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[rattling]

[liquid pouring]

[door shuts]

[ice clinking in glass]

[footsteps]

[static]

[footsteps]

[paper rustling]

[footsteps]

[footsteps]

["Happy Jack" plays]

[music stops]

["Pinball Wizard" plays]

["Squeeze Box" plays]

* I'm not tryin' to cause
A big sensation *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

[songs overlapping]

[Roger Daltrey]
Whatever happened that day
when Keith Moon joined

John, Pete and myself
on the stage,

something happened.

There are billions of people
on this planet.

What the fuck put four

total individuals together

on the stage in Greenford
to make this music?

What the fuck did that?

["Won't Get Fooled Again" plays]

[song ends]

[audience cheering, fades]

[Klaxon wails]

[violin plays]

[big band tune plays]

[Pete Townshend]
Towards the end of the war,
everything was secret.

You never knew whether
you were winning or losing,

and most of the time they
were saying you're winning
when you felt you were losing.

I was born into that world.

I was born in the hour
that Albert Speer was arrested.

He was Hitler's
premiere architect.

I don't mean war architect.
He was an actual architect.

My father got
these two messages.

One was "Speer's been captured,"
and the other was,

"It's a boy, Mr. Townshend."

[Daltrey]
When I think about my childhood
in the late '40s, '50s,

it's almost like the world
was black-and-white.

It is very weird.

Very Spartan living.

We were still on
food rationing.

No cars in the street.

[John Entwistle]
After the war, there was
bombed-out buildings

that had loads of bricks,
so we didn't need Lego.

We had the real thing.

[Townshend]
Practically everybody
I know that I grew up with,

if they were wild and crazy
and weird, or in a band,

the chances were that they had
some weird shit happen to them
when they were kids.

[big band music plays]

My parents were both
working dance-band musicians,

I grew up with
the music of my father,
which was the Basie Band,

the Ellington Band,
and great singers
like Sarah Vaughan

and Sinatra
and Ella Fitzgerald.

And I felt
I couldn't even begin

to emulate
or occupy their territory.

[up-tempo jazz plays]

We were all interested
in traditional jazz at the time.

To me, trad jazz was something

that was already a rebellious
threat to the kind of serene

dance-hall dance music
that my father played.

[male narrator] The first
connection between the four
talents of The Whocame in 1959,

at a West London boys' school.

[Townshend] I met John
at Acton County Grammar School.

Big guy. Funny.

Very sharply dressed.

John and Pete didn't really
get to know one another well

until they started up
playing instruments
together.

[Townshend] Right from
the beginning and right
the way through our life,

he was a great
musical ally.

[rock plays]

-Right over here,
and you're, um--
-John.

You're John?
And you're from--
London too.

From London too?
Yeah.

[rock plays]

[man] He was calling himself
John Allison

because his girlfriend was,
of course, called Allison.

We thought "Entwistle"
was a really strange name

for a band member.

And we tried John Brown,
and we thought, well, no.

He's John Entwistle.

["Summertime Blues" plays]

The Who wouldn't have been
The Who without Entwistle.

He would fill the sound up
with the bass.

If you actually listen
to any Who record

and you isolate the bass,
it's pretty astonishing
what he's doing.

It's nothing to do with what
a normal bass player would do.

* I'm a-gonna raise a fuss
I'm a-gonna raise a holler *

Entwistle stood still.

[man]
You had Pete swinging his arm
around like a windmill.

You had Roger throwing
his microphone around
all over the place.

Keith smacking away
at the drums, and Dad stood away
in the corner playing quietly.

* The boss said *
* No dice, son
You gotta work late *

[woman]
I used to get cross

that they didn't show John
so much on the television.

The cameras were always
on Pete and Roge.

He was, like,
the central point in
the spinning world, you know?

I think a lot of people
don't understand is that
what he was doing

is he was playing
like a Bach organ.

It was huge,
massive, rich sound.

So I used to find my way
inside there.

I used to sit with John
and sit inside,

and he would follow me
and support me,
and we'd play together.

[man] John had such
facility as a player,
and really very unique.

I don't think anyone had really
gone into lead bass playing.

[man]
He wasn't actually a quiet guy.

He was just a very sardonic guy.

Very cynical.
He was very funny.

But in that sort of
laid-back way.

[man]
Entwistle was uncompromising

in leading his own life,
you know.

[Johns]
Afraid John takes after me.

I like music, dancing,
enjoying myself.

Drinking.
I love partying.

[Townshend]
I never, ever felt that

John had any addictive problems
at all, except one,

which began with an H.

It's a big shop in London
called Harrods.

That was his one addiction.

[Wise]
He could never buy
one pair of shoes.

He always bought a dozen
in each color, and the shirts
and the trousers.

He was certainly well dressed.

Don't know about that skeleton
fuckin' leather thing though

that John Entwistle was--
What's all that about?

[jazz plays]

[Johns] He was very musical
right from the age of three.

He knew all the pop songs
that were in the charts,

and he'd sing for hours.

My first date with John was
to go to a Boys' Brigade thing

at the Albert Hall.

He used to play the bugle.

[Johns]
He joined the school orchestra.

He wanted to play the trumpet,
but they didn't have any left.

The only instrument left
was the French horn.

He practiced in the loo.

He became quite proficient.

[Daltrey] John Entwistle
was the only one of us

that kind of had
any musical training at all.

[Townshend]
He made his own first bass
with his own hands, you know.

What he realized was
that he had the power

to change
the fuckin' instrument.

You know,
you don't change the trumpet.

But the bass guitar
was relatively new.

He started to
play it differently,
hold it differently.

Being on stage with a guitar,
with a big amplifier,

it became his voice.

[Daltrey]
I was walking down the road
one day, coming home from work.

I worked in
a sheet-metal work factory.

I noticed this guy coming
towards me who I recognized
from being at school.

And across his shoulder,
he's got this strange-looking
instrument.

So I said to him,
you know, stupidly,
"What you got there?"

[laughs]
He said, "It's a bass."

They all went
to the same school.

Roger was at the same school,
but he got expelled.

[Wise]
I think he was accused of
setting fire to the school.

Roger was a bit of a tearaway.

It's been said that
I was a bully later on
in my school career,

but I don't think
I actually was.

I just loved to fight.

Still do.

[Townshend]
When I first met Roger,

he was one of the most
powerful, charismatic,

and literally powerful men
I'd ever come across.

You know,
he was like Elvis Presley.

[Daltrey] Elvis, to me,
was the guy I wanted to be.

But realistically,
the guy who showed me

that I could, instead of
just dreaming about this

could actually
go out there and do it,
was a guy called Lonnie Donegan.

[skiffle music plays]

* Sweet 16, goes to church
Just to see the boys *

Lonnie Donegan was a big
influence on a lot of people.

It's the rhythm, the beat
and the freshness of it.

* She's only putting on
The style *

* Yeah, putting on the agony
Putting on the style *

It had that kind of
rock-and-roll
sort of pace to it.

Skiffle is really basically

early American folk songs.

[Shaw] It was so easy.
Anyone could make
a skiffle group.

You could do it
with home objects.

For drums,
we had an old washing board.

Tea chest bass,
which is basically a tea chest

with a piece of string
and a broomstick.

It lifted the music from,
like, big bands

into people's parlors.

You could do it yourself, like.

Every street in Shepherd's Bush
had it's own skiffle group.

[narrator]
On Fielding Road, Roger Daltrey
founded The Detours

with a guitar he made himself
at the sheet-metal factory.

At the age of 17 or 18,
you know,

he was the king
of the neighborhood.

So anyway, I'm walking home
from work one night,
and immediately

I kind of felt a bonding
with this guy.

So I said, "You in a band?"
And he said, "Yeah,
I'm in a band."

I said,
"Have you got any work?"

He said, "No."
I said, "Well, we have."

I said, "Do you
get paid for your work?"
He said, "No."

I said, "We do."

I was lying.
[chuckles]

I said, "We're looking
for a bass player.
Would you like to join?"

Shortly after, Reg Bowen
on rhythm guitar left the band,

and John said,
"Well, I know someone
who's a good rhythm player."

So we said,
"Well, bring him along."

John was very important for me
because he never let me go.

He could've done.
A couple of the other guys
did let me go.

John was very encouraging to me
and nurturing

and used to constantly
say to me, "No, you're
a good musician."

He was just vital to me
in those days.

[narrator] By 1962,
The Detours were playing pubs
as a five-piece--

John on bass,
Doug Sandom on the drums,

Pete played rhythm guitar,
Colin Dawson singing,

Roger playing lead guitar.

It was Roger's band.
The Detours were Roger's band.

Roger was the driving force.
Roger supplied all the energy,

and he drove the van
and picked people up
and arranged everything.

* Some way someday *

* I'll find a way *

* To make you see my way *

[narrator] In '63,
Roger gave up the guitar,

fired the singer
and took over as front man.

When there was just
the three of us as a band--

just two instruments,
Pete and John--

the only thing with strings
was Pete and John--

and I remember saying to him,
"It sounds fucking great."

* You see my way *

[Muddy Waters]
* Oh, yeah *

[electric blues guitar plays]

* Oh, yeah *

* Everything gon' be all right
This mornin' *

["Mannish Boy" plays]

[Townshend] The other guys
in the band were working,
and I was at art school.

I was on a grant.
I was having an easy life.

I was smoking dope,
listening to, you know, records.

[Barnes] I met Pete
when we were in art school,

and I didn't even know
he was in a band.

We'd got this flat
that had belonged to

this American guy, Tom Wright.

Tom Wright had a huge
blues archive from the States.

* Now, when I was a young boy *

* At the age of five *

All that early blues stuff--
John Lee Hooker,

Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed.

["Shame Shame Shame" plays]

[Stamp] All those young kids
loved the blues,

because the working classes
are in a similar
sociological position,

you know what I mean,
to the blacks in America.

My father was in the war.

His ship gets torpedoed.

My mother, who is pregnant,
goes to the shipping office,

as she did every week,
to get his salary.

And they say,
"Oh, no, there's no salary
this week, Mrs. Stamp.

The ship's gone down."

Right? So that was the status
of the working class, right?

[Jimmy Reed]
* Well, it's a shame
Shame, shame *

* Shame, shame on you *

We identified
with American blues

and those early
black American artists.

We started listening to that
and thought, "This is great."

And we started
playing the blues.
I played the harmonica.

Through that music,
we became aware

of the limitations
of our drummer.

[narrator] Doug Sandom
was fired in April of 1964.

* Oh, it's a shame on you *

[blues rock plays]

[Daltrey] We got a session
drummer in for a couple
of gigs we had lined up.

And we were playing one night
at the Oldfield Hotel
in Greenford.

All I remember is
I was standing onstage

getting ready to take a break,
when a-a...

gingerbread man appeared
in the audience in front of me,

looking up at me
with these great, big
puppy dog brown eyes.

He wanted to be a Beach Boy,

so he bought some
hydrogen peroxide
and bleached his hair.

It come out bright orange.

And he came up and,
with all the arrogance
in the world, said,

"I hear you're looking
for a drummer.

Well, I'm much better
than the one you've got."

He sat down.

Pete starts off
with a pick screeching
down the string.

[imitates blues guitar riff]
Gets into a very heavy riff.

All of a sudden,
it's like a jet engine

started up
at the back of me.

[blues rock plays]

It was like magic.

All of a sudden, it--
everything worked.

We were just astonished.

This kid was the missing link,

and it was obvious
from the first minute
of him playing with us.

The whole dance floor stopped
and started looking.
It was extraordinary.

You didn't watch drummers.
He was the only drummer I know
that you'd watch.

Moon was a star.

["Who Are You" plays]

He was a shooting star.
That's what he was.

He was clearly an alcoholic,
an addict, a sex addict.

* Who are you? *

* Who, who, who, who *

[man] On the one hand, he was
this lunatic who, you know,

couldn't wait to get on a drum
kit and just explode with it.

* Who are you? *

And on the other hand,
he was a very quiet,
saddened person.

* Who are you? *

[Townshend]
He clearly had tremendous
esteem issue problems.

He was a complex little ball
of difficulty.

[man]

Usually leave and get drunk.

He wasn't like that as a boy.
That's what I can't understand.

He always did as he was told.

He was very quiet, and I had
no problem with him at all.

He was a good boy.

[narrator]
By the time he was 16,

Moon was playing
American surf music in a band
called The Beachcombers.

The Beachcombers
was the first band

that I remember him having
at home and setting up
in the front room.

Keith liked the Beach Boys.

I f-- didn't like 'em.

[falsetto]
* Fun, fun, fun till your daddy
Takes the T-Bird away *

[singing falsetto notes]
You know, and they would
sing away.

-* Barbara Ann
Ba-Ba, Ba-Barbara Ann *
-* Barbara Ann *

* Ba-Ba-Ba
Ba-Barbara Ann *

* You got me rockin'
And a-rollin', rockin'
And a-reelin', Barbara Ann *

[Townshend] But he liked to do
those backing vocals--

you know, the girl-y backing
vocals in a lot of their songs.

The other thing that's
really important, of course,

is that Keith was
a very lyrical drummer.

Keith was like an orchestra
on the drums.

He wasn't a time drummer,
like, "dum-dum-dum."

It was, like,
all around the kit.

[Daltrey]
Moon was doing things that

just made us all work
a hundred percent harder.

Not faster, not slower.

A hundred percent harder.

[up-tempo rock plays]

[narrator]
In late April 1964,
he joined The Detours

and started playing the blues.

* Hey, fellas
Have you heard the news? *

[Daltrey] When you've got
a 12-bar sequence,
it can become monotonous.

Moonie had a very short
attention span
when it came to boredom.

He started to double up
the beat.

And that led to Pete
doubling the guitar.

It led John to play
more jazzy bits in between.

And from that, what we became
famous for evolved.

That's when The Who started
to have its own identity.

We played the blues,
but we'd put
our own stamp on it.

We'd been The Detours
for quite a while,
and we'd built up

quite a following in West London
on the pub circuit.

[Townshend]
John Entwistle,
he'd heard about this band

who'd got a record out
in America called The Detours.

So we sat around
and had this think tank

in Sunnyside Road,
where Barney and I had a flat.

And the band never
came back there.

I don't think they'd ever
been there before,

because Pete and I were
art students smoking dope,

and they didn't approve.

And we were just jokingly
throwing names around.

[Barnes]
We were trying to be avant-garde
or something.

Think of, like, The Nothing
or names like that.

I came up with The Hair.

'Cause everything was
about hair at the time.

And I said The Who,
'cause basically I was just
thinking of it on posters.

You know, one of those
very quick conversations.

"The Hair." "The Who."

And everybody was laughing
at each one.

And for a while,
it was kind of a bit of a war.

"Well, we could call it
The Hair and The Who."
And it sounded like a pub.

[Daltrey]
But The Who was something
we came back to.

It didn't take very long
for us to carry our audience
into the change.

Within two weeks, they'd
forgotten about The Detours

and they knew
that it was The Who.

* Dressed right
For a beach fight *

* But I just can't explain *

[man]
We were the first teenagers
after the war.

All we wanted to do was just

liberate ourselves, really,
and have fun.

[man on radio]
South Coast police have warned
that if the fights

between rival gangs
of mods and rockers continue...

[Curbishley]
We used to go to Brighton,
areas like that,

it was traditional that
you would end up clashing.

We were teenagers together.
We were mods.

It was all about
a pop-art gang culture.

[Stamp]
We were called mods
'cause we were modernist.

There was a type
of, like, "fuck you,"

rebellious sort of behavior
about the mod kids.

It was very much,
"Let's get out of
this class system."

[man]
The original mods
were very smart.

Short Italian jackets,
tight trousers,
winklepicker shoes.

[Stamp] Perfectly tailored
sort of skintight,
sort of like sharkskin suit,

with a little mascara on
and a special haircut
on Saturday nights.

We spent all of our money
on clothes. We were like
little peacocks.

* I'm the hippiest number
In town *

* And I'll tell you why
And I'll tell you why *

* I'm the snappiest dresser
Right down to
My inch-wide tie *

Along came this guy
called Pete Meaden.
He was a publicist.

And he transformed
the band.

[Daltrey] He certainly had
a finger on the pulse

of this embryo
of a fashion seed.

And Pete Meaden had
this theory that the mods

were like the new religion,
the new army,

the new everything,

and projected that
onto us as individuals.

[Daltrey] He said,
"Get out there, cut your hair,
go out Carnaby Street,

buy all the clever gear,"
and all of a sudden
we're a mod band.

[blues rock plays]

Pete Meaden also said,
"You've gotta change
the name-- The Who."

And in that sense, he was right
in getting us to be mods,

but he was wrong in changing
the name The Who
to The High Numbers.

We kept seeing these posters
for The High Numbers,
"Who" in brackets.

[man] They used to play
in West Hampstead,
the Railway Club.

And it was a little hall,
tiny little shabby hall.

The Who came up
as The High Numbers.

We didn't know who they were.
We just went up there.

And the drummer
was absolutely mental.

* Gather round
My swingin' friends *

* Let me forget
My hurtin' tears *

* About the only girl
I ever loved *

* The only one, baby
I, I gotta dance *

* Just to keep from crying *

* Gotta dance
Just to keep from crying *

* Whoa-oa, do the fly
The flop, the twist *

* Everybody
It goes like this *

* You gotta dance
Got me swayin' all right *

* Gotta dance
Got me swayin', all right *

* Do the bird, the fly *

* Come on, gang, you know
Bye, bye, bye, oh, yeah *

They were amazing.
It was nothing like
the Beatles.

Even the Stones.
It was nothing like that.

And they were playing music
that you didn't hear
very often--

Tamla-Motown and blues.

They were a mod band,
and I was a mod.

* Well, baby, so *

* You know it's all right *

[Stamp]
When I met Kit, we decided
to start to come up with

an idea to make a film.

We came up with a concept
that we would find a group,

we would manage the group
to success,

and we would all the time
film it.

This was the idea.

Kit and I,
we went up and down England
looking for a group.

We couldn't find anyone to
put in the film, basically,
until we saw The High Numbers.

* Let me tell you 'bout
Ooh Poo Pah Doo *

* Baby, they call me the most *

* Yeah, Ooh Poo Pah Doo *

* Baby, call me the most *

Lambert said immediately
he knew that was the band
he was looking for.

* And I won't stop tryin' *

* Till I create
A disturbance in your mind *

We met Lambert and Stamp,
and the first thing
they wanted to do,

they loved everything else
about us except the name.

And then we told them
we used to be called The Who.
They went, "Great!"

[song ends]
[audience applauds]

[Stamp]
They were very individual.

They didn't really
get along, you know,
that personally.

I'd been in a gang
in my adolescence.
It wasn't that different.

[guitar riffs play]

[Shaw]
It just came across,
not antisocial,

but they weren't there
to try to please people.

They were there to do
what they were gonna do,

and if you liked it,
that's up to you.

Pete was using these
very high-volume amplifiers.

He would, because of
the power in the amplifier,
create feedback.

[amplifier feeding back]

He did this thing
where he used to lift
the guitar like this.

We had a very low ceiling there.

I used to bang it to make it go
boing, boing, boing, boing.

[Barnes] And the guitar neck
went through the ceiling.

When it broke, I thought,
well, I may as well
finish it off.

We just stood there.
"What is going on here?
It's great."

[laughs]
I mean,

nobody had ever smashed
anything on a stage.

I saw Keith
looking at me.

Next week, I start banging
my other guitar

and immediately
the drums were over,
sticks through...

[Barnes]
Pete said afterwards,
"Once I knew

that Moonie was with me,
then I would do it again."

[Townshend]
The guitar became,
when it was electrified,

in my case,
an instrument of control,

aggression,
latent violence.

People say to me,
"It's just stagecraft, isn't it?

Just showing off,
smashing your guitar."

To me it was far, far,
far more than that.

[amplifier feeding back]

[narrator] At art school,
Pete and Barnesy

had attended lectures
by Gustav Metzger,

a German artist
who destroyed his creations

as a political protest
against nuclear weapons.

[Townshend] Gustav Metzger
came to my college
to do lectures.

It was called The Destruction
in Art symposium.

Yoko Ono did that thing
where she had
her clothes cut up,

and he slashed his way
through a canvas
with a samurai sword,

and next thing I knew,
I'm breaking up guitars at gigs.

[Stamp] I thought it was
a bit sort of airy-fairy,
know what I mean?

It was a bit
sort of like, why bother?

You're fucking angry,
you're smashing your guitar up.
It looks great.

It does suggest the rage
that we all feel.

[Daltrey] It really did
annoy me that the visual

kind of took over from
what was really going on.

I'd even have the guys
in the band going,

"What a lot of pompous,
pretentious drivel."

And I'd go,
"No, it's auto-destructive art."

[amplifier buzzing]
[audience cheers]

[acoustic guitar plays]

Pete was, even in those days,
in a class of his own.

It was this act, you know,
smashing up the instruments,
feedback,

Pete's windmilling arm.

He did this sort of thing
that the kids called
the Birdman.

[Daltrey] Lambert and Stamp
got us a gig at the Marquee
in the West End of London,

and Kit had this poster made
of Pete with the guitar

in the bird-like...

sideways
and a profile of his nose.

Fabulous.
Absolutely classic.

You could not ignore
that poster. It was like,
"What is The Who?"

["Heat Wave" plays]

[vocalizing]

Within a month,
the queues would be

all the way down Wardour Street,
and they would be turning
thousands of people away.

It was incredible.

I've got to admit that
I felt that we were special.

* Whenever she calls my name *

* Yeah, yeah, yeah
I can't explain *

* I feel, I feel *

* Yeah, I feel
This burning flame *

[Daltrey]
It's to do with attitude.

It's like, you can hit
your hand like that.

That's a tempo.

Or you can hit it like this.

Now, it's two totally
different attitudes.

The tempo
hasn't changed at all.

And The Who always did it
with that attitude of drive.

* Oh, yeah, oh, yeah *

[indistinct]

* Oh, yeah, oh, yeah *

[vocalizing]

* Heat wave *
* Burnin' in my heart *

I remember one thing that
we were very much aware of

was that we were still
copying other people's songs.

* Heat wave *

[narrator]
By 1964, The Beatles
were revolutionizing

popular music
with their songwriting.

The Rolling Stones and the Kinks
joined the British invasion
of America

by recording
original material.

* Girl
You really got me going *

* You got me so I don't know
What I'm doing *

We needed a songwriter
in the group, and Pete
turned out to be one.

I listened to a couple
of Kinks songs and just
produced this rhythm.

["I Can't Explain" plays]

* Got a feeling inside *
* Can't explain *

* Certain kind *
* Can't explain *

* I feel hot and cold *
* Can't explain *

- * Down in my soul, yeah *
- * Can't explain *

[Daltrey] Unlike The Kinks,
what on the surface
appears to be

a very frilly little
pop song

is a much, much bigger
statement from the vocal--

"I've got a feeling inside
I can't explain."

And you could see that
Townshend as a writer
had a huge potential.

'Cause he wasn't going
the normal way
that pop songs go.

It was going internal.

* Can't explain
I think it's love *

* Try to say it to you
When I feel blue *

* But I can't explain *

Back in those early days,
I thought, "I'm not gonna
write songs forever.

This is boring."
You know.

I really thought "Can't Explain"
was quite childish.

[narrator] Pete's home-recorded
demo of the song
would get them signed.

He was 19.

He had it on tape,
which I played over the phone

to Shel Talmy.

The demo I heard was about
a minute and ten seconds long.

Probably safe to say
in about the first, uh,

30 to 45 seconds,
I said, "Yes."

I said
"I will get us a deal."

[Daltrey]
Kit told us this recording deal.

And, I mean,
I'm a Shepherd's Bush boy.
You know, work the markets.

When Kit told us
our percentage,

it had something like
a couple of cents
on the end of it.

[Barnes]
When Kit Lambert
and Chris Stamp

were managing the band,
they got a very bad deal.

[Shaw] I went round
to all the record shops,

gave them free copies,
gave them posters,

and helped push it that way.

But then luckily
Radio Caroline played it.

[woman] * Caroline
The sound of ignition *

* Caroline! *

["I Can't Explain" plays]

Twelve midnight tonight,
Steve Young along

on The Curly-Headed Kid Show
until 3 a.m.

* Got a feeling inside *
* Can't explain *

Radio Caroline was the first
of the pirate radio stations.

'Cause radio was controlled
in England by the BBC.

And suddenly these ships
out of England jurisdiction

started to pump the music out
into England,

and it took off like a rocket.

[Daltrey] The truth is,
without pirate radio,

the English invasion
and all that pop scene
would not have happened.

* Can't explain
I think it's love *

* Try to say it to you
When I feel blue *

* But I can't explain *

[narrator]
Released January 15, 1965,

"I Can't Explain"
would climb to number eight

on the New Musical Express
chart.

[Townshend]
I was driving over
Hammersmith flyover

and heard "Can't Explain"
on the radio

and thought, "Wow," you know.

"I've got a commission,
I've got a patron.
This is art."

[narrator]
Brunswick Records sold
104,000 copies of the single.

The boys made £250 each.

* Said I can't explain *

[audience cheers]

It was chaos, 'cause we were
smashing up all this equipment,
and I had no money.

I used to take all Pete's
guitars and in between a show,
putting 'em together.

While one was being glued,

the other one would be all set
from the day before.

And the main thing was
keep the band working.

[audience cheers]

- * I can go any way *
- * Without you *

- * I can live anyhow *
- * Without you *

* I can go anywhere *

[Daltrey] In those days,
it wasn't uncommon for us
to do a show at 8:00 till 9:00,

travel 150 miles,

and then do another show
at midnight till 1:00.

We used to take amphetamines.

I discovered that taking
amphetamines didn't go
with being a good singer.

* Oh, C *

* C.C. Rider *

* See what you have done now *

[Daltrey]
They pilled up
like no tomorrow,

and their playing became
just a noise.

[amplifier feeding back]

Tempos went out the window,

volumes went out the window.

And everything we worked
to be good at

suddenly disappeared
out the window
due to amphetamines.

So it all came to a head
at one show

where I just gave up onstage,
left the stage.

Went back to the dressing room,
got the bag of amphetamines.

I mean, these guys.
Flushed 'em down the toilet.

Moon went up like a rocket
and hit me with a tambourine.

I laid into Moonie
and ended up
in a real good punch-up.

The roadies pulled us apart,
of course.

But the damage had been done.

Basically,
I was thrown out the band.

At that moment,
I didn't give a fuck,

'cause if that
was gonna be the band

as they had been
on amphetamines,
it wasn't worth being in anyway.

[rock plays]

He had been this sort of
tough guy, boss of the group.

Roger puts this band together
and then finds the three dwarfs

that he's brought in
to support him suddenly
sort of leaving him behind.

[Daltrey]
It was the first time in my life
that I realized that

I loved something else
other than myself.

And I thought,
if I'm being thrown out
for being like I was,

then I'll have to change,
because the band is more
important to me than anything.

After about four weeks,
they came back and said,

"Look, you're back in the band,
but you're on probation.

And, uh,

one more outburst like that,
and you're out."

Where's the place, Kit?
I have absolutely no idea.

They're going to find it.

[narrator]
Four weeks after
the blow-up in Copenhagen,

The Who returned to the studio
to record Pete's
latest creation.

When you're a kid and you,

and you pick up a guitar
for the first time, you know,

you just want to make
that sound.

[playing "My Generation"]

["My Generation" plays]

* People try to put us d-down *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

* Just because we get around *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

[Stamp]
"My Generation" was the song

that I felt an immediate
sort of thing for.

* I hope I die
Before I get old *

This had to be
the essence of The Who.

* This is my generation *

* This is my generation, baby *

[Glyn Johns] I can remember
the "My Generation" session
very clearly,

because it was so unusual,
the fact that he stuttered
on it.

I mean, I thought
that was absolutely brilliant.

* I'm not tryin' to cause
A big s-sensation *

[Townshend] Roger's got
a story about the stutter,
and so has Chris Stamp.

They're both well out of order.

The stutter came from
John Lee Hooker.

It was to do with
the pilled-up mod

and the old blues stutter
and so on.

And when I put it on
at the first demo,
it was partly there.

And Chris Stamp said,
"What's that?"

And I said,
"I'm stuttering."

And I think maybe
he didn't realize
that I meant to stutter.

I don't remember it
being on the demo.
It might have been.

My memory's not that good on it.

Does it--
Does it really matter?

* My generation *

* This is my generation, baby *

[Sting]
I marveled at that bass line.

Very flashy, very effective
and completely original.

I don't know
where it came from.
[imitating bass riff]

[chuckles]
It was fantastic.

Amazing, the bass solo
in "My Generation."

If you could write that
into words, that's what
you'd have on your gravestone.

* People try to put us d-down *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

* Just because
We g-get around *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

[Townshend]
We're talking about
very, very early days here.

I think back to those days,
and I just--

I think it was really painful.

* This is my generation *

We hadn't really
respected the difficulties
that Roger had.

It's wrong for me to say this,
but, you know...

Keith was a genius,
John was a genius,

I was certainly
on the edge of it.

You know, Roger was a singer.
That was it.

I just decided within myself

that I would never let them--

whatever they did to me,
whatever they did--

I wouldn't ever react
like that again to them.

And I became
a completely different guy,

as far as
that's concerned.

* This is my generation *

But I struggled
more than anything

to find a voice,
a real voice for this band.

* Talking 'bout my generation *
* This is my generation *

[guitar chord strums]

* I don't mind *

* Other guys dancing
With my girl *

* That's fine *

* I know them all
Pretty well *

* But I know sometimes *

* I must get out in the light *

* Better leave her behind *

* With the kids
They're alright *

* The kids are alright *

Our ambitions in those days
were very, very simple--
to be rich and famous.

We made no excuses for it.

We just got out of
having our ass hanging
out of our trousers.

I don't make any apologies
for wanting to be
rich and famous.

Thank you very much.

* I was born with
A plastic spoon in my mouth *

* The north side of my town
Faced east *

* And the east
Was facing south *

[narrator]
The Who played 60 shows

through the first 90 days
of 1966.

And we have got for you
the most controversial group
in England!

-Ladies and gentlemen, The Who!
-The Who!

-The Who!
-Les Who!

-The Who!
-The Who!
-The Who!

* One girl was called
Jean Marie *

* Another little girl
Was called Felicity *

[Townshend]
It used to feel to me
that the band was doomed.

You know, I'm going off
with this fucking horrible
band of yobboes,

you know, to Germany
and to Sweden and to--

and with people with whom
I had absolutely

nothing in common
whatsoever-- nothing.

They were at each other
a lot.

[Daltrey]
The Who was built
on competition.

The competition was horrendous
on and off the stage.

[Barnes] Then it got great,
because it became wonderfully
sort of on edge because of that.

You could be watching The Who
in that '66-'67 period
when they were gigging,

and in the middle of a show,
suddenly Pete would
get the guitar

and whack it
around Roger's head--
It was fantastic.

Everyone was really on edge
watching them all the time,
you know.

* I want to play cricket
On the green *

* Ride my bike
Across the street *

* Cut myself and see my blood *

* I want to come home
All covered in mud *

* I'm a boy, I'm a boy
But my mom won't admit it *

* I'm a boy, I'm a boy
I'm a boy *

[Townshend]
Roger talks now very
romantically about those days,

like it was some kind of magic.

I don't think there was
a lot of magic. What there was
was a lot of brute force.

* I'm a boy *

[Gallagher] Nobody knew
what they were doing.

Those bands
were managed by kids.

They didn't have a fuckin' clue
what they were doing either.

[narrator]
In March of '66,
The Who and their management

broke their contract
with producer Shel Talmy

and began making
their own records.

[Stamp] Very early on,
Kit and I realized

that if we weren't
in control of the recording

and how it went
and what happened,

it would just be hopeless.

We would lose
this gigantic piece

of what the destiny
of the group was.

And so we had to get out
of that contract.

[narrator] Lambert and Stamp
started their own company,
Track Records.

[Stamp] I was like
the executive producer.

Kit was the overall
sort of musical director.

Day to day, right,
in the studio.

* I used to wake up
In the morning *

* I used to feel so bad *

Kit Lambert--
he had great ideas,

but he wasn't really
technically very good.

[Curbishley]
Kit was the ultimate

Barnum & Bailey con man
in a lot of ways.

He would bluster his way
through things, you know.

He had a lot of front
and courage in that way.

Big fucking pain in the ass,
you know, in the studio.

But he made it fun.

* Pictures of Lily *
I can do it if-- you know,
once I get used to sort of--

[man] Just do it
with confidence.

Just hit it, do you know?

Keith, when you hit
the very high note,
back off a bit

because you're really piercing
because of the height
of the thing.

[Townshend]
So you keep
jumping on John's--

John's
usually louder

than everyone else
anyway, you know.

And if anyone
needs backing up,
it's sort of me, you know.

[Lambert]
You'll cut through everything
anyway on that note.

[music plays]

[laughter]

[music stops]
Oh! Oh!

Kit Lambert's father,
Constant Lambert,

created the Royal Ballet.

Created the Royal Ballet.

Kit had gone into film
because he didn't want to be

anything to do with music.

And suddenly, you know,
life rips him back in

right in the middle of music,
only a different type.

* And I ask you, hey, mister
Have you ever seen *

* Pictures of Lily? *

I would say to Kit,
"I really want to
write a fuckin' opera.

I don't want to write
rock songs all the time."

he constantly encouraged me
on the basis of his background.

* Her man's been gone *

* For nearly a year *

* He was due home yesterday *

* But he ain't here *

[Stamp]
It was called a mini-opera,
"A Quick One While He's Away,"

which is an English way
of saying, you know,

you have a quick fuck
while the husband's away, right?

Do you know what I mean?
That was the story.

* Down your street, your crying
Is a well-known sound *

[Stamp]
It was a big operatic piece

told in these
sort of six or seven

one-minute or two-minute
pieces of song.

* We have a remedy
You'll appreciate *

* No need to be so sad
He's only late *

Kit kept saying to me,
"My father, Constant Lambert,
would've loved The Who."

So he was very supportive,
and that's how that grew.

[Stamp] Probably
the most important relationship

that Kit and Pete had
was each other.

* You are forgiven *

[narrator]
During the recording session
for A Quick One,

Lambert introduced the band
to one of the first artists

signed by the new
Track Records.

[Daltrey]
He came to the studio
before he became

the legendary Jimi Hendrix,

and he was just a guitarist
in a soul band.

* Forgiven, forgiven *

You're forgiven.

* Run, run, run *

* Run, run, run *

[Stamp]
We'd always been looking
at the United States,

because that was
sort of like the home

of the music that we loved.

They just wanted to
crack America, and just
toured and toured and toured.

[Goldsmith]
The Who were a brand
that represented Britishness

and everything
that London stood for.

[narrator]
They wore it on their backs
for their British invasion.

* You better run, run, run *

* Run, run, run *

[Stamp] We couldn't just come
over here and make a couple
of hit tunes, like pop hits.

If they took The Who,
they had to take
the whole package.

[narrator]
In March of 1967,

they played a nine-day showcase
in New York City.

Three months later, they went
with their new label-mate
to Monterey, California.

* If you're going *

* To San Francisco *

[Daltrey]
Monterey was a big one for us.

Before we even got to Monterey,
Monterey was built up

in my imagination
as an enormous event.

Worst thing about Monterey
was we found out from
one of our ex-roadies

that Hendrix was gonna
steal our act.

[Townshend] Jimi was
out of his brain on acid

and wouldn't discuss
who would go on first.

It wasn't that we didn't
want to follow him.

We just wanted to get our act,
you know, done first.

We were kind of choked up

because we were in debt
because we smashed our guitars,

and then suddenly someone was
gonna come along from nowhere

and steal it
in front of all those people.

[emcee] I'd like to
introduce you to an act

who have been passed by
slightly in America,
but they won't be after this.

This is The Who, this one.

[audience applauds]

["My Generation" plays]

-* People try to put us down *
-* Talking 'bout my generation *

[man]
They played with kind of
a sense of abandon

in a way
it hadn't been done before.

I mean, the absolute abandon.

* Yeah, I hope I die
Before I get old *

[The Edge]
It was a sort of exorcism.

The performance
just went off into

a kind of emotional meltdown,
in a sense,

which I don't think anyone
had ever seen before.

[Daltrey]
The visual was a ritualistic
slaughter of a guitar,

but the sound of that slaughter
was fuckin' brilliant.

It was the best jazz.
It was the best rock and roll.

It was something like
no one had ever done before.

And I still love it
to this day.

[audience cheers]

[Townshend]
We made the house stand up
and roar and scream and shout.

It's the first time
they'd ever seen it.

They'd heard about it
but never seen it happen.

And then Hendrix came on,
played fairly well

and set his guitar alight,
slung it in the air
and did it all again.

And this time the crowd got up
with the same kind of roar,
but slightly mystified--

"Now, what's going on here?"
you know.

[amplifier feeding back]

[Townshend]
After Monterey Pop,
I became very

disturbed about acid.

[voice echoing]

Coming back from Monterey,
on the plane, he had
a really bad trip

and vowed he wouldn't take
any more psychedelic drugs
after that.

[Townshend]
I just started to get
really sickened by LSD

and acid
and by psychedelia and...

But I'd also
been inspired by it.

There was no question
I'd been inspired.

So I was confused by it.

Within about two months of that,
he was into Meher Baba.

[Indian raga plays]

I found him through
a man called Mike McInnerney.

[man] I was talking
to Pete about it.

I think Pete, like every other
rock-and-roll star, was, um,

was not having
a good time sometimes.

[Townshend] He gave me a book
called The God-Man

about this guy
called Meher Baba.

[narrator]
He was a Persian born in India
who took a vow of silence

and kept it
for most of his life.

True believers called him
an Avatar, god on Earth.

[McInnerney]
The very simple thing that Baba
asked you to do was to love him.

There's a difficulty there
for a start when you're
in rock and roll.

You're a performer and you're
having to do all the stuff
that Pete's having to do,

and yet he chooses to
try and to make a spiritual
journey at the same time.

[narrator] The year Pete wrote
"I Can't Explain,"

Meher Baba warned against
searching for god in a pill.

[Townshend] To the sincere
seeker after truth,

experimentation with drugs
may well open doors,

but continued use
will lead to madness,

death and insanity.

And, you know,
from what I've seen,

there are very, very,
very few exceptions.

["Magic Bus" plays]

We were booked on a tour,
bottom of the bill,

with Herman's Hermits.

You can imagine
Herman's Hermits' audience

was sort of 13-year-old
middle-class girls.

They were introduced to
their first piece of danger.

* I want the magic bus *

* I want the magic bus *

They just ran.
They just--

They ran to the back of the hall
until Herman came on.

* Too much
The magic bus *

[narrator]
In Georgia, Moonie discovered
firework stands.

And in Michigan,
he celebrated his 21st birthday.

[upbeat music plays]

[man] I do remember
a car did end up
in a swimming pool.

I don't know whether it was
a Lincoln Continental,

but a car did end up
in the swimming pool,
and there was a lot of carnage.

However much of that is true,
you don't know.

I want it all to be true.
You know.

You want to think that
he drove his Rolls-Royce
into a swimming pool.

It was Keith Moon,
for crying out loud.

[narrator] The truth is
several cars were damaged

as well as several rooms
in the hotel.

Moonie chipped a tooth
running from the law,

and The Who was banned
from Holiday Inns for life.

And over here,
the guy who plays
the sloppy drums.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road.
What's your name?

Keith.
Keith?

My friends call me Keith.
You can call me John.

What's the next song
you're gonna do?

[stutters]
"My Generation."

Your generation?
Yeah.

I can really
identify with that,

because I really identify
with these guys, I dig 'em.

[farting sound]
And this is a--

You know, you got
sloppy stagehands around here.

[narrator]
On the last gig of the trip,
they smashed up their gear

for the first time
on American television.

Keith bribed
that sloppy stagehand
to overstuff his drum

with a dangerous amount
of explosives.

[John Entwistle]
Moon managed to fulfill
the outrageous part of the band,

and we just let him
get on with it,
and he was outrageous.

Ow! Aaah!

[cymbal crashes]

Uh, are you done?

["Happy Jack" plays]

* Happy Jack wasn't old
But he was a man *

[Barnes] I think obviously
Pete wanted a bigger challenge

than just the three-minute
single, you know.

And he wanted to write
something much more complex

and detailed and layered.

[narrator] In four years,
The Who had released
eight singles in the UK,

all of them top ten hits.

Singles drove the market.

Once the single happened,
you immediately went
to an album.

As much as we loved
the three-minute single,

the value was more than just
a three-minute single,

and it could add up
to a lot more.

[narrator]
In December 1967,

The Who produced
a piece of pop art.

[Townshend] The only time
I'd even approached

my art-school training
was in Who Sell Out.

Doing commercials, writing songs
about products and all of that
kind of stuff.

[hard rock music plays]

* Coca-Cola *

* Things go better with Coke *

Little bit about it,
because it's a very
unusual concept.

We want the album
to run very smoothly

and perhaps have
the atmosphere of
a pirate radio station.

So we've done a commercial
for Jaguar cars,
Heinz baked beans,

and each one,
funnily enough,
has opened up

a fairly unique
opportunity musically

which we wouldn't have got
through our normal numbers.

Keith will play one
we did yesterday.

[John Peel]
Would you do that?
It'd be very bold of you.

[rock plays]

Pete realized
he was onto something.

We knew the album was
gonna be the new art form.

[narrator] Rock music
changed the business in 1968.

That year,
for the first time,

people bought more albums
than singles.

[Barnes]
I used to say the '60s
was like a renaissance almost.

But the one art form
or means of communication

that was more important
than all the others
was popular music.

* More music, more music
More music, more music *

[narrator]
The Who toured the UK,
Europe, Australia.

They went coast to coast
across North America twice.

* I know you've deceived me *

* Now here's a surprise *

* I know that you have *

* 'Cause there's magic
In my eyes *

* I can see for miles
And miles *

* And miles and miles *

* And miles *

* Oh, yeah *

[Townshend] We put out
"I Can See For Miles,"

and it clearly wasn't
gonna change the world,

and it was the best possible
thing I could ever write.

So I just thought,
well, what do we do now?
We're fucked.

* Here's a poke at you
You're gonna choke on it too *

* You're gonna lose that smile *

* Because all the while *

* I can see for miles
And miles *

* I can see for miles
And miles *

[Townshend]
I went away, and I thought,

"I have to save this band.
I have to do it."

Kit can't do it.
Keith can't do it.
Roger can't do it.

I have to do it.

[Stamp]
Pete comes up with this idea

of this deaf,
dumb and blind boy.

The only way
he connects with life

is he feels the vibes, right?

The vibes are music, right?

That was it.

That was like-- You know
the screenplay written on
the back of a cigarette packet?

That's what Pete's idea was.

[Townshend] It's a bit like
an opera, but in actual fact,
it's a rock opera.

It's modern music as such.

It's the story of Tommy,
the deaf, dumb and blind boy,

and his--
his journey through

to extreme high levels
of consciousness,

despite the fact that
he's deaf, dumb and blind.

* I'm free *

* I'm free *

* Freedom tastes *

* Of reality *

[Barnes] It's all part
of reincarnation and, uh,

levels of consciousness
and stuff like this.

Meher Baba stuff.

Baba might have provided
spiritual glue
which made sense of

the travails
this character
was going through,

and the symbolism,
if you like.

[Stamp] If you think about
the wound of all the sort of
working-class war kids,

it's that
we didn't have a voice,
you know, we couldn't see.

[Townshend]
We all had exactly
the same experience.

When you went
to Granddad and you said,

"What do you think made
the fucking Germans do that?"

He'd go, "I don't want to
fuckin' talk about it.

You know, fuck off."

* You didn't hear it
You didn't see it *

* You won't say nothing
To no one never in your life *

* You never heard it
How absurd it all seems *

* Without any proof *

[Townshend]
We had all these fucking lies
we grew up with.

Tommy was so much rooted
in my-my childhood story.

[narrator]
Recording began in the fall
of '68 and lasted six months.

[Daltrey] Pete at the time
was writing a song a week.

And literally-- or even
a song the same evening

as we'd been in the studio
in the afternoon.

He'd come in the next day
and say, "Here's the next one
and here's the next one."

[hard rock music plays]

[Townshend] That was when
the ideas from the other guys
in the band started to come in.

* I'm your wicked Uncle Ernie *

* Glad you can't see or hear me
As I fiddle about *

* Fiddle about, fiddle about *

[Townshend] John Entwistle
came up with two really
very, very powerful songs

about abuse and bullying
that I couldn't write myself

because of my own childhood
tenderness on the subject.

* Down with the bedclothes
Up with your nightshirt *

* Fiddle about
Fiddle about, fiddle about *

[Daltrey] His input
shouldn't be underestimated.

I mean, the antagonists
like Uncle Ernie,

who he initially is,
and Cousin Kevin,

are just as important
as the hero.

It gave
the whole thing a balance.

Good morning, campers!
* I'm your Uncle Ernie *

* And I welcome you to
Tommy's Holiday Camp *

[Townshend] Keith Moon came up
with the idea that the temple,

the bizarre church
that I created, should actually
be a British holiday camp.

* It is forever
Ha-ha!

In that moment,
all of the elements of it
come together.

And instead of talking about
the trouble that we'd created
a couple of years ago,

we were talking about
the project, about what
we could do with it.

* You don't answer my call *

* With even a nod or a wink *

* But you gaze at
Your own reflection
All right *

* You don't seem to see me *

* But I think
You can see yourself *

* How can the mirror
Affect you? *

[man] Can you explain
in any kind of a way

what satisfaction
you get from it?

Yeah. Sexual.

I've always liked balls,

and, uh, to see
big, shiny, silver balls

runnin' round
a playground like this,

I can get a certain amount
of satisfaction

building up a score
that's gonna knock
everybody else into oblivion,

which, you know--
which I do often.

["Pinball Wizard" plays]

They came up with this idea
of introducing pinball

into this bizarre,
strange story that was going
all over the place.

* Ever since I was a young boy
I played the silver ball *

* From Soho
Down to Brighton *

* I must've played 'em all *

* But I ain't seen
Nothin' like him
In any amusement hall *

* That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball *

[Barnes] Pete said,
"I thought it was rubbish.

I didn't know whether
I should bother finishing it."

And he played it and everyone
went quiet until someone said,
"That's the number one."

And he went, "Aw," you know.
He couldn't see
that it was good.

* He's a pinball wizard
There has to be a twist *

* A pinball wizard's
Got such a supple wrist *

[Townshend]
Roger suddenly decided
that he would be Tommy.

I was supposed to sing Tommy.

He said, "Can I be Tommy?"

And I remember
thinking, yeah.

* See me *

[audience cheers]

* Feel me *

* Touch me *

* Heal me *

[Daltrey]
It was only really though
when we got onstage with Tommy

as a complete piece of music

that I really found my feet
and found The Who voice.

* Touch me *

* Heal me *

[Townshend]
Roger suddenly became
this different kind of singer.

* Feel me *

He'd never had that quality
that he now has,

which is of going up
to the audience
and engaging them

and opening his body
to them, you know,
and that kind of nakedness,

instead of being a really
tight little kind of,
"I'm a vicious mug.

Don't get in my way"
kind of thing.

* Listening to you *

* I get the music *

* Gazing at you *

* I get the heat *

* Following you *

* I climb a mountain *

* I get excitement
At your feet *

[Heather Daltrey]
It was a role.

He actually lived each song
as it went through.

* Got a feeling '21
Is gonna be a good year *

* Especially if you and me
See it in together *

* So you think '21
Is gonna be a good year *

[Stamp] Rock and roll
was still being seen
on a very bad level.

The sound systems weren't good.
You couldn't hear it properly.

So we thought, well,
let's use opera houses.

* Have no reason to be
Overoptimistic *

The group played Tommy
truly as an opera,
and it was, like, fantastic.

'Cause you had
these ancient, beautiful
acoustical places, right,

and this audience
hearing their music

played this way
for the first time.

[narrator]
After 18 months of touring,

The Who played
one final opera house

in New York City--
the Metropolitan.

[Stamp]
They really didn't want us
to go in there.

They really didn't want to
put rock and roll
in the Metropolitan Opera House.

The worst snobs turned out
to be Americans.

We got in,
and when we got in,

Decca Universal
re-released Tommy.

It just sold again

like five times
what it had sold the first time.

It became one of
those huge albums.
That was the printing-money era.

* Can you, can you hear me? *

* How can we be saved? *

[Curbishley] Tommy was huge

and did take the band along
on its coattails.

Tommy, in its own way,
became as big as The Who.

* Waking up
On Christmas morning *

* Hours before
The winter sun's igniting *

* They believe in dreams
And all they mean *

* Including heaven's
Generosity *

* Peeping round the door to see
What parcels are for free *

* In curiosity *

[Barnes] They were developing
this high-powered sound
for live gigs.

And it's absolutely
incredible

that you could get
that fantastic full,

rich, rock sound
out of just a guitar,

a bass guitar and a drum.

* Listening to you
I get the music *

* Gazing at you
I get the heat *

* Following you *

* I climb the mountain *

* I get excitement
At your feet *

Come on!

I started to feel
accepted again in the band
during Tommy.

[Townshend] Roger became Tommy,
became this figure.
Then it equalized.

And then we were
unbelievably potent,

because we were balanced.

It was a marriage,
but it was a good marriage.

Those were glorious years.

* Behind you
I see the millions *

* From you, I see the glory *

* From you, I get opinions *

* From you, I get the story *

["Behind Blue Eyes" plays]

* No one knows what it's like *

* To be the bad man *

* To be the sad man *

* Behind blue eyes *

I think that Pete has always
felt the pressure

of being the guy
who came up with the ideas.

It was such
a special gift that he had.

* No one knows what it's like *

* To be hated *

* To be fated *

* To telling only lies *

[Daltrey] I went through
terrible periods where

I would want to be
getting closer to him,

but I had to push myself away
because he was
in a creative thing.

And you kind of felt
that if you left him alone,
it would be better.

But it must have been,
for Pete, incredibly lonely.

It must've felt sometimes
that we didn't give a fuck
about him.

* I have hours *

* Only lonely *

* My love is vengeance *

* That's never free *

[Barnes]
It took a terrible toll on him.

After Tommy, they said,
"What are you gonna do next?"

[narrator] In 1971,

Pete conceived the first
interactive rock show.

He imagined fans
connected to the band,

the music, the art.

The futuristic performance
was to be filmed for a movie

and called Lifehouse.

The trouble is with Lifehouse

no one I've ever met,
apart from Pete,
ever understood it.

At the time, people just
thought I was nuts.

[narrator]
Including his mentor.

Behind my back,
Kit Lambert was
telling everybody

that I was insane

and that what we were
really doing was making
a movie of Tommy,

and he was directing it.

[Barnes] Pete said,
"I've had enough of that.

We're gonna be known
just for Tommy.
It's bigger than the band."

That was the point
at which Kit just
exploded the relationship.

* No one knows what it's like *

* To be the bad man *

* To be the sad man *

* Behind blue eyes *

[narrator]
In the spring of '71,
Lifehouse was abandoned.

["Baba O'Riley" plays]

The songs for Lifehouse
became the basis

of The Who's
most successful album,
Who's Next.

The opening track
was an anthem named in part

for Pete's spiritual guide,
Meher Baba.

[Barnes] The nerve
of having something open

with that huge, long
synthesizer intro,

which everyone in rock
at the time said, "You can't
have an intro like that,

because the radio
won't play it."

He claims-- Pete says
that those riffs are that

he put Meher Baba's birth
into the computer,
and this is what came out.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you, Pete.
Yeah, right."

You know. Like hell.

* Out here in the fields *

* I fight for my meals *

[Townshend]
One of the first messages
that received directly

from Meher Baba
was that he recognized me.

That I was one of his,
as it were.

And he died two years later,
so I never met him.

* Don't cry *

* Don't raise your eye *

* It's only teenage wasteland *

* Sally, take my hand *

* We'll travel south
'Cross land *

* Put out the fire *

* And don't look past
My shoulder *

[narrator] Following the tour
for Who's Next,

Pete went to India to visit
the tomb of his spiritual guide.

"Beloved Baba
sends his love to you.

He is always with you,
in you and near you,

and he says, be happy
and not to worry."

[Townshend]
In a sense, I was engaged
in some kind of sabotage.

I was inside this
very, very macho group
that smashed its guitars

and had a reputation
for being quite rebellious,

trying to spread this message
of love and peace. [laughs]

[cheering]

["The Real Me" plays]

* I went back to the doctor *

* To get another shrink *

* I sit and tell him
About my weekend *

* But he never betrays
What he thinks, whoo *

* Can you see the real me *

* Doctor, Doctor? *

* Can you see
The real me, Doctor? *

* Whoa, Doctor *

[narrator]
In 1973, Pete crafted
a second rock opera.

Quadrophenia
was set against the rumble

of the mods and rockers.

* She said
"I know how it feels, Son *

* 'Cause it runs
In the family" *

[Townshend]
I wanted Kit to be
a part of Quadrophenia,

even though it was
done and dusted.

Chris Stamp said,
"He's in New York and he's got
a bit of a problem.

He's become
a heroin addict."

[Daltrey] After Tommy,
the drugs changed.

We'd lost a bit of our--
our vision.

The dynamic of wealth
introduced into this family

was what changed it.

[Curbishley] Kit and Chris
were fighting on a daily basis.

They began to fall apart
as partners,

and they began
to fall apart as people.

It was quite obvious
that Kit was now

into quite heavy substances.

And money was going missing.

It wasn't a matter of
they were trying to screw us.

They were just completely
out of control.

We became the problem, right?

So if we were to go, the problem
would resolve itself.

Now, I've never understood that.

Because although
we may have been fucked up,

we could still utter
one decent idea once a week...

from our stupor, you know?

So, I don't know.
It ended.

[narrator] The band
turned to Bill Curbishley

to take over management.

I looked at the past contracts

and what they were achieving
as live performers,

and I felt that could be
dramatically changed.

* Bell boy *

-* Gonna get running now *
-* Bell boy *

[narrator] Having set their
affairs in order, he urged
them to tour Quadrophenia.

-* Carry the bloody
Baggage out *
-* Bell boy *

* Always running
At someone's heel *

But Pete's new opera
was much more demanding live

than Tommy had been.

[Townshend] What happened
on Quadrophenia was

I had absolute control.

And everybody involved in it
was like my puppet.

And I think
by the very, very end of it,
Roger just got sick of it.

[power chords play on guitar]

Roger and Pete
had a fight in rehearsals.

[Daltrey] Pete just got
really angry with me.

Takes his guitar and hits me
over the shoulder with it.

So the road crew,
they jump on me.

I was holding Pete back,
and the roadies were
holding Roger back.

And I hadn't done anything.

Pete turned around and said,
"Yeah, let me go, let me go."

So, I thought, fine.
I let him go.

And he just came at me.
He was so drunk.

-And he walked up to Roger.
-I just managed to catch him
with a very lucky punch.

-Whack.
-Completely knocked him sparko.

Thump.

His feet left the ground,
and he hit his head
on the stage.

And he was unconscious,
and I thought, "Fuck."

We were all exhausted.
And it's a magnificent
piece of work.

Absolutely magnificent.
It's our towering triumph,
Quadrophenia.

So, in a sense, you know,

a little bit of blood spilt
on the way is nothing.

[narrator]
As boys, they played
dance halls and pubs.

[emcee]
Here they are, The Who!

Less than a decade later,
they were headlining stadiums.

As The Who developed,
so had the business.

[Curbishley]
Just think about the feeling
to walk onto a stage,

and you've got 60,000 people
out there to see you.

Adulation from masses
of people is power.

And it distorts.

[audience cheers]

[Daltrey] The adrenaline
that you get from stage--

it's incredibly good
when it's used.

But if you can't use it,
it's incredibly destructive.

[Townshend]
Keith and John together
were a dangerous double act.

I was very naive.

I didn't realize
how much coke they were doing,
as well as drinking.

And Keith
was doing everything else.

Mandrax to go to sleep.

Elephant tranquilizer.
Anything anybody gave him,
he would do it.

[Daltrey]
Who knows what was
going on in his brain?

I sometimes feel that
he started to believe
that he was invincible.

"I can take anything.
I'm Keith Moon of The Who."

[Townshend]
He was falling down
with drug overdoses

on the stage
during the shows!

I thought if we kept doing
what we were doing,

you know,
Keith was gonna die.

[audience cheers]

[narrator]
After the Quadrophenia tour,

The Who did not take
the stage again for 16 months.

[drumroll, horn fanfare plays]

[Daltrey] We were off the road
for long periods of time,

and that in itself
was destructive to Keith.

Keith used to go out on benders
because he didn't have
nothing else to do.

[upbeat march plays]

He loved dressing up.

But the trouble is,
you'd end up in a nightclub

with him dressed up
as a tart or a cavalier.

And then 3:00 in the morning,

you've gone home,
and he's still that person.

* Ba-- Ba-Bar-Ran *

[Butler] We'd just book
a hotel in London, and he'd pull

all the Swedish models
out of Tramps for four nights

and, excuse my French,
shag ourselves to death.

I used to drive him home,
and he was like that in the car.

I'd just get him outside,
but he goes, "Ah, dear boy.

What a brilliant four days.
Let's do that again next week."

And I'd go, "Yeah, okay."

[Stamp] Dougal,
he was always there for Keith.

He was a good roadie.
He was a good driver.

He was a good--
He was a good cornerman.

[narrator]
Moon's previous cornerman
was killed on the job.

In 1970, his childhood friend,
Neil Boland,

was accidentally run over
by Keith

during an alcohol-fueled
scuffle outside a nightclub.

Nobody's really clear on
what happened that night,

but Keith's journey

of experience
with alcohol and drugs

basically gathered speed.

[narrator] In 1974,
Moon moved to Malibu,

home of the Southern California
surfer music he loved so much.

* Here by the sea and sand *

* Nothing ever goes as planned *

* I just couldn't face
Going home *

* It was just a drag
On my own *

[Butler]
He wanted to get into movies.

People would say, "Oh,
he'd make a great movie star."

At the end,
it became too much.

* I'm the face
If you want it, baby *

* I'm the face if you want it *

[Butler] I made a phone call
to Bill Curbishley and I said,
"Look, I'm leaving,

'cause I can't do it anymore."

* If you want it *

But I did say to Bill,
"Get him home
as soon as possible,

'cause the way
he's carrying on, he's not
gonna be here much longer."

* Nothing is planned
By the sea and the sand *

[fanfare plays]

[narrator] In 1975,
Tommy was immortalized on film,

but not by Kit Lambert.

Director Ken Russell wrote
a new script for the rock opera.

[Gallagher]
The film is appalling, right?
It's dreadful.

And everybody in it
really should question
their fuckin' judg--

particularly
Eric Clapton.

A bit pants.
A little bit pants.

[Townshend]
And I've always been a fan
of Ken's, both as a person

and as a visionary,
and I love it--
I just love it.

[narrator] Tommy spent 14 weeks
atop the British box office

and garnered three
Academy Award nominations.

As his most popular creation
took another lap
around the world,

Pete went to work
on a new album.

[Townshend] I would think,
"I can't go through that again."

I just can't
go through it again.

I can't come up
with some great idea
and push it through.

I don't have the arrogance.
I don't have the--

I don't have the--
the balls to do it again.

* It's clear to all my friends
That I habitually lie *

* I just bring them down *

[Townshend]
Where we saw our future
was in movies.

We'd already done Tommy.

We'd managed to get a foothold
in Shepperton Studios.

We thought that we were
gonna be about movies.

[narrator]
Manager Bill Curbishley
would strike a deal

to produce the film
of Quadrophenia.

As they pursued
the new popular art form,

a new generation
began taking over music.

[punk rock plays]

[Goldsmith] Punk-- I hated it,
and I couldn't see the point

of spitting
and all that crap.

It was the revolution
of the uglies.

[narrator]
And the uglies loved The Who.

* You think that we look
Pretty good together *

You know, they'd come under
that category a little bit

as big, big stars
that weren't approachable.

* Substitute for another guy *

[Townshend]
We were frightened. It was
like the French Revolution.

It could've ended up
with, you know,

The Beatles, The Stones
and The Who being beheaded
in public.

* I was born with
A plastic spoon in my mouth *

Me and Cookie went down
to Speakeasy, which was
an after-hours place in London,

and Townshend was in there,
already drunk.

Went screaming up
to Jones and Cook
and kind of going, you know,

"If you want to take over,
fuckin' take over.
Just fuckin' get on with it.

Good fuckin' luck."

[Jones] I think we might've
been all a bit tipsy,
but he was hammered.

And he was going up
to people saying,
"Who are ya? Who are ya?"

To everyone.

[narrator] In 1977,
Keith returned to England.

Pete had been writing
new material.

* Who are you? *

* Who, who, who, who *

* Who are you? *

* Who the fuck are you? *

That December,
they filmed a performance

for the band's latest project,
a documentary film.

* Who are you? *

* Tell me, who are you? *
* Who are you? *

It was their first time back
onstage in more than a year.

* Oh, tell me, who are you? *

* Who are you? *

* I woke up in a Soho doorway *

* A policeman knew my name *

* You can go sleep
At home tonight *

* If you can get up
And walk away *

* I staggered back
To the underground *

* And the breeze
Blew back my hair *

* I remember
Throwing punches around *

* And preaching from my chair *

* Who are you? *

[Townshend] Unfortunately,
the band didn't play as well,

but we all-- I think
all of us had such
a good time together.

But we were all wrecks.
You know, so it's kind of like--

* Who are you? *

-* Who, who, who, who *
-* I really want to know *

* Who are you? *

* Who, who, who, who *

* Oh, who the fuck are you? *

[narrator]
In the spring of 1978,

they went back into the studio
for the first time
in three years.

That summer,
Moon began taking
prescription medicine

to try to curb his drinking.

[Townshend]
Keith did that thing of, uh--

I said, "Now, come on, come on.
Give it a real go."

And he'd start to try and play.

I'd say, "Come on. Try again."

And in the end, he threw down
his sticks and went,

"I'm still--- having a bad day--

but I'm still the best fuckin'--

Keith Moon-type--
drummer in the world!"

* Who are you? *

* Who, who, who, who *

* I really want to know *

[narrator]
Who Are You was released
August 18, 1978.

* I really want to know *

* Who are you? *

* Who *

* I really want to know *

* I really want to know *

* Come on
Tell me, who are you *

* You, you, who are you? *

[man on radio]
He was found unconscious
in a London flat this morning.

[man 2 on radio]
The doctor was called,
who pronounced Moon dead.

[woman on radio] He was
found dead by his girlfriend
early today. He was 32.

It was a silly mistake
that made him take
a handful of Heminevrin.

It disables the esophagus,
and, you know, he couldn't
throw up, and--

He just always
took pills in handfuls.
It was just a habit that he had.

[Curbishley]
He was never gonna
grow old gracefully.

I don't think he was destined
to make old bones.

I suppose he was designed
in such a way

to be remembered as he was.

It is the end of an era.

We're gonna try and go on.

The one thing that
everyone must understand--

It will never, ever
be the same. That died.

[audience cheers]

But it was very strange,
'cause there's something
underneath

that determined
not to let the one thing

that we'd all created,
including Keith, die--

the music,
not to let it die.

* Long live rock
I need it every night *

* Long live rock *

* Come on and join the line *

* Long live rock *

* Be it dead or alive *

[narrator]
Less than eight months
after Moonie's death,

The Who returned to the stage
with keyboard player
Rabbit Bundrick

and drummer Kenney Jones.

Kenney Jones was a good mate
from The Small Faces,

and we'd always
admired him as a drummer,
and we liked him as a guy.

Anything can change,
especially, you know, with Pete.

So, you just go with it,
and you got to know
when to go with it.

[Stamp] I went to see
The Who for the first time
without Keith,

and I'm standing at
the side of the stage,

and Pete goes off
onto some sort of

freestyle sort of riff,
you know, on his guitar,

and he turns to Keith.

Because he's gone
as far as he can go.

So he turns to Keith
to take it over.

Those moments, like on the stage
when I'm taken aback,

because I look,
and I expect him to be there.

This is because
it is like a marriage.

* Long live rock *

* Come on and join the line *

A real sense of connection

and of life wanting
to kind of go on like a wheel.

And thinking, well, everything
that goes comes back again.

And the thing is,
is that with people
it doesn't work like that,

and they don't come back again.

[audience applauds]

Let's have the biggest hand
of the night

for Mr. Kenney Jones,
our new drummer.

-Hey.
-[audience cheers]

Didn't know what I was letting
myself in for, to be honest.
But there you go.

What happened to me
was I started to drift
into substances, you know.

[Daltrey]
Pete's addiction in 1979

was perhaps a reflection
of, I think, the guilt

that both--
I'm sure Pete felt.

'Cause I know I did.
That I hadn't done enough--

enough to save Kei--
save Keith.

You know, even I started to do
things I'd never done before.

You know, I felt very miserable
for a long time.

[Jones] Roger obviously
was missing Moonie.

Not just onstage,
but in many other ways.

And I think
it really got to him a bit.

I didn't bank on the emotional
elements, you know.

[narrator]
During Kenney's first tour,

The Who played through
the deadliest rock concert
in US history.

Cincinnati was an emotionally
devastating situation.

The band were, like,
20 minutes into their show.

The co-promoter came to me,
and he said,

"We've got a problem
up on the plaza level."

What happened is there was
only one door to get through

and a staircase to go down,
so they all rushed.

[Curbishley] And those kids
that fell got trampled on.

The band were unaware
of what was happening

until they finished the show.

[Jones]
We had to go back to America
a couple of months later

and be grilled by the lawyers--

"Do you feel responsible
for the people that died?"
You know.

It still haunts me
to this day.

I can't tell you
how I felt about

the parents of those kids.

Their kids had gone off
to a concert,

and they don't come home.

We all bear scars.

But you don't live without

having that map of life
somewhere on your face.

["Eminence Front" plays]

[narrator]
They released two albums
in two years--

Face Dances in '81

and It's Hard in '82,

only to be savaged
by some fans and critics.

[Townshend]
When you read the newspapers
and the reviews, it's like,

"This album is the worst thing
that's ever happened in
the history of rock and roll.

Townshend has gone mad,
and he's masturbating
in public."

You know.
"They may as well
crawl away and die."

* Sun shines *

* People forget *

* Spray flies *

* As the speedboat glides *

* People forget *

[narrator]
The man who encouraged Pete
to write works of art

died of a brain hemorrhage
in 1981.

Kit Lambert was 45.

I didn't have an answer.

I couldn't work out what to do

that would return the band
to its halcyon years.

* As the skier tracks *

* People forget *

* They forget they're hiding *

* It's an eminence front *

[Daltrey] What makes
The Who special is that
it's not even what's written.

It's the bits you don't know
are going to happen, and they
come out of thin air.

Some nights it makes it,
some nights it doesn't.

But the nights
that it makes it,
they were the--

That was the trouble
with Kenney. Those nights
became fewer and fewer.

[Curbishley]
It was Roger who pushed

to get him out of the band.

He didn't think
he was right for The Who.

There is no right drummer
for The Who.

There will be never be
the right drummer for The Who.

It will only be Keith.

But there you go.

* Eminence front, yeah *

* Just an eminence front
It's a put-on *

[narrator]
In 1983, Pete officially
dissolved the band.

Just months before, Tommy
was reissued on a new format--
the compact disc.

* Bullshit, bullshit
Yeah, yeah, yeah *

We just reached the end,
you know.

That's the way I feel about it.
I don't know why.

Bye, bye.
I can't wait to get out.

* You got to dress to kill *

* Dress yourself to kill *

[audience cheers]

[Daltrey] You've been
traveling on this thing

that was going
a million miles an hour,
and all of a sudden,

it comes to
a complete, dead stop.

And it's incredibly
difficult to adjust.

Because we haven't lived
normal lives.

It's as though
the world stops.

[Townshend] At the time,
I was fairly convinced

that I would do better
as a solo artist.

I did a few songs.
It was a pragmatic decision.

Whether it was the right
or wrong decision,
I had to do something.

I think if we'd have
continued to work,

I think I would've been
a casualty.

I blamed rock and roll,
and, of course,
after three or four years

being out of
frontline rock and roll,

I realize I was just as sick,
just as mad, and you know,
just as overworked.

You know, so...
it was me that was the problem.

[narrator]
The Who returned to the stage
on only two occasions

over the next 13 years--

a 20-minute set at Live Aid

and an all-star tour
for the 20th anniversary
of Tommy.

That's the weird thing.

It's like soldiers
that used to go out to war
and come back

and just couldn't identify
with, like, normal life anymore.

When you come home, it's like,
"I can't take this,
like, normal existence."

[man]
John lived for gigging.

He went out with solo bands,
and it cost him.

He'd finance it.
He didn't make any money.
Just to be out there.

[Daltrey]
John was deeply in debt.

I don't think it's any secret
that he was.

Those years
when The Who weren't working,

he continued to spend
and live the lifestyle.

[audience cheers]

[piano plays]

I went to Pete and said,
"You know, this is the only way
he's gonna ever get

a chance to dig himself out
of the hole is if you would
get The Who back together."

* Why should I care? *

* Why should I care? *

I would never hesitate
to consider, at least,

that it might be
something to do,
because I would just think,

"Well, without him,
I wouldn't even be here."

["5.15" plays]

[narrator]
Pete agreed to tour
Quadrophenia in 1996.

The band brought in
Ringo Starr's son,

Zak Starkey, on drums.

As soon as
we played those songs,
Moonie was alive again.

- * Girls of 15 *
- * Sexually knowing *

- * The ushers are sniffing *
- * Eau-de-cologne-ing *

At the end John was
handed checks of well over
two, three million dollars,

and they were gone overnight.
[snaps fingers]

* Prettier women *

["I Can't Explain" plays]

[narrator]
With John in financial trouble,
they agreed to

yet another reunion in 1999

with just their basic lineup.

* I've got a feeling inside *

* Can't explain *

-* It's a certain kind *
-* Can't explain *

[Townshend] John never seemed
to go into a depression.

As long as there was
a nice, big wardrobe
with 15 pairs of shoes in it

and, uh--
and the obligatory

serially monogamous
girlfriend along,
he was happy.

[narrator]
Under the continued leadership
of manager Bill Curbishley,

the band agreed to
a series of live shows.

* I can't explain
I think it's love *

* Try to say it to you
When I feel blue *

* But I can't explain *

[Daltrey]
Something happened then.

Pete became inspired again.

It was like the wheel
was back on the barrow.

[Townshend]
We were just celebrating
the old music.

I'd felt like
we should just

accept that, you know,
we had these great songs,

and personally,
I was never gonna
be able to surpass them.

* I said, I can't explain *

[audience cheers]

Thank you very much.

We are honored
to be here.

["Won't Get Fooled Again" plays]

[Eddie Vedder]
Music is an art form.

That art form includes rhythm,

meaning and communication.

I've met people
from different walks of life,

and they've all been touched
in such a unique

and pure way.

They really feel
this deep connection.

So now you've got, for me,

the greatest art form
that ever existed.

* There'll be fighting
In the streets *

* With our children
At our feet *

* And the morals
That we worshipped
Will be gone *

* And the men
Who spurred us on *

[Curbishley]
When we got that call

about the concert
for New York,

America meant so much
to The Who, we had to go.

* I'll tip my hat
To the new constitution *

* Take a bow
For the new revolution *

* Smile and grin
At the change all around *

* Pick up my guitar
And I'll play *

[Curbishley]
I was standing
just off the stage.

I mean, you know, for me,
over all those years
of watching The Who,

man, I've never seen
anything like that.

* We don't get fooled again *

* No, no *

[The Edge] I was sitting
with Bono, just the two of us.
Could not believe it.

Just the way they just
owned that event, you know,
over the TV.

* There's nothing
In the streets *

* Looks any different
To me *

* And the slogans
Are replaced *

* By the by *

[The Edge] Just so much
more powerful live

than anyone else that was
on the bill that night.

[Vedder]
That show in New York,

that could be one of
the best illustrations
of the power of music.

* Yeah! *

* Not gonna get fooled *

* Don't you get fooled again *

* No, no, no, no *

[Gallagher]
The sentiments
of those songs--

If I could explain it
to you, right, it would--

It would be too easy
to explain it to you.

It's magic how those songs came
from Shepherd's Bush, you know,

and mean as much to people
40 years later

than they did
when they were written.

You know, that's phenomenal.
And that's something
you can't put into words.

It's just magic, man.

[Curbishley] They were back
in a big, big way.

Back as a four-piece.
Back on the road.

It was like
a rebirth again.

We had to go back
and play there. We had
a contract to play Las Vegas.

[Curbishley]
I flew out to Las Vegas,

and the next morning got a call
from my tour manager saying
they couldn't wake John up.

[Butler]
Let's put something into
a little bit of perspective.

John was one of the best
bass players in the world.

John died
at the age of nearly 60

with a woman, in bed,
after snorting cocaine.

Now, you think, "Hold on, John.

You should've done this
in the '70s, not now."

The coroner's report
of the situation

in Las Vegas is quite clear.

He shouldn't have been there,
doing what he was doing,
and it was crazy.

It's kind of what
he chose to do.

That's just how he was.

[Jones]
I did have a chuckle. I mean,

if he was gonna go,
he couldn't have gone
in a better way, really.

On tour,
doing all the things he,

and being around the things
he loved best, you know.

[Sting] I think all of us
would want to die onstage.

I mean, none of us want to be,
uh, just written off.

[Gallagher]
It gets more difficult
as you get older.

How do I say this?

Let's say for argument's sake
you're a 58-year-old guy

who's been in a band
from the '60s, all right?

It's fuckin' frowned upon
in this country.

Like, "You fucking idiot.
What are you doing,
silly old man?"

We have this tendency
to kind of take the piss
out of lads like that.

I don't know why it is,
you know.

We should keep going
until it's over.

We shouldn't stop.

* They make my dream
Come true *

* They make my dream
Come true *

Pete rang me back and said,
"I want to continue
with this tour."

If we'd have split up
and gone our own ways,

the next day, I think
we would've probably

found it very difficult to get
back together on a stage.

[narrator] The Who
performed four days later

at the Hollywood Bowl
in Los Angeles.

[audience cheers]

Pino Paladino was the band's
first choice to fill in on bass.

Listen, we know this--

for some of the fans
that have followed us
for many years,

this is gonna be
very difficult.

And, uh, we understand.

And we're not pretending
that nothing's happened,
as Roger said earlier on.

And, uh---

And, uh, it is difficult.

I can tell you
with my hand on my heart

that when I did look over there
and he wasn't there,

I wanted to die--
I just wanted to die.

* The song is over *

* I'm left with only tears *

* I must remember *

* Even if it takes *

* A million years *

[Curbishley]
If Moon was predictable,

then John was unnecessary.

A great, great loss.

Great loss, John.

I miss him so much,
I can't tell you.

[acoustic guitar plays]

[Townshend]
What's actually now happened,
a further gift

that John's death
has given me is

to enjoy an acutely

emphatic relationship
with Roger.

You know,
we experienced John's death.

He saw me get arrested for,
you know,

a child pornography allegation.

* How dare you wear a robe
To preside *

* How dare you cover
Your head to hide *

* Your face from God *

He was vilified.

He was dragged across
the fuckin' national papers

in a scurrilous way,
you know.

And after months
of investigation,

they established
that there was nothing
he could be charged with.

In the end,
nobody much is gonna
listen to me.

But Roger Daltrey,
his partner,

he went to bat for him,

and he was under
a lot of pressure, Roger.

* How dare you?
Do you think
I'll quietly go? *

* You are much braver
Than you know *

* For I can't die *

Roger is the voice of The Who,
and when you're growing up,

you think that he wrote all
those things and he's singing
them from his heart and--

And then you realize that
it's coming from this guy, Pete.

That's when I started to realize
there was something deeper
going on here.

They're two incredibly
strong forces,

and they've relied
on each other for years.

[audience cheers]

Since John died, we're probably
musically more together.

I'm sure spiritually we are.

* Will you have some tea *

* At the theater with me? *

* We did it all *

* Didn't we? *

* Jumped every wall *

[Townshend]
I think Roger is the best
interpreter of my work

that I could've ever
hoped for.

* Unraveled codes *

* Ingeniously *

What's very interesting about
what Roger and I are left with

is that we have
a very pure relationship.

* So seamlessly *

* We made it work *

[Daltrey]
I recognize his genius,
and I love him dearly.

He's like a brother.
You know, that's love.

Even though on the outside
and when you read things

about what we did
in the past and how many
fights we used to have,

you'd think these guys
used to hate each other.

Did we? Fuck.
You know.

Well, I didn't anyway.
I loved him.

* A great dream derailed *

[Townshend]
He's my friend, I love him,

and I'm standing by him,
and he stands by me.

We can say what we like
about each other now.

It's not easy for either of us,
because we're so

unbelievably un-alike.

But, you know, we're kind of
all we've got now.

* One of us, me *

* All of us, sad *

It is really not important
whether I am at the time

getting on with Pete
or he's getting on with me.

It doesn't matter.
All that matters is what
we create on the stage--

that two hours of music
that night.

And as long as that is
still moving people

and sending people
out with a buzz,

then we're succeeding.

* Will you have some tea *

* At the theater with me? *

[audience applauds, cheers]

One, two!
One, two, three!

["My Generation" plays]

* People try to put us d-down *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

* Just because we g-get around *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

* Things, they do look
Awful c-cold *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

* I hope I die
Before I get old *

-* Talking 'bout my generation *
-* This is my generation *

* This is my generation, baby *

* Why don't you all
F-Fade away *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

* Don't try to dig
What we all say *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

* I'm not trying to cause
A b-big sensation *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

* Just talking 'bout
My g-generation *

* Talking 'bout my g-- *

-* My generation *
-* Talking 'bout my generation *

* Talking 'bout my generation *

* Why don't you all
F-Fade away *

* And don't try to dig
What-What we all s-say *

* I'm not trying to cause
A bloody big sensation *

-* Talking 'bout my-my-my *
-* Talking 'bout my generation *

* My g-generation *

* Yeah, I'm talking 'bout it *

[indistinct]

* Hey *

* Hey *

[Daltrey] Keith Moon
on the drums here.

In the black corner,
the Ox.

For Mr. Kenney Jones.

Pino Paladino on bass!

Simon Townshend,
guitar, vocal!

Zak Starkey on the drums!

John "Rabbit" Bundrick
on keyboards!

But most of all, you!

[audience cheers]

[Townshend]
We will be back!

[footsteps]

[static]