Famously, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey don’t always see eye to eye off-stage. Nevertheless, musically, the duo were a match made in heaven, with their creative tension playing a pivotal role in driving them to greatness.
Despite their differences, this friction strangely fueled their success, pushing them to create some of rock’s most iconic music.
Despite the multiple fallouts Daltrey has had with all of his former bandmates, including a physical fight with Moon and countless arguments with Townshend, with the band, he still loves The Who with the entirety of his heart.
Among the many revelations and battle scars shared by Daltrey in the book, he also revealed the songs by The Who that he considers his all-time favourites as Farout report.
‘Magic Bus’ may well be one of the band’s more memorable for Entwistle, but Daltrey couldn’t remember much when asked: “D’you know I can’t even remember recording ‘Magic Bus’. I must have been stoned on something! I don’t have a lot to say about that song, but it’s strange, the fans love it because it’s a Bo Diddley riff, and that always worked. But I know John did find it very tedious.”
Kit Lambert: “Kit’s production on ‘Pinball Wizard’ is absolutely tremendous. The whole montage of sounds he got in emulating the pinball machine is extraordinary. I don’t think he got enough recognition for his work on that. Not necessarily the sound he got – because most of the time making Tommy we were out of our boxes, God knows what we were doing – but the actual arrangements and the ideas, the harmonies and the structures.”
‘I Can’t Explain’ is another bonafide banger on the list, with Daltrey noting that the song was really an expression of the rock and roll spirit: “He said: “Well, it’s that thing – ‘I got a feeling inside, I can’t explain’ – it’s rock’n’roll. The more we try to explain it, the more we crawl up our own arses and disappear! I was very proud of that record. That was us, y’know – it was an original song by Pete, and it captured that energy and that testosterone that we had in those days. It still does.”
Another classic song that was always destined to be on the collection was the seminal anthem, ‘My Generation’. It was a single that launched the band’s career and confirmed them as generational ambassadors. Daltrey said of the song in his conversation with Uncut: “I have got a stutter. I control it much better now but not in those days. When we were in the studio doing ‘My Generation’, Kit Lambert came up to me and said, ‘STUTTER!’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Stutter the words – it makes it sound like you’re pilled’ And I said, ‘Oh… like I am!’ And that’s how it happened. It was always in there, it was always suggested with the ‘f-f-fade’, but the rest of it was improvised. But… it’s a fucking great record, it really is.”
The 20 best songs by The Who according to Roger Daltrey:
‘I Can’t Explain’
‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’
‘Pinball Wizard’
‘The Seeker’
‘My Generation’
‘Substitute’
‘I’m A Boy’
‘Happy Jack’
‘Pictures of Lily’
‘I Can See For Miles’
‘Dogs’
‘Magic Bus’
‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’
‘Let’s See Action’
‘Join Together’
‘Relay’
‘5.15’
‘Squeeze Box’
‘Who Are You’
‘You Better, You Bet’
