It gives you an edge.”īassist John Entwistle died in 2002 – a cocaine-induced heart attack in a hotel room in Paradise, Nevada, a stripper by his side in bed – but a quarter of a century, on Starkey is still there. He’s willing to gamble on a drum roll in a place you’ll never expect it, and sometimes it won’t come off but he’s willing to try. A bum note and a bead of sweat is far better than getting every note right and playing like it’s a record. They’ll hear something and try it and sometimes it won’t come off but you’ll forgive them because the trying is everything. It wouldn’t suit any other band, but it works with us.” Something about the way Keith drummed and Zak drums just suits the Who. “But he’s wonderful and he’s the closest you can get in drumming style to Keith, which is important for The Who. “Keith was his babysitter, so he survived Keith Moon,” Roger Daltrey tells me when we talk. So yes, it’s hard to imagine the crotch remaining unaffected. Or as gleefully, unapologetically, viscerally loud. Perhaps you own a copy of his 1975 solo album Ride A Rock Horse, with its cover image of a naked Daltrey done up as a sort of sexy centaur.Ĭombined with the sonic assault provided by wind-milling, scissor-kicking guitarist Pete Townshend and the manic antics of drummer Keith Moon, who nearly deafened himself blowing up his kit on live television one time, there have been few bands as eye-catchingly kinetic as The Who.

Perhaps he’s howling “Hope I die before I get old”, from the band’s iconic 1965 hit My Generation. Perhaps he’s prowling the stage with his shirt open to the navel and deploying his trademark stage move – throwing his microphone high into the air and catching it again. Think of a rock gig as a sort of Dionysian frenzy and the strutting rock frontman as a satyr in figure-hugging blue jeans and it won’t be long before an image pops into your head of The Who’s cocky, mop-haired singer Roger Daltrey. In a contrary act of rock band taxonomy, Time magazine once wrote that while The Beatles aimed for the head and The Kinks for the funny bone, The Who went straight for the crotch. Guitarist Pete Townshend has said that the new songs include several 'dark ballads, heavy rock stuff, experimental electronica' amid classic 'Who-ish tunes.Roger Daltrey, front man with legendary rockers The Who, performing in New York in 2016 Daltrey has previously said that the band's current 'Moving On' tour could well be his last.īut that's not stopping The Who from plotting a new studio album, the band's first in 13 years. This year, Daltrey and The Who reunited with an orchestra to perform The Who's iconic 1973 concept album Quadrophenia live in concert.

In June, Daltrey released a live album recorded during the tour. While Daltrey doubts he'll be able to sing up to his considerable standards in his 80s, he appears to be making the most of the time he has left.ĭaltrey released his tenth solo album, As Long As I Have You, last year and followed it up with an orchestra-backed solo tour in which he performed The Who's Tommy. 'Obviously within the next five years I think my voice will go,' Daltrey said.

He tells Billboard that he won't be able to do it forever, which might explain why he's been so busy in recent years. The Who front man drew rave reviews on the band's latest North American trek, and the band is set to come back to the States in September. Roger Daltrey knows his career won't last forever, but in fact, the singer believes his voice has an expiration date.

Roger daltrey 80s