This list looks at some of the pitfalls of The Who. The Who was a great rock band in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Many of their songs could have been more meaningful if they were longer. Other songs were ruined by covers written by contemporary stars.
1. Squeeze Box:
This is one of the most perplexed songs I’ve heard so far. It’s not bad and it’s not good either. There is no apparent meaning to this song. Songwriter Pete Townshend even said it himself. He was unsure why his band even sang Squeeze Box. To this day I cannot imagine why someone would make a song about parents having sex and a father playing with a mother’s breasts.
2. My Generation:
This was first sung and released on November 5, 1965. The song was popular, especially on VH1’s list of 100 Greatest Songs of Rock & Roll and the Rolling Stones’ 500 Songs that Shapes Rock and Roll. Hilary Duff sung a cover for this song in Japan. That just basically ruined the whole song altogether. People now associate this song with something that Duff sang.
3. Boris the Spider:
This is a nonsensical song that sounded as if it was from a nursery rhyme. This was the first composition by John Entwistle. The lyrics were written when Entwistle and Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman went drinking and made funny names for animals.
4. Behind Blue Eyes:
Pete Townshend wrote this about a character in his Lifehouse project. It was to be used as a main song in the Lifehouse film. The lyrics are based on Townshend’s feelings of angst. No one knew what it was like to be a star with high expectations and pressures to be someone he is not. The song was great and was popular in the 1970s. Sadly, a group named Limp Bizkit decided to cover the song in 1998. You could no longer understand the angst, the suffering and the issues of drugs, abuse that the Who put forth.
5. Pinball Wizard:
This song was part of the Tommy Album that was released in 1969. The album was about a young man who is deaf, dumb and blind. The man becomes a pinball champion and gains the attention of multitude of fans. Tommy played pinball because he desired to feel the vibrations of the machine. The idea to the song was good; however, I fail to understand why the word dumb was overused. Overall, the song did not have much sense to it conceptually. At least the album had no fillers. I’ll give them that credit.
6. Rael:
Rael was one of the songs in the album The Who Sings My Generation. The song is considered a dull and short opera like rock song. This song was featured towards the end of the album which makes me feel like it was a filler.
7. The Song Is Over:
The Who finally got away from the short opera like rock songs. The album Who’s Next was awesome, lively. You could feel the spirit of many of the songs. I could not feel the song, “The Song is Over”. The song was originally supposed to be part of the ending of Lifehouse movie. I still cannot understand why he is singing to wide open spaces when the song is over.
8. It’s a Boy:
The song begins as a story of a birth of a boy. The song was too short and could have done better. The song could have been more effective given the many commonalities between Tommy and Pete Townshend’s earlier projects.
9. Cousin Kevin:
This song was written to provide the darker side of Tommy. Again, the blind, deaf and dumb lyrics are being used to describe Tommy, as if a put down. The song was not really strong. Emphasis could have been added to bullying.
10. Man without Money:
The song could have been a success, but to be honest should not have been a cover song for the album A Quick One (Happy Jack). The meaning of the song was mixed.
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