Radio Head
IN THE WORLD of rock and pop, the Who have always been, and will likely remain, the kings of the concept album. But while 1969’s Tommy is their most famous, 1971’s abortive Lifehouse their most troubled, and 1973’s Quadrophenia their most ambitious, they were all preceded by an oddity known as The Who Sell Out.
Released in 1967, the Who’s third full-length record stands as their first official concept album. Which is odd, considering that, for the most part, it’s no such thing at all. “It didn’t have much of an aim or a theme or a direction,” Who guitarist, primary songwriter, sometime lead singer and overall visionary Pete Townshend admits to Guitar Player. “It was cobbled together very much in the last minute.”
And yet, it’s also a triumph of creation in every way — an ambitious step forward for a band that had already moved beyond its early status as a U.K. hit-single machine via the likes of “I Can’t Explain,” “My Generation,” “Substitute” and other three-minute power-pop gems.
By 1966, Townshend had composed the “mini opera” “A Quick One, While He’s Away,” and the music he had on deck for included the multi-part “Rael,” the psychedelic-pop masterpiece “I Can See for Miles” and the coming-of-age tale “Tattoo.” The songs themselves were disparate and unrelated, with the ultimate concept — interspersing the compositions with jingles and commercials that imitated a pirate radio broadcast — being tacked on very much at the end of the process. So too was the album’s pop-art cover, which, in a satirical extension of the album title and audio advertisements, presented the band’s members shilling for various products: Townshend applying Odorono deodorant to
