The Who - My Generation

On this day Oct 13th 1965, The Who recorded 'My Generation', at Pye studios, London. 

 

 

'My Generation' was named the 11th greatest song by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and 13th on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Songs of Rock & Roll. It's also part of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll and is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value. High praise indeed. And it deserves it; the song is 3.19 of pure energy and attitude. When you hear 'My Generation' you hear the Who on their way to becoming one of the great British rock groups.

The song went through various stages as they tried to perfect it. Written by a 20 year-old Pete Townshend, it began as a slow song with a blues feel, and at one point had hand claps and multiple key changes. The final product was at a much faster tempo than the song was conceived; it was the Who?s manager Kit Lambert's idea to speed it up.Like all great songs from a group defining their sound and feel, all four members made valuable contributions. Roger Daltrey would later say that he stuttered the lyrics to try to fit them to the music. The BBC in the UK initially refused to play the song because it did not want to offend people who stutter.

Townshend who reportedly wrote the song on a train is said to have been inspired by the Queen Mother who is alleged to have had Townshend's 1935 Packard hearse towed off a street in Belgravia, London, because she was offended by the sight of it during her daily drive through the neighborhood.

'My Generation' features one of the first bass solos in Rock history. John Entwistle used a new-on-the-market Danelectro bass to play it, but after he kept breaking strings trying to record it, the bassist ended up recording his parts on his trusted Fender Jazz bass. And drummer Keith Moon's contribution to the song? Well, he played like he always did - like the complete madman that he was. And it sounds superb.

In a 1987 Rolling Stone magazine interview, Townshend explained: "'My Generation' was very much about trying to find a place in society. I was very, very lost. The band was young then. It was believed that its career would be incredibly brief."The song was released as a single on 5 November 1965, reaching No. 2 in the UK, the Who's highest charting single in their home country and No. 74 in America. "My Generation" also appeared on The Who's 1965 debut album, My Generation (The Who Sings My Generation in the United States), and in greatly extended form on their live album Live at Leeds (1970). The Who re-recorded the song for the Ready Steady Who! EP in 1966, but this version was only released in 1995 on the remastered version of the A Quick One album. The main difference between this version and the original is that instead of the hail of feedback which ends the original, the band play a chaotic rendition of Edward Elgar's "Land of Hope and Glory". In the album's liner notes the song is credited to both Townshend and Elgar.

(Info from thisdayinmusic.com & Wiki)