A Band with Built-In Hate: The Who from Pop Art to Punk
- Author: Stanfield, Peter
The Who have always been a bundle of contradictions, always a mismatch between theory and practice and always unsure whether to look at the gutter or the stars. Stanfield proudly takes the...
A Band with Built-In Hate: The Who from Pop Art to Punk
- Author: Stanfield, Peter
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The Who have always been a bundle of contradictions, always a mismatch between theory and practice and always unsure whether to look at the gutter or the stars. Stanfield proudly takes the...
About
‘Ours is music with built-in hatred.’ Pete Townshend A Band with Built-In Hate pictures The Who from their inception as the Detours in the mid-sixties to the late seventies, post-Quadrophenia. It is a story of ambition and anger, glamour and grime, viewed through the prism of pop art and the radical levelling of high and low culture that it brought about – a drama that was aggressively performed by the band. Peter Stanfield lays down a path through the British pop revolution, its attitude and style, as it was uniquely embodied by The Who: first under the mentorship of arch-mod Peter Meaden as they learnt their trade in the pubs and halls of suburban London; and then with Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, two aspiring filmmakers, at the very centre of things in Soho. Guided by contemporary commentators – among them George Melly, Lawrence Alloway and most conspicuously Nik Cohn – Stanfield describes a band driven by belligerence, and of what happened when Townshend, Daltrey, Moon and Entwistle moved from back-room stages to international arenas, from explosive 45s to expansive concept albums. Above all, he tells of how The Who confronted their lost youth as it was echoed in punk.
Contents
- A Band with Built-In Hate: The Who from Pop Art to Punk
Awards and reviews
The Who have always been a bundle of contradictions, always a mismatch between theory and practice and always unsure whether to look at the gutter or the stars. Stanfield proudly takes the intellectual high road – a move that Pete Townshend would regard as ludicrously pretentious or highly appropriate, depending on mood. As Stanfield notes: “The Who made the simple things complicated and the complicated simple.” . . . At the end of it all you will have been royally entertained
There’s some very perceptive writing on the influence the Who had on the wider scene . . . essential reading for anyone who’s ever loved the Who, or wants an insight into the Sixties’ music scene that goes beyond greatest hits compilations and easy generalisations
If Roger Daltry's 2018 autobiography was a prosaic foot soldier's telling of the Who story, here is a view from the high plains . . . . The best parts of the book mirror the best of The Who, fizzing with ideas and connections . . . This book vividly reanimates the nasty, transgressive, scene-shaping thrill of their beginnings
[An] ear for apt detail enriches Stanfield's account. He plumbs archives for ephemeral magazines and forgotten interviews to reveal more than the standard recitals of the works
Stanfield has masterfully identified the mod, pop art, and art rock stages of the Who’s career for rock fans and general readers alike
