I've seen the Who 13 times in concert. I think they are the best rock band of my generation. Do youngsters enjoy the Who?

My kids love ‘em, and my kids are 13.

I’m just about 30, so not much of a youngster anymore. But I saw Tommy for the first time when I was 12 or 13, and loved it.

I think Pinwheel Wizard is on Rock Band now, so that’s gotta be getting young people into them a little, or at least exposing them to the band.

@Likeradar Pinball Wizard* :) heh

I’ve always appreciated the Who. As if “Tommy” wasn’t enough, when I heard Townsend’s Orchestral version of Baba O’reilly I was further convinced that he was a musical genius. (Don’t mind the creepy photo of Pete Townsend on the video..minimize if you like)
Ok I’m 42 but I think I’m a youngster.

<- This six year old digs them.

I am a “youngster”, I guess, I’m 15. I like The Who, they’re music is good but I’m not like, ”OMG The Who! They’re here! OMFG! Ahhhh! I’m gonna die if I don’t see them!” I’m not like that, it is a band that I would like to see but not go crazy over.

<- This more than six year old digs them too.

@trickface Errrr… whoops. :)

I’m 19. I love them. I saw them in 2006 when Endless Wire came out, and I gotta say, I wasn’t too impressed with them live. The set list was lacking, and it seemed like Pete threw in the obligatory windmill and Roger yelled once just because they had to. It wasn’t for “the love of the game”, so to speak.

I would have much rather been around in the 70’s to see them with Moon and Entwistle. The current rendition doesn’t cut it for me.

I love The Who and I’m 20!

Of course, The Beatles are better.

^Gotta agree with^ @AstroChuck on this. I could listen to The Beatles for weeks and weeks with no break and not get sick of them…The Who probably not.

Meh, they’re alright.

@AstroChuck, @sjmc1989 I agree. The beatles FTW.

Oh, yeah. I’m 17. If that’s what you were looking for.

They are just not the same without Keith Moon – nobody can trash a hotel room like he could, the band was banned from almost every hotel they stayed in after Keith started dropping dynamite in the toilets as a hobby…........no I’m not kidding, he had more than a few issues

@Irishmar I don’t know about the best rock band – but certainly one of them. Having seen them 13 times in concert makes you not only subjective, but practically a sponsor of the Who.

I enjoyed their music in the 70’s – usually alone – as I found that they were light years ahead of their time – and most of my friends growing up simply did not appreciate them, or maybe it’s just a matter of taste.

I fell in love with Tommy, having been given the double album as a gift when it came out. I knew every note and lyric years before seeing the movie, which was not meant for a youth of my age at the time (I’m 44 you guys do the math if you want). Edit: Eventually I even got to see the Broadway musical Tommy which was one of my favourite Broadway experiences – of which I’ve had many, forunately.

When CSI (my kids and I are huge fans) came out with its two spinoffs useing Baba O’Reilly and Who are You – I thought it would be a good time to show my kids where the songs came from, dusted off the original LP’s of Who’s Next and Who Are You, and we all had a treat.

I think their music is timeless, in that it appeals to all generations and that it will also stand the test of time and become “classic” – in the good, not cheesy sense – rock – for generations to come.

GQ (great question) @Irishmar and welcome to fluther!

I guess I missed that. The best band of that generation?
That honor would have to go to Pink Floyd.

Well, my son who is currently signing a contract with RCA, was partly inspired by the Who.
When I was young, I saw them live – with Paul Jones and the Small Faces – support acts, and they were my 2nd Fav group.
However, my Fav was Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich [DDDBMT], which group apparently had more consecutive weeks in the British charts betw’n 1965 and 1969 than the BeatlesLOL! ... Apparently, during 1969, Peter Townshend of the Who, was considering leaving the Who to join DDDBM&T!!
It seems, too, that The Beatles used to call DDDBMT into Abbey Road to help out in there.

So, you know… who is to say which was the best group in those days??
Certainly, however, the answer has to be one of the Great British GroupsLOL!!
– From an Australian ;)

My son and his friends do.

Having said all those things on the Brilliance of the British groups of the 60’s, surely in the progress of the 70’s, others took over.
I consider, for instance, the Bee Gees to be the best group overall, spanning both the 60s and 70s: I think they bridged that 15 to 20 year period the best of the lot, esp in terms of continual hits records. They were raised in Australia, though born in EnglandLOL!

But, for mine, the best group from the mid-70’s to 80’s was the Swedish, ABBA!

Gimme Gimme Gimme a man after midnight.

I like the 60s Mod Who better than the 70s Stadium Rock Who. I came of age in the late 80s.

I’m not a youngster anymore, but I liked The Who as a teen in the late ‘90’s, and I still enjoy their music today. ride the magic bus

@denidowi
Bee Gees
Abba? Really…I mean REALLY…
Bee Gees and Abba were definitely talented and feel good but both were kind of a fad in America and they definitely lacked the depth and breadth of a true super band. They did a handle of songs with different twists.
Comparing them to Tommy, The Dark Side of the Moon, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band? Those on the contrary were rock operas.
Well that’s my opine.
P.S.-DDDBMT? Can I buy a vowel Chuck?
Never made it across the pond

SS, I suppose you’ve got to remember that you are [I am assuming] American.
During those days, the Americans always were a bit slow on the international Uptake.
You know, I like Americans… but I gotta be honest and say, they do, very much, tend to entertain only themselves with themselves.
They took ages to catch onto the Beatles… they took ages to even catch onto the Who.
(Consider @aprilsimnel ‘s comment)
As for DDDBMT, to America, they were almost Non-existentLOL!
And anything outside England, they thought came from another planetLOL!!!!

The Americans were just too slow on the Uptake.

ABBA all happened before the good ol’ Yanks said, “Oh… there’s a new group outta some European countryLOL!!!
As for the Bee Gees, who takes notice of them?? they’re from Australia… we are AMERICA… we ARE the World ;)

Well… I think, fortunately, they are slowly being awoken to a whole wide world out there!

I’ve been rather blunt… and I still love you Americans, but Hey… we ALL got our weaknesses, and this is the big Yankee one. It’s getting better.

Now, on the other hand, if you are concerned with limiting “Best groups” to merely Hard rock groups… well, of course, ABBA and Bee Gees just don’t figureLOL!
I’m speaking of pop music GENERALLY.
I mean the Beach Boys mellowed out too – so would they be a Rock group??

@denidowi
No I read your answer and realized that you weren’t an American and that’s why I pointed it out. And I realize that Abba didn’t care if they really won the US audience. It was their prerogative. I think it was a mistake from a long sighted commercial perspective but they seemed to have done ok and they didn’t care. :)
The Beach Boys were always pretty pop along with Herman’s Hermits, Harper’s Bazaar and the like. The border was somewhere near the Lovin’ Spoonful and the Mamas and the Papas in my estimation. And as far as the depth of pop I don’t think you can do much more than the Carpenters (and not just ‘cause I’m a Yank :P). Fluffy and much maligned but poignant, very soulful and brave.

But pop music generally just lacks the range of well done rock.
It’s like comparing The American Rockwell Thanksgiving to the Spanish Picasso’s masterpiece Guernica. The former is a one liner, and while sweet and pretty demands nothing from the viewer and the latter raises questions and demands involvement but is deeply rewarding and at times bittersweet not unlike life. Likewise Rock is honest in a way that Pop avoids.

P.S.-Aussie girls are hot.:)~

Well, I know our country in population terms is only about 1/15 or ½0 of yours, and, certainly, commercially, missing the US market is not the best at all, even if you still won Canada… but as someone pointed out the other day, the EURO is much bigger than the USD, and you might say, ABBA won the EURO and plenty else besidesLOL!!

Personally, I’m not in the habit of segregating the styles in the pop music industry – I think slotting is a very limiting practice in anything in life: I take it as a whole.

To me, although popul sizes can make quite a difference commercially, I’m more interested in how well artists perform, nation to nation, or even more so, region to region.

Although there are obvious deficiencies in coming from a small country like ours, believe it or not, there are actually HUGE advantages as well – and consumption of the World’s pop industry is just one of themLOL!!

You see, we here in OZ and in NewZealand to some extent, had the most wonderful advantage of receiving the Best of what every other country had to offer, and of giving each imported article its fair and equal go. In fact, one of our better internationally recognized traits is our tendency to give people a “fair go”.

The pop music industry was perfect case-in-point, where we readily received music fron the Beachboys of the 60’s, the Monkees – later 60’s, the Turtles, 4 Tops and Seasons, etc, etc, and great music like “Substitute” of the Who [I still call this their best as a ‘musical’ work, the Beatles, Small Faces, DDDBMT, Cat Stevens etc and the other great Myriad of great British groups – I am speaking mainly of the 60’s here, but not solely… then we had some of our own great products here – that not many other places bothered with – we had the Seekers [certainly not pop in the usual sense, but nevertheless, on the market & later did very well in England], the Easybeats [even the British took some time to recognize them], the Bee Gees [the Americans barely knew they existed until “Massachusetts”], the Twilights, the Groop, Glen Ingram – some great local talent; the occasional European Hit group, the best NZ had to offer, and Japan… Back in the 60s and some of the 70s we had ALl these Wonderful products hitting our shores and indeed it was the most wonderful shopper’s market for us to choose from and truly decide, What was the BestLOLOL!! ... just one Great advantage of being small but significant enough as a market… and these Great groups toured here.
We were Keen consumers… and per head, back in the day, we had the moneyLOL! ... not so now :(

On the other hand, our HUGE Disadvantage was as international Exporters… it still is: Distance – the costs of transport/travel.
For any of our guys to ‘make it Big’, they had to move to UK or America, and UK was generally, more ready to listen to outsiders – so they got the marketLOL.

That remains so even today:
My son records Alternative rock/pop.
They are shifting [the 2 of them] this very month to UK because that is where the O/Seas market has, so far, taken any real note of them… so they have signed, so far, with RCA in England – $160,000 up front is better than a kick in the backsideLOL!!
They are called, “Gypsy and the Cat”, if you want to sample some of their [unfinished] work over the Net.

BTW, I’m not chopping or mismaligning your selection {“The Beach Boys were always pretty pop along with Herman’s Hermits, Harper’s Bazaar and the like. The border was somewhere near the Lovin’ Spoonful and the Mamas and the Papas in my estimation. And as far as the depth of pop I don’t think you can do much more than the Carpenters (and not just ‘cause I’m a Yank :P). Fluffy and much maligned but poignant, very soulful and brave”}.
I think ALL of those choices are among the great ones of the period.
The Carpenters certainly were BIG ones here [not the size of ABBA by any means, but certainly very much in that direction… the Carpenters were Big – very big], but here, ABBA remains, to this day, the group to look to when comparing “sound” ... they still ask in the media which ABBA songs would still make it big today – such was their effect… obviously though, the Beatles still remain the crowd fav, and one of my very best friends does a regular concert of ‘Accoustic Beatles’ – he and his 2 mates, and they are very professional and experienced [He has a lot of charisma this guy]...

So, for me, it’s Beatles – 60’s; Bee Gees – 60/70s, and ABBA – 70s… after that, most of the ship wasn’t worth following in my book

When it comes to music, I’m fairly ‘opinionated’: so I hope you people don’t mind… I DO, very much, enjoy the discussion though, and hearing what everyone likes – though I can’t handle much heavy metal [sorry] :(

Looking from outside, I tend to see the British and US scenes thus:
In VERY General terms:

The British had the Greatest Pop-Rock groups,
But he Americans had the solo artists.

On TV:
The British had the Comedy,
But the Americans had the Drama series

Musically, I preferred the Groups, but screen-wise, I prefer drama over comedy:
So there’s one for each sideLOL!!

SORRY… We’ve moved right away from The Who!

Not to mention Marvin Gaye, Buddy Guy, BB King, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Creedence Clearwater Revival. The list goes on and on. And don’t forget the funk of the seventies like Sly and the Family Stone. And as far as the disco the Commodores with their “Brick House” put it down. And if you a want a nutritious serving of fluff these boys from Ohio were alright in my book.

Yeah… Now you’ve hit a couple o’ beauties there.
Another great Fav of the 70’s for me was CCR [Creedance] Yeah!! Just great stuff, Man!
Of course some of these you mention are not “bands” per se, but BBKing – just great stuff – what a voice. The Doors: I thought their “Light My Fire” may have been the best hit of all of 68LOL!
Sly and the family Stone: well my 5 yr old grandaughter just loves singing with them, “Everyday People”!! lol
I also enjoyed Little River Band and Three Dog Night – Great stuff! ... and Air Supply.