My parents saw Led Zeppelin open for The Who in '69, what a killer night that was!

Today is the 50th anniversary of the legendary Who gig in a town called Leeds. Happy anniversary Live At Leeds!!!

Who by numbers is an incredibly underrated record.

In my opinion, the greatest rock band of all time. Why? they did it all, masters of the 3 minute single, concept albums, rock anthems, and the rock lore. Most of all, they were unmatched live in concert. Each musician was a master at their craft. Even today, Pete remains as prolific as ever with WHO, the solid new album. Although Keith and John died before they got old, their place in this band and in rock history will forevor remain indelible.

I can’t get enough of Tommy. That final track brings me to tears. Townshend is truly a genius.

The best band of all time! Pete Townshend is one of the greatest musics minds EVER.

Love The Who. One of my top 5 bands ever. For my ranking I'd put in my order it'll be.. 1. Quadrophenia 2. Who's Next 3. Tommy 4. The Who Sell Out 5. The Who By Numbers 6. My Generation 7. Who Are You 8. A Quick One 9. Who 10. Endless Wire 11. It's Hard 12. Face Dances

Glad you mentioned Meaty Beaty and Odds and Sods, compilations but they work as essential albums for Who lovers.

1) Quadrophenia (my favorite album of all time); 2) Who's Next (might be my 2nd favorite album of all time); 3) The Who Sells Out; 4) Tommy; 5) The Who By Numbers; 6) My Generation; 7) Who Are You; 8) It's Hard; 9) Who; 10) A Quick One While He's Away; 11) Face Dances; 12) Endless Wire. Odds & Sods and Live At Leeds would probably be ranked above Tommy for me.

My top 4 1 Who's next (simply there all-time best ) 2 Quadraphenia 3 Tommy 4 Who are you #1 who's next is one of my favorite albums ever!!!

"Trick of the Light" from Who Are You has always been a very underrated gem, in my opinion.

While no one could replace Keith Moon, Kenny Jones is a solid drummer. The Faces with him, Ron Wood, Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart and Ian McLagan were a fantastic band.

A lot of people don’t like “It’s Hard”, but I love that album. Even a Roger never liked the album, but I think it has some great songs including some great Entwistle songs like “Dangerous”.

Cool ranking video. Would enjoy a Kinks ranking. Here's my top 5. 1. Tommy. 2. Who's Next 3. Quadrophenia 4. A Quick One 5. WHO largely agree with your comments. I think the biggest problem with Endless Wire was the state of Roger's voice. The new WHO album was better than I thought possible. They really sound like the Who again. I'm hoping for another late career surprise by The Kinks. Cheers.

Bargain is extremely underrated as a tune on their best album, Who's Next. If you haven't tried it, listen to Bargain on headphones. It is mindblowing...

Over the years, I could never decide which Who album is my favourite: “Who’s Next” or “Sell Out”. So, for me, it’s a tie, because they are indispensable and I love them both.

Roger Daltrey is one of the best singers of ever, and Pete Townshend one of the best guitar players too. My top three albums are: Tommy (masterpiece), Quadrophenia (epic), and Who's Next (killer).

I would put quadraphenia as #1, because it was Townshend’s crowning achievement. Not his most accessible, but it was his ultimate statement.

Naked Eye off Odds and Sods is a masterpiece.

The drumming on Who's Next is a huge part of this album, like few others. Keith Moon rocked it perfectly on this album. Good show Pete.

great list. the subscribers are piling up, Pete! almost 23K. my personal fave is "Who Sell Out". a special album... charming, sometimes psychedelic. love the commercials. and it has The Who's most "naive and charming" songs... "Tattoo" is an all time fave for me.

I'm very partial to Sell Out, which is their psychedelic offering and easily among the best rock albums of the 1960s.

One of the things we realize as we get older is the albums we used to have and enjoyed so much, but we no longer have them. Breakups and old roommates are sometimes the culprits. My ex-wife brought many of The Who albums to our life and they left with her. I still have some, but a couple I now miss again because of you bringing them up again. Curses.

The intro to Baba is the greatest opener ever.

Good review. It is ironic that for their duration, the Who had very few studio albums. In my mind, the Who I knew ended in 1982 with the release of the lackluster "It's Hard Album" (which they had to do as they would have had to return a big advance to the record company if they didn't) I say the Who I knew because it was the post Keith Moon continuation of the Band that had started in the 60s. Maybe, in retrospect, they just should have called it a day after Moon the Loon died (like Led Zeppelin did after John Bonham's death). To be fair to Kenny Jones, he is good drummer, but is more regimented and stricter in style like Charlie Watts of the Stones. Moon was a mad man on the drums (Overture, Wont Get Fooled Again, Bargain, Dr. Jimmy, The Real Me, Love Reign O'er Me, The Rock) and also a mad man in personality (destroying hotel rooms, driving his car into swimming pools) and was essentially, irreplaceable. Kenny Jones was a good drummer but was no where near as good as Moon. As for the rankings, along my line of reasoning I don't even know (or count) the "Endless Wire" and "Who" DVD because in my mind, with their release years after their ending in 1982 I felt that the Who were no longer relevant. I cant even list a song off of them. As for your top three, remember that "Who's Next" was supposed to be another "concept album" like Tommy, with the "Life House" album concept about (from what I remember reading") some guy who had this special suit designed wherein he could change reality. Pete couldn't sell the other band mates on the idea (don't blame them) and we got "Who's Next" instead. I agree with you-their best non-concept studio album. With regards "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia" I prefer the latter. My mom bought me "Tommy" for Christmas when I was a freshman in high school. She said it was an important album and that I should have it. I concur with you that with the exception of "Pinball Wizard", this album is meant to be listened to in its entirety (somewhat like Jethro Tull's "Thick as A Brick") and not just by individual track. "Tommy" is also important because with the exception of some singles, the Who really did not have any stand out album that distinguished themselves. Note that by the time "Tommy" came out, their contemporaries (Stones and Beatles) had already put out a number of successful albums- Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Peppers The White Album, Abby Road, Aftermath, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed). So Tommy as a "rock opera" really put them on the map. I do find some of the subject matter of "Tommy" quite disturbing "Cousin Kevin" and "Fiddle About" particularly so. I sometimes wonder if it was ideas like this that led to Pete's legal troubles in 2003 with the "Operation Ore" investigation that he was involved in. that being said, I like Quadrophenia better. I always had a soft spot for this album. When it was released, I only knew it was a Who Album from Chad (the Mod kid on the cover), who was wearing an army jacket that said "WHO" on the back (the title of the album was down the spine, not the cover. I was in the TSS ( a chain of stores in New York) when I first heard "Love Reign O'er Me" and thought it was a great song (but I was still a die hard Rolling Stones fan at the time) It was only in 1981 that I saved up some paper route money that I bought Quadrophenia. I am glad I did. I could really relate to that album. Although America did not have "Mods" and :Rockers", the theme that this Album represented Anxiety, Loneliness, isolation, conforming to peer pressure, the desire to fit in with the in crowd (like Rush's "Subdivsions") really struck home with me because those were real feelings I was going through at the time while a junior in high school. From what I remember reading" Quadrophenia" was difficult to play on tour due to all of the synthesizer use (and it also took a long time to make), I also think Roger and Pete got into a fist fight while making this album and Roger knocked Pete out !!! (which shows you the problems that were going on with them while recording this album. Quadrophenia was also not as well received in the states upon release ( I think maybe because America did not have a Mod/Rockers subculture, and also that the audience did not have the patience to listen to another sprawling double album concept album). Still Quadrophenia is my favorite of the your top three. I also have a soft spot for "Who By Numbers" but as you said, Pete was running out of ideas and I think after this release the Who had went on to a three year hiatus. "Slip Kid" (especially the guitar solo at the end) Is a great song. I remember also hearing this when I as a die hard Stone's fan and remember thinking how much it killed me that the Who had done Slip Kid and not the Stones. I also agree with you about "Who Are You"- the last good album from the original line up recorded before Keith Moon's death in 1978. This was a comeback album for them (similar to the Stone's "Some Girls", also released in 1978 and considered to be a Stones rebound after the misses of the "Goat's Head Soup" and "Black And Blue" albums. There is a great book you should read (if you haven't already done so) titled "The Who-Maximum R&B" that I think you would find very informative. Great review again. Thank you for your efforts.

LONG LIVE THE WHO!!!

"Who's Next" may be THE greatest rock album ever, imo. Great job Pete, this was a fun listen....Be Well!! 👍🏾👍🏻🕊️🎸🎸🥁🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

The Who by numbers is so damn underrated.

You might have mentioned the two albums, "Who's Missing" and "Two's Missing". Compilations that are a must for the serious Who fan. You won't be disappointed!

"Eminence Front" is Townsend at his absolute peak. " lt's Hard" Never gets enough Love,an lncredible Album.

I'm 68. I saw The Who in NYC at Fillmore East on May 18, 1969 two days after the release of Tommy. It was unbelievable. I related to Tommy in a very deep way; let's just say there was some very serious family disfunction in our home and the lines: "you didn't see it, you didn't hear it, you won't say nothing to no one ever in your life, how absurd it all seems without any proof." And then it did come out and the poop hit the fan. 1969 was a year where I was free to go and do pretty much what I wanted to do because my parents had been busted so to speak and they were so busy trying to sort out their problems they really didn't care what I was doing. That mostly consisted of seeing as many live bands of the time as I could at all the surrounding venues including but not limited to The Fillmore East. I missed seeing The Band of Gypsy's show by two days - I was out of town. Just so your viewers know, there is a band from New Jersey named The Smithereens. Most of their albums are covers of Beatles tunes, B-sides and the like. But they have a one LP disc of their version of Tommy. For those that find listening to Tommy in it's entirety a chore, give this LP by The Smithereens a try. It may be hard to find because it was a "Record Day" release but it really is quite good and they have distilled Tommy down to it's essence. By the way, I saw The Who a total of 7 times. And Pete never smashed his guitar for all those "haters" that think that was all they were about.

These ranking videos are costing me a lot of money grabbing the records I missed. Keep them coming!!

Great list, I think Who By Numbers is a quite a bit better than ranked but fun video, thanks, Pete! Also, Face Dances has got some real gems too!

“Who Sell Out “ is the one I listen to the most.

Thank you for ranking The Who CD'S!🎤🎸🎵🥁

One of my favorite bands, used to listen to their records over and over back in the early 70's when I just discovering Rock N Roll!! My top 3 are exactly the same as yours, all of them are stunning Rock N Roll Albums!!

I love the '65-'71 albums. Probably Sell Out being my favorite.

I don't know if it's on a live or comp album anywhere, but the live version of "A Quick One" on the Rolling Stones' Rock N Roll Circus is the best version I've heard.

these are great Pete - always a good listen....

Hard to argue with that list. I hope we get a Kinks ranking at some point, but they have a lot of albums. Haha

Totally agree with your top 3. Who's Next is one of the best albums of all time IMO. Tommy is a masterpiece.

I appreciate that you do just the studio albums in your rankings as they are the true measure of a band through it's time.

Great list, Pete. I absolutely agree with Endless Wire. Still can't get into it. My only disagreement with you is Face Dances. I love that record! One of my desert island discs, for sure. Thanks for the vids, Pete!

“You better, you bet” is my #1 Who song. Great intro, amazing harmonies, interesting tempo changes and chord progression, cool outro key change, and great Daltrey vocal performance!

Hi Pete. Enjoy your channel. I was a young teenager during the Tommy-Quadrophenia era and for me Quadrophenia was the soundtrack of my young life at the time, and I am not even British.Tommy would be second for me. But "Who's Next," is Rock. When someone said that the Who were the first rock band. This is what they are talking about. Rock just to bash your skull in.Nice to see that "U.K. Live cd in the background. They took it to another level as well.

Thanks Pete. I'm glad you got to my favorite band. While I might quibble over a couple things (eg, Quadrophenia is my fave), I think you assessed their catalogue well. I might move Who Are You up a slot and rearrange your top 3. Of course, if we bring in Leeds, then all bets are off. To me The Who were about corralling 3 lead instruments which Roger finally did with the greatest power rock vocals, while Pete let Keith and John play lead throughout. While the Stones and other top tier bands have been similar to others, no one was quite like The Who. Unique, powerful, innovative, and unapologetic. Thank you Pete and Roger for 50+ years of the most explosive and innovative music out there.

This is the one ranking video I've been waiting for the most, since The 'Oo are my second favourite band of all time (after those Liverpudlians). I kinda feel they are a bit underappreciated these days, don't know why. Their importance cannot be understated and their run of albums from 1967-73 hasn't been topped since.

Have to agree once again! They are definitely in my top ten favorite bands ever! I got to see them one time! It was 1983 on their Schlitz malt liquor tour! I was only17 but had a blast! It was at a Rock super bowl in Orlando, Florida.

Pretty close to my rankng. I have never been a fan of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones , but i love The Who. Keep up your good work..Informative and fun videoes. I would like to see a ranking of The Outlaws ,Saxon and Blackfoot albums. Budgie was great. My top two bands are Jethro Tull and Rush, and although we are more apart there , i see your points. Rock on from Norway

I'm so glad that you didn't include live or compilation albums on this list. This would be my list of favourite Who albums. 1. The Who Sell Out 2. Tommy 3. Who's Next 4. Quadrophenia 5. My Generation 6. Face Dances 7.Who Are You 8. The Who by Numbers 9. A Quick One 10. It's Hard 11. Who 12. Endless Wire

Pete, Sells Out was a couple years after My Generation, A Quick One was in-between. Also, several of the fun tracks you mentioned aren't from the actual album, they were re-release bonus tracks. Last, in the U.S. it was released as 'Happy Jack. Magic Bus was a half-assed 'best of' compilation.

Great video Pete.

Thanks Pete, a great list of a classic band.My favs are 1 - Who's next 2 - Quadrophenia 3 - Tommy 4- Who sell out 5 - Who are you 6 - A Quick one 7 - Who by numbers The first three are absolute classic albums and have remained so for decades. Thanks Pete you continue to deliver the goods.Would like to see a rankings list for Rory Gallagher Robin Trower Steve Hillage Captain Beefheart Cheers side until the next ones. Who are you

Good review Peat, I agree albums like Tommy, Genesis the Lamb and Floyd's the Wall needs to be listened from start to finish.

Hey Pete, Agree with you on Tommy vs Quadrophenia. I go back and forth on these two all the time. Right now I hold Q above T. That damn banjo on I’ve Had Enough is giving it the edge tonight That and Daltrey’s vocals.

Pete , thanks for sharing that list. Its funny I think most fans of the would have the same top 3. maybe in a different order but there is no denying the power of those 3 albums. That's another list you could tackle. Bands or artists that have had at least 3 top shelf albums in a row. I think it might be a pretty short list. One or 2 corrections here on the who, a quick one came out before who sell out and magic bus was just a compilation album. I usually put in my top rankings odds and sods, even though it is a compilation album, it does have all original material (very good stuff). here is my list: 1-quadrophenia 2- whos next 3-tommy 4-who by number 5- who are you 6-odds and sods 7-my generation 8-who sell out 9-a quick one 10-its hard 11-who 12-face dances 13-endless wire.

Thank you for the interesting Who album reviews, Pete. One of the best live shows I've ever seen was The Who at Shea Stadium in October, 1982. David Johansen and The Clash warmed up The Who, and it was an incredible show. The three greatest shows at Shea were The Beatles, Grand Funk Railroad ('71 - broke Beatles Shea ticket sales record), and The Who/The Clash. I was on the field witnessing the crowd surges towards the fencing by the stage. Wild... The live DVD was Pro Shot style, and worth a view and listen. For my list, I have Face Dances, The Who by Numbers, Who Are You, A Quick One, The Who Sell Out, The Who Sings my Generation, Tommy, Who's Next, and Quadrophenia the tops.

been waiting for this one

I agree Tommy is one of the best concept albums ever written, to me this is their best album. Who's Next is also awesome, a classic album full of hits. A legendary group no doubt.

Great video Pete, can't argue with the top 3 but for me face dances would be a lot higher. Great channel and love these ranking videos

Thanks Pete, well done. I also have Who’s Next #1 and also like A Quick One. Their performance of A Quick One/ While He’s Away live on the Stones Rock And Roll Circus is insane! I have to admit that I have a soft spot for Face Dances though. Think the music on that one is more like the Townsend solos from the 80’s which I liked a lot

I love all of The Who records, but Sell Out is my favourite. Brilliant for it’s time

I pretty much agree with your ranking..I still think you should have mentioned S.F.Sorrow when discussing Tommy but thats just me. I would have ranked Who Are You a little higher but yes great ranking ,good show as usual! P.S. Yeah the collections are one of the things The Who pioneered but your right original studio lps are original studio lps! And the live stuff is great... Leeds,Isle Of White etc. I still have to check out Who.Once Again Great Show Pete!!!😉👍

Was familiar with all the better known stuff on Tommy but hadn’t heard the whole album from beginning to end, until 6 months ago. So wonderful. I love Overture. The sound of a great band giving it everything.

i LOVE "You" off Face Dances #GUILTY

Great list! Love this band!

Love the ranking videos. Can you do the Kinks?

Pete I totally agree with you. In my opinion The Who's - Who's Next is their Greatest of all times. And I personally feel it's one of the Greatest classic rock albums of all times. It would definitely be in my personal desert inland album collection. Verygood video Pete. 🙂\m/

my favorite who songs is join together When u hear this song loud u will know why

Keith moon's drumming on who's next and quadrophenia is simply indescribable , it's so good. Thanks for reminding me think I'll listen to Quadrophenia 👍

I have that same T-shirt you're wearing. You should have stood up and shown everyone Moon going loon at the bottom. I love "…Sell Out". It's my favorite of the pre-Tommy albums. It was pretty much their first concept album.

First exposure to The Who was the Ken Russell film which I saw in junior high. For some reason I never focused onto Quadrophenia until college (back then without a decent radio station and limited money, album exposure came from friends). Heard Quadrophenia played through while eating pizza with my best friend. Saw the movie later that semester. It has been my favorite since then.

Hey Pete really liked your review...very good. Comment on only 12 studio Lp...I think 50 years takes into account alot of nostalgia...i really believe there were only 10 to 15 early Allman brother power style years..once the 80s came around and coupled with loss of KM..thst was about it...but still what a band...

Great Ranking on there Album, Well done.

I consider " Face Dances " to be under - rated. Excellent songwriting on it. Different approach from what was unexpected - dealing with middle - age. And Entwhistle songs steal the show!

Saw them at a Festival at Charlton, in the 70’s they were stupendous. Definitely in still in my top 3 best concerts I have ever seen him my life, and I have seen plenty. Album wise apart from Who’s Next, never really been sold on any of them.

Interesting to see u rank Pete's solo albums. There are some gems

I just saw The Who live last September and they're still kicking ass!

Dude, I'm going to say it. I thought I was a rock fan. A huge Rock fan you put me to shame. You've gone to places. I never even thought of going maybe even heard of. Budgie I couldn't even sit through half the stuff. Hats off to you, bro.

You nailed this list Pete! I'm not a fan of the original Tommy album preferring the live versions, but, hey your ranking is pretty on-point

I also discovered The Who after seeing The Kids Are Alright and got the soundtrack. I had to have all of it and all these years later I can still enjoy them as much as I did discovering them. It does me good to see others went down the same path! I wouldn't be surprised if that movie was the gateway for a lot of great late 60's early 70's music for those of us in the middle of the punk era.

Nice one Pete. Not too far off my own ranking of the Who, but I'd nudge Endless Wire and By Numbers up a few places. The number one slot is undeniable. Top three classic rock album and a great cover with the nod to Kubrick's monolith. Greatest classic ROCK band of them all.

Great show!

I love the who sell out. Its great.

I would agree with this list completely. Just as you presented it. Good review...;-)

Hi Pete. Your channel is awesome! When you find time, can you a do a ranking of the Motörhead albums please?

ALRIGHT... just finished listening to Quadraphinia in its ENTIRETY on K-SHE95 the seventh day show where they play albums from 6 to midnight every Sunday night!! Let's GO!

Fav band ever. Who s next,quadrophenia,my generation,Tommy,live at leeds...such masterpieces!

yes please do a live show on this band thanks

Happy Valentines: I sqw The HU at Brighton saturday with wife, daughter n her boyfriend .. excellent .. as were Fire from the Gods (support). Last night (Valentine) went with wife to see Herbie Flowers (Bowie, Bolan etc.,) play a local gig .. jazz (dble bass) .. He played Where Are We Now, Bowie from his penultimate album, The Next Day .. beautiful as well as a load of jazz standards .. really good evening .. :-)

I was lucky to have seen them 3 times . The first at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto in May of 1980 .It was the best concert I have ever witnessed . Always thought that Pete's Empty Glass album should have been a Who album .

I have a soft spot for Face Dances due to it being the first Who album I bought when it came out in 1981. I always liked it and still do, although, suffice to say, it's not of the standard of Quadrophenia or Who's Next . Some of The Who members solo stuff is well worth checking out. Townshend's solo album Empty Glass and John Entwistle's 'Smash Your Head Against The Wall' and 'Whistle Rymes' are impressive.

Nailed it. Perfect list!

You know, ranking the Live Albums of The Who would be quite interesting.

I think Pete referred to it as the Lifehouse project-not lighthouse. I saw them in Cincinnati when all the kids-most my age (16 at the time) died, and then I took my 11 year old to see them on their Quadrophenia at 50 tour which, albeit only half of the band was left, but with Starkey on drums, Paladino on bass, and Pete’s brother on guitar-was still a hell of a show. I’m glad my 11 year old son got to see Roger and Pete and a classic album played start to finish. (Without the tragedy)

So well said on every album. I have been a WHO fan forever and WHO’s NEXT is as good an album. That can be made! PERFECTION

Love it! Love it! Love it!. Been watching your vlogs for a few weeks now and though I don't often agree with your rankings (although I do agree about Who's Next being the favourite Who album) I like the presenting style and reasons behind the rankings. Please don't go in for gimmicks. Like yourself I like rock music although my fav genre (which I know you don't like) is Glam rock and Punk (70's). Maybe you could start with ranking the studio albums of The Sex Pistols - shouldn't take you too long!

For some reason I didn’t find this on the playlist. One of my favorite bands of all time. My ranking; 12) Face Dances 11) Who are you 10) Endless Wire 9) It’s hard 8) Who 7) A quick one 6) My Generation 5) The Who sell out 4) Who’s next 3) The Who by numbers 2) Tommy 1) Quadrophenia

good video ,Pete. I agree about TOMMY, and would've made essentially the same list you did. Leonard Bernstein said of TOMMY "a powerful performance that outstrips anything that has ever come out of a recording studio" I am a WHO fan 'til the end, tho after MOON died, I couldn't accept them as TheWHO. BTW (and you may agree),but on Robert Klein's radio show once, PT said he wasn't fond of the expression ''Petering out''. as long as you make mention of the compilation albums, and live stuff, I have to say, 'Summertime Blues' on ODDS&SODDS is fantastic! and 'SPARKS' at Woodstock is incomparable! and there is not only one WHO record w/ an interesting pic of Keith on it's cover. on the cover of ISLE OF WIGHT there is a cymbal strongly resembling a halo just above Keith's head. kind of nice, but strange also.

The Who Sell Out is my fav... Heinz Baked Beans always brings a smile to my face.