My Generation

The Who Singles 

It'd been more than five months since the release of The Who's second single, Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere but it was worth the wait.  Released in the U.K. on October 29, 1965 My Generation was a revolution in rock:

The lyric: "Hope I die before I get old"

The stuttering vocal

Three key changes

That insane feedback/drum thing at the end

The bass solo by John Entwistle: still the best 50 years later

My Generation reached #2 on the British charts but failed to chart in the United States.  The first time THC heard it was sometime in 1967.


Here is Pete Townsend talking about Entwistle in a recent interview.  It's Townsend, one of the most blunt and intelligent people in rock, so it's worth listening to the whole thing.  At the 9 minute mark he talks about the challenge of "filling the air" when The Who play live now that Entwistle is gone (he died in 2002) and at ten minutes talks a bit about the My Generation bass solo.  He explains just how revolutionary Entwistle's approach to the bass was and that it was at the live shows and live recordings you could most clearly hear the difference.

And finally THC will throw in someone's excellent cover of Entwistle's bass part from 1973's The Real Me off the Quadrophrenia album.