Who are playing the Half Time Show? The Who!

The Who are performing later tonight at the Super Bowl Half Time Show. I was a bit surprised to hear that they were playing, because to me, they do not seem to be as big as a name as Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, or the Rolling Stones, all past Super Bowl performers since 2004’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction”. Yesterday I was really thinking about it and I realized that The Who, despite only have two of the original four still alive is probably one of the best choices made since 2004.

The Who has been one of the greatest influential rock bands of all time. They were trendsetters and are still mimicked today. You remember the Offspring song “The Kid’s Aren’t All Right.” It’s a play of words on The Who’s “The Kids Are All Right.” Did you like it when Kurt Cobain used to destroy the bands instruments at the end of a show? I remember hearing a story on a “Fresh Air” interview with Dave Grohl talking about how he really wanted a new drum set for the rest of Nirvana’s first tour, but the band manager didn’t want to spend them money. That night Grohl asked Cobain to destroy his drum set so that there was no hope of playing it again. Cobain took a head first dive into the kit. Well, Keith Moon, the drummer for the Who had a stage hand load his kit with explosives an the “Smothers Brother’s Comedy Hour.” Roger Daltrey actually says he believes that incident is when his hearing started to go. Also with they’re loud sound and anti-establishment lyrics, they have been named as an influence for many of the greatest punk bands. Some even go as far to say that it was The Who who started the punk movement. Finally, I can’t begin to list the number of times The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly” has been covered.

Let’s not omit probably the biggest influence The Who created not just for rock n’ roll but for performers across all musical genres, “Tommy”. “Tommy” is the first full length rock opera. If you haven’t heard the album or seen the movie I suggest that you netflix it immediately. In doing this The Who in a way created a new genre in music. David Bowie had the “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.” In 2004 Green Day came out with “American Idiot”. Two years later in 2006 My Chemical Romance released “The Black Parade”. Probably the most well know rock opera to follow Tommy was Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” in the 1970s. In turn, I think that the rock opera and the movie “Tommy” contributed to the rise in theatrics you see on stage in performances through the 70s until today. The Who pushed the envelope and in turn contributed others to do the same. First it was Elton John and Bowie, Then Queen and Madonna, and today we have Lady Gaga who is as well known for her music as for the shows she puts on while on stage.

I just hope that Roger Daltrey at 65, and Pete Townshend at 64 still know how put on a show, and please please please no wardrobe malfunctions.