The Who History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Doug Sandom

The five piece band started to perform covers of pop tunes, before switching to covers of American rhythm and blues (American R&B). Dawson soon left the band and Daltrey took over as lead vocalist. In 1964, The Detours discovered another rival band named The Detours and wanted to change their name. Townshend's school friend, Richard Barnes suggested The Who, thus the band offically chose the name.

Not much time has passed after that when Doug Sandom was encouraged to leave the band. He was replaced by the young and wild drummer Keith Moon. Moon was a loon, indeed, as he dressed in all colored clothing with hair dyed to match whatever crazy outfit he was wearing, insisted he play with The Who at a gig.

After smashing their replacement drummer's foot pedal, he was accepted into the band.

Answer: Pete Meaden

Meaden was big in a new British youth movement called the Mods, a group of young men who wore stylish clothes and had short hair. Meaden renamed The Who The High Numbers. Numbers were what Mods called each other. Meaden wrote "I'm The Face" backed with "Zoot Suit", The High Numbers' only single.

These songs were both old R&B tunes with new lyrics about, you guessed it, Mods. Despite his efforts, the single failed. Also during this time, The Who developed a new way to attract fans to their shows. During a show, Townshend accidentally cracked the neck of his guitar on a low ceiling.

The next time they played there, the fans yelled to Townshend to smash his guitar again. He did as Moon followed it up by smashing his drum set. Townshend also developed his windmill guitar playing, a move he got from a stage move of Keith Richards (guitarist of the Rolling Stones). Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert would be The High Numbers' next managers in July 1964.

They found The Who because they wanted to make a movie about a band.

After a failing audition for EMI Records, the band changed their name back to The Who. Ian Stewart was the road manager for the successful Rolling Stones.

Answer: Shel Talmy

Talmy liked the song and The Who signed a five-year contract for Talmy to be their producer. He in turn, signed The Who to Decca Records in the US. Townshend's earlier songs were to match Daltrey's macho stage posture. Daltrey acted as the leader of the band at that time, a position he controlled with his fists. Townshend's ability as a songwriter rose and threatened the position as head of the group, especially after the hit single "My Generation".

It was a defining ode to the Mod outlook on life, with Daltrey stuttering from amphetamine-overdose crying out "I hope I die before I get old".

The single was a hit in the charts as Townshend, Entwistle, and Moon kicked Daltrey out of the band because of his violent ways. Daltrey promised to be more peaceful from then on, and was welcomed back in the band. Also during this time, The Who released an album also called "My Generation".

However, distressed by Decca's lack of marketing of The Who's albums in the US, the band wished to sign with Atlantic Records. Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp broke Talmy's contract and signed the band with Atlantic Records in the US and Reaction Records in the UK. Talmy then struck back with countersuits, almost stopping the release of the band's new single "Substitute".

It was settled with the Who paying record royalties to Talmy for the next five years and reverting back to Decca. This settlement, along with the band's extremely expensive act of equipment smashing, left The Who in severe debt.

Answer: Two

Yes, Moon wrote "I Need You" and the instrumental "Cobwebs and Strange". "A Quick One While He's Away" had a proviso that each band member write two songs for the album. Daltrey only came up with one and Moon with two. Entwistle wrote two nice numbers with "Whiskey Man" and the bass dominated "Boris The Spider".

It was the beginning of Entwistle as the band's alternate songwriter (who would also write up some more hits, including the "Who's Next" album's "My Wife"). The biggest song on the album was the mini-opera "A Quick One While He's Away", a story about a girl seduced by Ivor the Engine Driver while her man is away for nigh on a year.

The song was written to fill up the album. The album was named "A Quick One" both for the mini-opera and the slight sexual innuendo (for that reason, the album was renamed "Happy Jack", after the single, in the US). During this time, the lawsuit with Decca and Talmy was finally settled, The Who were free to tour the US.

Answer: Baked beans

"The Who Sell Out" didn't sell as well as their previous albums. It was a concept album and was designed to sound like a broadcast from the now-outlawed Radio London, an offshore pirate station. Later, it would be considered one of their best albums.

The album featured the hit single "I Can See For Miles" (personally, I believe one of Moon's best performances). It hit number 9 in the US and number 10 in the UK and was their biggest single hit in the US. Townshend considered this song the best he ever wrote.

He thought it was going to be a big hit, and was very disappointed when it wasn't. During this time period, The Who's fortunes increased in the US, their careers began to nose-dive in the UK. But it would change when Townshend quit using drugs and turned to the teachings of Indian mystic Meher Baba. Towshend was Baba's most-famous disciple and his following work would reflect what he learned from Baba's teachings. One idea was that those who can perceive earthly things are unable to perceive the world of God. From this Townshend developed a story about a boy who becomes deaf, dumb, and blind and removed from such earthly perceptions can then see God.

When the boy is cured, he becomes a messiah figure. The story soon became "Tommy". The Who worked on the project from the summer of 1968 through to the following spring. It was a last ditch effort to save the band and give them a hit. It would succeed beyond anybody's dream.

Answer: Keith Moon

Uncle Ernie may not have been the main character, but Moon did an excellent job playing the role. Daltrey played Tommy, the deaf, dumb, and blind boy who overcomes the problems and becomes a great pinball player, just like the Pinball Wizard, played by Elton John. Entwistle and Townshend starred as themselves and Eric Clapton as the Preacher. Jack Nicholson was the Specialist, Tina Turner was the Acid Queen, and Oliver Reed as Frank Hobbs.

After the success of "Tommy", Townshend started working with a new instrument, an ARP synthesizer. To buy time before the next project, The Who recorded a live album at Leeds University.

The album would be titled "Live At Leeds" and it would become The Who's second worldwide hit. Townshend began writing down some ideas about the next project called "Lifehouse". "Lifehouse" would be a science fiction story about virtual reality and a boy who rediscovers rock music.

The hero would hold an endless concert and at the end find the Lost Chord which would take them all to Nirvana.

This project also included interaction with the audience. Townshend would put the audience members' personal info (height, age, ect.) into the synthesizer. When results were disappointing, the audience would just call out to play some classic Who songs, and the band became pretty bored with the whole "Lifehouse" idea. But the songs written for "Lifehouse" were recorded in the studio and would be part of one of the greatest Who albums to date.

Answer: Dave Arbus

One of my favorite albums of all time, "Who's Next" is filled with unforgettable songs. Since I already mentioned "Baba O' Riley", "Bargain" is next up. Like "Baba O' Riley", "Bargain" was written by Townshend as an ode to Meher Baba. The first line in the song ("I'd gladly lose me to find you") is from one of the teachings from Baba.

But the main point of the song is about losing all your material goods for spiritual enlightenment, thus making it a "bargain". "Love Ain't For Keeping" is the shortest song on "Who's Next". "My Wife" (as mentioned earlier) was written by Entwistle and what probably made this song work was Entwistle's dark humor in all of his songwriting.

The song is about a man out partying and when he comes home his wife is about to kill him (whoa, you might wanna make sure your fiance isn't a maniac before you marry her!). "The Song Is Over" and "Gettin In Tune" are nice ballads, both featuring session man Nicky Hopkins on piano. "Goin' Mobile" is a song about taking a vacation in a car with no particular destination.

Then the heavy stuff comes in. "Behind Blue Eyes" is a very powerful, emotional song written by Townshend to show "how lonely it is to be powerful". This song was played at every concert after "Who's Next" was released. Townshend and Daltrey both have blue eyes. The long but wonderful tune "Won't Get Fooled Again" was the key song for The Who, as it was used to close out a lot of their concerts. The song was written about revolution. In the first verse, it talks about an uprising. In the middle, they overthrow those in power, but in the end, the new regime becomes just like the old ones. Townshend thought revolution was pointless because whoever takes over is destined to become corrupt. The synthesizer represents the revolution. It builds as the uprising starts in the beginning, and comes back at the end when a new revolution is beginning. Daltrey's famous scream at the end of the song and Moon's powerful drumming gives this song an A+. To sum it all up, "Who's Next", in my opinion, one of the greatest, if not, THE greatest album of all-time.

Answer: Jimmy

The outline of the story "Quadrophenia" was about a young man named Jimmy, a mod fan of The High Numbers in 1964. He works a dirty job to make some money to purchase a GS motorscooter, hip Mod clothes, and enough leapers to get him through the weekend.

The heavy doses of speed make his personality split into four ways, each personality represented by a member of The Who. Jimmy's parents discover the pills and kick him out of the house. He travels about to find the head Mod, but is disappointed when he finds the head Mod reduced to a lowly bellboy. Jimmy then takes a boat out to a rock in the sea during a violent storm (the setting for the ultimate ballad "Love Reign O'er Me") and has an epiphany. "Quadrophenia" led into problems shortly after recording. "Quadrophenia" was hard to play on-stage, as The Who needed help from backing tapes.

When the tapes wouldn't cooperate, however, it led to chaos. Also, Moon's wife left him shortly before touring and took their daughter with her. Moon drowned his sorrows in booze and whatever he could find.

In the infamous incident at the San Fransisco show that opened the US tour, Moon passed out during "Won't Get Fooled Again". He was replaced by Scott Halpin, a member of the audience. All these sorrowful events would lead into the breakdown of The Who years later.

Answer: Sixteen

"The Who By Numbers" would be a dark, bitter look at Townshend's soul. The song "Squeezebox" had many meanings, some which may be inappropriate to discuss on this website. However, it didn't do that bad in the charts. The tours that followed seemed more successful than the album.

After a particularly loud concert on this tour, Townshend kept on hearing a ringing in his ears. A trip to the doctor revealed that he had tinnitus and would soon go deaf if he didn't stop touring. After 1976, The Who did stop touring. All that there was left to do was the final break between The Who and their old managers.

In early 1977, Townshend signed the final papers that broke The Who's ties with Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. He left the meeting and ran into two members of The Sex Pistols, a new punk sensation that seemed to be the broom that finally swept The Who away.

The aftermath was Townshend drunk at a Soho doorway where a policeman knew his name.

Answer: CSI

"Won't Get Fooled Again" was the theme song for "CSI: Miami" and "Baba O' Riley" was the theme song for "CSI: New York". Another popular song off the album was "Sister Disco", a personal favorite of mine. The song discusses how disco has died and a man who loved disco, must move on with his life.

After "Who Are You", a two year break from the recording studio got the band's activity increasing. In addition to a new album, The Who were having a film made about the band's history that would be released as "The Kids Are Alright".

The Who even bought Shepperton Studios to film it in. When Keith returned from America, he looked terrible. He gained miserable weight, became a severe alcoholic, and looked 10 years older than his true age, 30. "The Kids Are Alright" was completed as a film and an album in 1978.

The album was released to massive sales. But, a sad thing happened 20 days after the album was released. On September 7th, Keith Moon died of an accidental overdose of pills he had been prescribed to control his alcoholism.

The world will never know a better drummer. R.I.P Keith.

Answer: John Bundrick

During this time, The Who were working on the "The Kids Are Alright" documentary and there was to be a new film released based on "Quadrophenia". The Who began touring again in the US, to be welcomed at their concerts by gigantic crowds. A tragic thing happened, though.

At a Cincinnati concert in 1979, eleven fans were trampled to death in the rush for seats. The Who nearly ended at that point. With doubts about it, The Who decided to keep touring. Meanwhile, Townshend released a solo album in 1980.

It was titled "Empty Glass" and got good reviews. The album also contained the hit single "Let My Love Open The Door". Later that year, however, it was shown that there was something wrong with Townshend. He was drunk most of the time and he was playing endless guitar solos in concert.

His drinking eventually led into cocaine use, then heroin. Daltrey had to do something before Townshend lost his life to his irresponsible behavior and addictions.

Answer: 1981

As mentioned earlier, this album didn't do so well as their previous ones. The only highlight of the album was (also mentioned earlier) the song "You Better You Bet". The failure of the album didn't help Townshend's problem, it probably made it worse. Daltrey realized that Townshend was destroying himself and decided to stop touring to save his life. Townshend did almost lose his life due to an overdose of heroin.

His life was saved at the hospital at the last minute. Townshend's parents sent him out to California to get off drugs and alcohol. On his return he was still shaky and had little confidence to write new material for The Who. So he asked the band for some of their ideas for songs on the album.

When all the songs were written and recorded, the result was The Who's final album "It's Hard".

Answer: "The poets cry as their dreams all die"

I randomly made up the wrong lyric. All the other lines came from the song. To see the lyrics to the whole song, you can go on any lyric website. Anyway, the album was named after the band's concerns about the cold war. The album cover depicts the band on a subway/train. Not their best album, but it was suitable as their last album before The Who would call it quits.

Answer: 1983

It was a sad day to learn one of the best bands of all-time (my opinion) would break up and stop making wonderful music. Soon after the breakup, The Who made a return appearance. On July 13th, 1985, they reuinted to perform at Live Aid, a charity concert put together to aid starving Ethiopia.

The Who were to perform a new song written by Townshend, titled "After The Fire". Lack of rehearsal made the band play some old favorites instead. "After The Fire" became a solo hit for Daltrey. Daltrey launched a solo tour in 1985, likewise for Entwistle in 1987.

They played some nice songs, as loyal Who fans supported them. In February 1988, The Who reunited again to receive the BPI Life Achievement Award. They also reunited once again for The Who 25th anniversary tour, but it was a radically different group on stage than had been there in 1964. Townshend stuck with the acoustic as another guitarist played lead. Most of the cast of the group Deep End (another band) were on stage including a new drummer and percussionist.

The show also featured the first complete performance of "Tommy" since 1970. It took place in Los Angeles with an all-star concert featuring Phil Collins, Elton John, Billy Idol, and others. "Tommy" continued to grow into popularity as Townshend rewrote it along with American theatrical director Des McAnuff into a stage musical. "The Who's Tommy" opened on Broadway April 23rd, 1993. Who fans had a mixed response, but New York and London theater critics gave it great reviews and loved it. Townshend won a Tony and a Laurence Olivier Award for his hard work.

Answer: Nineteen years

In 1996, The Who made an announcement in April that the band was to perform "Quadrophenia" at a benefit concert at Hyde Park. The show was held on June 26th. It was supposed to be just one show, but three weeks later, the band took the show to Madison Square Garden. In October, The Who began a North America tour. The tour continued through the spring of 1997 through Europe, followed by another six week tour of the US. Then, a sad day came once again in the music world as one of the greatest bassists ever, John Entwistle, was found dead in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2002, right before The Who were to tour the US. RIP John.

But to sum it all up, The Who were a very successful band. Not to mention that they were one of the greatest. From Pete Townshend's talented guitar/piano work to Roger Daltrey's screaming vocals that were ever so good to John Entwistle's booming bass grooves to the maniac Keith Moon, who will surely be considered one of the greatest drummers in music history. From the early success with singles to their first album, "My Generation" to one of the greatest albums by The Who and possibly of all-time "Who's Next" to the end of The Who's great run. What a wondrous band. And where Townshend's and Daltrey's paths lead from here, Who knows.