The ‘Who’s Next’ Reckoning

Pete Townshend tried to build the future and nearly got buried under it. By 1971, The Who had already smashed their way out of the mod scene, conquered the rock world and watched Tommy turn a four-piece known for volume and destruction into unlikely countercultural heroes. Now, on what was supposed to be their fifth album, Townshend responded by dreaming bigger: Lifehouse, a sprawling concept about technology, human transformation, social collapse and the possibility that music might somehow save us all. It was an idea with enough moving parts to consume its inventor. When it collapsed, associate producer Glyn Johns did the sensible thing: he salvaged the songs from the wreckage. What survived was Who’s Next, an album that sounds less like a retreat from Townshend s grand vision than the machine after the unnecessary parts have been ripped away. Nine tracks. No sprawling narrative to decode. No multimedia utopia to construct. Just four musicians, enormous songs and the uneasy rea