With the 60-year anniversary of The Who approaching next year, frontman Roger Daltrey has been reflecting on the continued popularity of the rock ‘n’ roll band and he tells out about one of his favorite songwriters.
As the band started to reach beyond the parameters of traditional rock and R&B, Townshend thought that the group should make lofty concepts, creating rock operas like Tommy and Quadrophenia, each of which told a story from front to end.
Although Daltrey was more than willing to give a voice to Townshend’s melodies, he was more focused on interpreting a song rather than telling a story. When talking about the band’s discography, the singer would eventually say that Who’s Next was the best record they ever made despite being a part of the scrapped project, Lifehouse.
And recently Roger Daltrey has offered his take on modern music, arguing that rock is “dead” and that rappers are the “only people saying things that matter”. One of rock’s veterans has claimed that the gig is over: only rappers have anything to say now. said he was saddened that rock had “reached a dead end”.
Out of all the artists to come out of the singer-songwriter tradition, Daltrey always had an affinity for Harry Nilsson’s work. Known for his work on iconic tracks like ‘Without You’, the singer’s signature rusty voice would become one of the trademark sounds of 1970s pop, creating songs that were equally strong and heartbreaking.
When discussing his personal favourites, Daltrey would consider Nilsson one of the best he had ever seen, telling BBC Radio 2, “Harry Nilsson was such a great talent, and I knew Harry, a very funny guy. He’s got something going on in his voice that really gets me. A beautiful voice and he was a very funny man. Harry was one of the best songwriters out there”.
Outside of high praise from rock’s premiere frontmen, Nilsson would also become infamous in the LA rock scene, becoming a fixture of the famous drinking club the Hollywood Vampires among The Who’s Keith Moon and Ringo Starr. Nilsson would even find himself behind the glass on some of the biggest albums of the time, being heard in the background of Starr’s solo material and working on John Lennon on various songs on his album Walls and Bridges.
Even though Nilsson was never interested in making the same conceptual masterpieces as The Who, it didn’t seem to matter. He knew he had a certain magic in writing his songs, and he would use everything in his power to ensure some emotion came across in every record he made.
Excerpt from Faroutmagazine
