#VV The Who – Who’s Next: Medicinal Rock & Roll
by Denise Regan on Feb 16th, 2012
The Who - Who's Next
You should have this record, because it could take the place of your antidepressant or tranquilizer. You should listen to it as loud as you can get away with until your symptoms subside, and then follow up as needed.
The Who are much more than the guys who provided the music that plays during the opening credits of CSI. During their heyday they were banned from many of the world’s better hotels due to drummer Keith Moon’s tendencies to trash the rooms and rip toilets out if the walls. They knew about madness, so it makes sense that their music would be medicinal.
The Who released Who’s Next, their fifth studio album, in August 1971. The cover photo, shot by Ethan Russell, depicts the band buttoning their pants after apparently urinating on a concrete rectangular block which protrudes from a pile of rock dust. The image is fitting in regard to the content of Who’s Next,which, on release, consisted of the following songs:
1. Baba O’Riley
2. Bargain
3. Love Ain’t for Keeping
4. My Wife
5. The Song Is Over
6. Getting in Tune
7. Going Mobile
8. Behind Blue Eyes
9. Won’t Get Fooled Again
Following the release of Tommy, Who’s Next was intended by Pete Townshend to be a rock opera called Lifehouse. Lifehouse would follow a story set in the future at a time when rock music disappears and becomes folklore. A group of rebels band together to perform a concert called Lifehouse, which will be broadcast on a rogue radio station, ultimately setting rock music free in the world once more. Because the ideas were so complex and difficult for anyone but Townshend to comprehend, however, the band had to abandon Lifehouse and release the songs as a studio album. Lifehouse is known now to many as “the lost Who album.”
When Townhend’s plans for Lifehouse didn’t materialize, he fell into a deep depression which lasted years. The irony is that the modified version of the album, released as Who’s Next, contains healing properties inside its heaviness. This is the music “Big Pharma” doesn’t want you to hear, because if you listen to it loud and often during your times of distress, you might not need your Prozac. You can possibly throw your Klonopin in the trash, too. Go on and toss out those prescription bottles in your medicine cabinet and replace them with something that really works…music. Starting with Who’s Next.
THIS REVIEW HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED BY THE FDA.