Why did The Who break up?

That's like saying that Chuck Berry should have retired after he climbed Mt. Dingaling.

 

Hard to go on, really, after Keith Moon.

You can make an argument that if Pete had focused solely on The Who, and given them songs like "Rough Boys" and "Let My Love Open the Door" for Face Dances, they may have turned out different. Certainly Kenny Jones was not the right drummer - but that's the point - who is?

Its not like Ringo filling in for Dennis Wilson.

 

What do you mean two more? What was the first one? I think they signed the Warner deal when Kenney was in the band. There was no obligation. Living in Toronto at the time, there was a ton of media around the band's last concert at Maple Leaf Gardens, and certainly my friends and I were under the impression the band was finished after that show.

 

Some had mentioned Kenny Jones in previous posts. I can't recall the interview/soundbite/article...but it was said more or less that having Kenny in the band was a mistake. I saw the 1982 "farewell" tour in Biloxi, Pete and Roger were throwing daggers at each other.

 

Exactly right

 

There was a period there where Pete was always saying how he was going deaf. Does this factor anywhere in the equation?

 

I seem to recall reading some Who bio (I think it was Before I Get Old) where Daltrey literally told Townshend "Look, quit the band if it'll keep you alive." Roger was indeed worried about Pete's health in those days; after all Townshend had just finished cleaning up after binging on coke and smack for two years, as well as continuing to drink like a fish. In his inebriated/high as a kite condition Pete was f--king up gigs (the infamous Rainbow concert in 1981 for example) and Daltrey certainly didn't like that. But it wasn't until Pete hit the wall trying to write the Siege album that he 'quit' (taking Kenney Jones with him, I might add).

No pun intended, but who knows for sure? Hell, I don't even consider that they 'broke up' at all, no matter what Pete might have said in the past. When bands break up, they usually stay broken up. For that matter, I'm not even 100% convinced that this current tour they're on will be their "last". Roger Daltrey claimed in 1975 (much to Pete's chagrin) that The Who would be out there "rockin' in our wheelchairs" and I'd actually be inclined to believe him...

 

The songwriter has the power....always does, always will.

 

Yes. By that time Pete's solo work totally eclipsed The Who's output anyway.

 

IMHO it was Pete's decision. And still is today on what happens under the Who banner.
As ever though with Pete it is never straight forward. I'm sure I remember reading interviews where he felt Keith's death released the Who from the burden of history and allowed them to continue and add keyboards and horns to the live show etc. Of course at the time Pete's own personal life started on a downward spiral, whether he felt guilty at carrying on as the Who? I know he has said after the Cincinatti tragedy he felt that it was a sign they shouldn't have carried on. Plus his frustrations at not being able or perhaps willing to write for the Who anymore, I also remember seeing an interview where he said 'sod it I'm not keeping my best stuff for the Who anymore' and even when he did offer it Roger would turn it down. And Pete has also said on a number of occasions that when he writes a song and demo's it when handed over to the Who it can often completely change from where Pete was originally coming from. Example being Who Are You which I'm pretty sure Pete said started out as a bit of a self-pitying whine about himself which the mighty Who turned into an anthem!! So perhaps he was ready to write and record the songs how he wanted to.
So in the end for a combination of reasons I think Pete had just had enough. I think if he had persevered in 1983 and written something for the Who they would have carried on and probably ended up touring again, for better or worse. I can't imagine Roger or John saying no to carrying on.

I too feel very fortunate to have seen them with Pete, Roger, John, Zak & Rabbit though. Unfortunately I was too young to see them with Keith.

 

Townshend wanted The Who to come to an end. After the frustration of Quadrophenia, Townshend didn't have the fire to write for the Who. Both Who By Numbers and Who Are You were good records but neither had the passion of Tommy, Who's Next, and Quadrophenia. The Quadrophenia tour was not a happy one, with the band finding it difficult to play the album live - they had to rely on backing tapes which rarely worked well. Moon passed out on stage. Daltrey knocked Townshend out cold during a fist fight on the eve of the opening night of the tour. Townshend went berserk one night on the tour and smashed tape players and ripped some of the tapes up when they malfunctioned on a gig.

Townshend said that he had lost the balls to ever attempt a project like that with The Who again. I remember him giving an interview about the The Who By Numbers tour setlist and that it was more or less a three part show, with some new material (I think they only played 3 songs off of Who By Numbers), some stuff from Quad, and then a greatest hits portion of the show as a "reward".

When Keith Moon passed away, both Pete and Roger had tremendous guilt about not doing more to try to help Keith. In fact, they were preparing to remove Keith from the band - and Keith sensed it. During the making of Who Are You, Keith was threatened by Pete and told to get his act together or he would be out of the band. In the months leading up to his death, the band made Keith director of PR for The Who's film company, which Keith saw as a thinly veiled attempt to keep him involved in The Who, but not actually in the band. Keith died as a result of overdosing on prescription medicine designed to combat the effects alcohol withdrawal.

Pete nearly died two years to the day after Keith. Townshend had spiraled into alcoholism and narcotics use and overdosed on heroin. He later said that Keith's death had weighed heavily on him. Daltrey too admitted to doing things he had never done before in coping with his guilt over Moon's death. However when the critics savaged Face Dances and particularly It's Hard, Townshend decided he was finally finished with The Who.

 

I'm not understanding your post, the band signed a contract with Warners and your asking what the contractual obligation was?

 

What do you mean by Pete took Kenney with him?

 

Pete had some bad times in the early 80's and was lucky to be alive by 1982. His book tells some crazy drug stories from this period. Their touring was crazy too with the deaths of fans in Cincinnati. That event had to have put an very sour feeling in future touring. Even more than that though, it seemed with lesser albums like Face Dances and It's Hard, the Who could sell out whatever live venue that they wanted in the early 80's. How do you put a healthy perspective on that kind of popularity? Pete after the success of Empty Glass and Chinese Eyes probably felt that he could do it all on his own. Heck he was even the singer on Eminence Front from It's Hard. There was a period in Pete's life during this time that he gave the impression in interviews that he really seem to downplay the Who and their ability to help him bring his musical visions to reality. He certainly sings a different tune about all of this today.

What killed his solo career was that after White City, he didn't release anything new for 4 years and Iron Man wasn't that good. The Who tour of 89-90 was huge too. They could still sell out Stadiums without really much new material. After that tour, they should have probably made a new album together but instead Pete released another album Psychoderelict that was ..... I don't know. It seemed that the older that he got, the tougher that it was for Pete to finish projects on his own.

 

I intentionally left off an emoticon in my post. Sorry you thought I was serious...

 

The 1982 tour was the only one that the Who claimed was a "farewell tour"...

 

I didn't say they claimed it more than once. I assume that is the break up being discussed. They sold more tix to that tour by claiming they were breaking up afterward then sold more tix to the next one because it was a reunion. A cynical cash grab.

If a band is breaking up for reasons other than maximizing revenue, they don't do a tour after they announce the break up.

 

Hard to deny that they lost their Mojo after Keith Moon passed away. The final albums were uneven at best.

 

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/what-happened-to-the-who-after-1982.316446/#post-8827502

 

Short answer is Pete was bored, burned out and keeping his best songs for himself. He just, for a variety of reasons, saw The Who as a spent force and didn't have the energy, will and/or desire to revive it.

 

A Who album sung by Daltrey with all Entwistle compositions? Now THAT would be...interesting.

 

Of course, they should have broken-up when Moon died. But having decided to keep on keeping on, they should have kept it going until they found a new groove and redeemed themselves.

Townshend will forever remain a mystery to me - the turgid Who I Am didn't help at all. Empty Glass has some good songs, but he never should have pursued a rock solo career... he didn't have enough gas in the tank.

The occasional Rough Mix style sidebar solo project would have been okay. I've always thought he missed his true calling as a solo artist, he never recorded another personal, intimate album after his wonderful foray with Ronnie Lane.

 

If evidence of Daltrey's creativity are his solo outings, he's quite the smart man to say "yes" to anything Townshend proposes in terms of keeping The Who going. Outside of his distinctive vocals, he has no musical talent.

He'll always do whatever Pete wants.

 

You referred to "past farewell tours", which I felt implied you believed they'd done more than one farewell tour.

Your post implies that when they "split up" in 1982, they already planned to reunite in 1989. I don't think that's true...

But as others have said, the Who didn't actually claim they were breaking up in 1982 - they just said they weren't going to tour anymore. Of course, the opposite happened where after 1989, they toured a bunch but barely made new music, but they still didn't state the band would no longer exist post-1982.

I don't think the Who needed to claim "farewell" in 1982 to sell tickets anyway. They were still a big, big act back then - I suspect any additional sales that occurred due to the "last tour" angle were minor...

 

I think it certainly helped sell tickets.

Speaking as a guy who went to see The Who in 1982, my motivation was based almost solely on the fact that the tour was being billed as a "farewell". I wasn't a huge fan and wouldn't have bothered to see them otherwise. I certainly didn't like Face Dances or It's Hard. I went to see a seminal rock band do a final tour as I thought it'd be an experience and my last time to see them. I would bet my experience mirrors many (especially those of my age at the time).