The Guitar and The Pen

The Guitar and The Pen

Another great line-up! This one has the kind of temperamental geniuses I love! Daltrey, Moon, Townshend and Entwistle.



I’ll take them one by one, starting with my favorite Keith Moon. It was not his drumming skills that made me love him, but his approach to music. He took music as fun. A thing of beauty to be enjoyed and not overdone! He was larger than life on the stage, giving the impression of an elf sitting on mushrooms. His drum skills are legendary. Few drummers will say that they were not influenced by his virtuoso skills. He had such speed coupled with great sense of sound. His drumming was never too loud for the music they played (But loud enough to cause partial hearing loss of Pete!).



The multitalented Pete Townshend, equally at ease with piano and guitars, though he was better on guitars. He and John were childhood friends and played a lot of instruments. He was the tour de force behind the lyrical beauty of The Who. His prowess could be seen in My Generation (Sound familiar? Limp Bizkit!). His stage crashing antics became trademark of The Who.



Roger Daltrey’s voice always had a kind of meaty sting to it. He had mastery over his voice, kind of range which could keep up with extraordinary speed of Keith’s drumming or Pete’s sudden twists of hand. Unlike other three, this handsome man could have the girls swoon over him. Ideal front man, with the magnetism to hold stage with such extraordinary musicians of the likes of Keith, Pete and John. His voice is best in The Guitar and The Pen and Who Are You.



The extraordinary man in the band, John was the rest put together. His lyrics were exquisite in construction. To me only one person is greater than Cliff Burton, it is John (No. don’t bring JPJ into this). For all his theatrical antics on stage, he is always admired and never ever will be imitable. It’s funny to note that he was once quoted to have said in an interview, "The Who hasn’t a proper bass player."



I still haven’t got Tommy. One day, that deficiency will also be taken care of.



PS: You might be wondering why I haven’t put the replacements in this group. For me, The Who without Keith would not be The Who rather it would be…... WHO?