2023/4 Albums Thing 408 - The Who “My Generation”
Posted on
Back in March 2018 while on tour with The Wonder Stuff we all got dropped off in Shepherds Bush very early ahead of a gig at The Empire. My wife Deb and me went for a wander around Shepherd Bush as I had a few spots I wanted to visit and re-visit. We found a fabulous cafe on Askew Rd where we had breakfast. The reason for that particular cafe was because it was just a few doors down from Peckings Studio 1 record shop (look it up, it’s legendary) which was on my list. From there we headed to the junction of Godolphin and Goldhawk Roads to visit the former site of Townhouse Studios where The Jam recorded “Sound Affects” and The Wonder Stuff “Never Loved Elvis”. From there it was a short walk down the Goldhawk Road to what is now known as The Shepherds Bush Club but in a former life was The Goldhawk Social where West London’s Mods would congregate to see The Who play.
The Who, then known as The Detours, first played the Goldhawk Social in June 1963 and between then and December 1965, when they played their final gig there, they built up a reputation and a committed following of Mods that got them noticed nationally. Much of the material on this, their debut album, would have been road tested in front of and influenced by the audience at the Goldhawk Social. When The Who appeared on Ready Steady Go to promote their single “I Can’t Explain” their managers, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, were asked to supply an audience of “typical teenagers”. They simply invited the regulars from the Goldhawk Social. Among them would no doubt have been legendary Who fan “Irish" Jack Lyons who said of the band "The Who weren't a joke, they were fucking real, and so were we”.
“My Generation” was recorded rather quickly after the success of “I Can’t Explain” and the band have subsequently dismissed it as something of a rush job that didn’t represent the way they sounded at the time. Even so it contains some fantastic stuff. Unusually for the times the majority of the songs were written by the band, 8 of the 12 by Pete Townshend, the stampeding instrumental “The Ox” by John Entwistle, Keith Moon and session pianist Nicky Hopkins and just 3 cover versions which were very likely staples of their live set at the time.
There are classic singles, “My Generation” and “The Kids Are Alright” (“A Legal Matter” was also a single but released by record company Brunswick after the band had left them for Reaction Records so it doesn’t really count). There are great album tracks, “Out In The Street” is a perfect opener introducing what I know as that 60’s Who sound (even if the band didn’t agree), “The Good’s Gone” is an almost Psychedelic (before its time) drone (it was also obviously a favourite of Paul Weller's, listen to it swiftly followed by The Jam's "Time For Thruth"). The covers are what you would expect from a band playing primarily to Mods (James Brown and Bo Diddley).
In 1980 at the height of the Mod Revival, Virgin Records re-issued “My Generation” in it’s original sleeve design with lookalike Brunswick labels that said Virgin instead. I snapped it up at the time and it sat in my collection taking pride of place with the two volumes of “Tamla Motown Presents Mod Classics”, genuine 60’s Mod music. I still have all three of them.
The Who went on to produce more experimental records in the 60’s that were more to their liking and by the 70’s became the greatest rock band on the planet but this and the next record we’ll talk about are the two I think of when my thoughts turn to the ‘orrible ‘oo.
The Good’s Gone - https://youtu.be/7onOwZZiE7g?si=7-I5HdMWFsqhzo4D