Without Moon, there is no THE WHO.



Therefore I'm not deducting any stars for anything perpetrated after his demise.

The Who went from setting the template for rock and roll excess in terms of both sonic force and wild living in the 1960's to establishing the model for stretching a career well past it's Best-Before Date in the 1980's. The 70's was a transitional period for them where they invented "Classic Rock" for good or ill.

Their best post 60's album, Who's Next, started the decade off right for them, Quadraphenia has high points but ultimately sinks under its own weight and Who By Numbers and Who Are You round out their 70's work with some of their most remembered songs but are overall only 3 star albums. But they continued to fill stadiums right through the decade and it was on the strength of their live show that they fittingly carried on.

Their 80's albums don't serve their legacy well at all, Townsend was by then putting his best work in his solo records.

For me, the group was at their absolute zenith in the 60's and early 70's, with a slew of stunning and influential singles like " My Generation," " Substitute," " I Can See For Miles," and so forth... and some great albums like " The Who Sell Out" and " Who's Next." They were also, in my view, arguably the greatest live rock act of all time. By 1975 or so, a decline had set in and they turned into a merely good band.