac, and clips from the Smothers Brothers' show and Russell Harty Plus. Keith Moon had died one week after seeing the rough cut with Roger Daltrey. The film contains the Shepperton concert, and an audio track of him playing over silent footage of himself was the last time he ever played the drums.

In December, the Who became the third band, after The Beatles and The Band, to appear on the cover of Time. The article, by Jay Cocks, said the band had outpaced, outlasted, outlived and outclassed all of their rock band contemporaries.

On December 3, 1979, a crowd crush at a Who gig at the Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, killed 11 fans. This was partly due to the festival seating, where the first to enter get the best positions. Some fans waiting outside mistook the band's soundcheck for the concert, and attempted to force their way inside. As only a few entrance doors were opened, a bottleneck situation ensued with thousands trying to gain entry, and the crush became deadly.

The Who were not told until after the show because civic authorities feared crowd problems if the concert were cancelled. The band were deeply shaken upon learning of it and requested that appropriate safety precautions be taken in the future. The following evening, in Buffalo, New York, Roger Daltrey told the crowd that the band had "lost a lot of family last night and this show's for them".

Roger Daltrey took a break in 1980 to work on the film McVicar, in which he took the lead role of bank robber John McVicar. The soundtrack album McVicar is a Roger Daltrey solo album, though all members of the Who are included in the supporting musicians, and was his most successful solo release.

The Who released two studio albums with Kenney Jones as drummer, Face Dances (1981) and It's Hard  (1982). Face Dances produced a US top 20 and UK top ten hit with the single "You Better You Bet", whose video was one of the first shown on MTV. Both Face Dances and It's Hard sold well and the latter received a five-star review in Rolling Stone. The single "Eminence Front" from It's Hard was a hit, and became a regular at live shows. By this time Pete Townshend had fallen into a depression, wondering if he was no longer a visionary. He was again at odds with Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle, who merely wanted to tour and play hits and thought Pete Townshend had saved his best songs for his solo album, Empty Glass (1980). Kenney Jones' drumming style was very different from Keith Moon's and this drew criticism within the band. Pete Townshend briefly became addicted to heroin before cleaning up early in 1982 after treatment with Meg Patterson.

Pete Townshend wanted the Who to stop touring and become a studio act; John Entwistle threatened to quit, saying, "I don't intend to get off the road ... there's not much I can do about it except hope they change their minds." Pete Townshend did not change his mind, and so the Who embarked on a farewell tour of the US and Canada with The Clash as support, ending in Toronto on December 17, 1982. Pete Townshend spent a part of 1983 writing material for a Who studio album owed to Warner Bros. Records from a contract in 1980, but he found himself unable to generate music appropriate for the Who and at the end of 1983 paid for himself and Jones to be released from the contract.

On December 16, 1983, Pete Townshend announced at a press conference that he was leaving the Who, effectively ending the band. After the Who break-up, Pete Townshend focused on solo albums such as White City: A Novel (1985), The Iron Man (1989, featuring Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle and two songs credited to the Who), and Psychoderelict (1993).

In 1990, the Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The group have a featured collection in the hall's museum, including one of Keith Moon's velvet suits, a Warwick bass of John Entwistle's, and a drumhead from 1968.

In 1991, the Who recorded a cover of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" for the tribute album Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. It was the last studio recording to feature John Entwistle. In 1994, Roger Daltrey turned 50 and celebrated with two concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall.

The shows included guest spots by John Entwistle and Pete Townshend. Although all three surviving original members of the Who attended, they appeared on stage together only during the finale, "Join Together", with the other guests. Roger Daltrey toured that year with John Entwistle, Zak Starkey on drums and Simon Townshend filling in for his brother as guitarist.

In 1996, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Roger Daltrey performed Quadrophenia with guests and Zak Starkey on drums at Hyde Park. The performance was narrated by Phil Daniels, who had played Jimmy Cooper in the 1979 film, Quadrophenia. This was the first live performance of Quadrophenia in its entirety. Despite technical difficulties the show led to a six-night residency at Madison Square Garden and a US and European tour through 1996 and 1997. Pete Townshend played mostly acoustic guitar, but eventually was persuaded to play some electric. In 1998, VH1 ranked the Who ninth in their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of Rock 'n' Roll".

In late 1999, the Who performed as a five-piece for the first time since 1985, with John Bundrick on keyboards and Zak Starkey on drums. The first show in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena was partially broadcast on TV and the Internet and released as the DVD The Vegas Job. They then performed acoustic shows at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, followed by gigs at the House of Blues in Chicago and two Christmas charity shows at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. Critics were delighted to see a rejuvenated band with a basic line-up comparable to the tours of the 1960s and 1970s. Andy Greene in Rolling Stone called the 1999 tour better than the final one with Keith Moon in 1976.

The band toured the US and UK from June to October 2000, to generally favourable reviews, culminating in a charity show at the Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust with guest performances from  Paul Weller, Eddie Vedder, Noel Gallagher, Bryan Adams and Nigel Kennedy. Stephen Tomas Erlewine described the gig as "an exceptional reunion concert". In October 2001 the band performed The Concert for New York City at

Madison Square Garden for families of firefighters and police who had lost their lives following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center; with Forbes describing their performance as a "catharsis" for the law enforcement in attendance. Earlier that year the band were honoured with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Who played concerts in the UK in early 2002 in preparation for a full US tour. On June 27, the day before the first date, John Entwistle, 57, was found dead of a heart attack at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. Cocaine was a contributing factor.