My Generation

The song My Generation is iconic. The rest was not something that hooked me that much.

These early rock albums are always interesting to me. I have trouble imagining what it would have been like to hear this kind of music for the first time. I don't think this record is really anything spectacular but I think it was a good idea to include it on this list because it really does kind of show where rock music was going at the time. Just a few years after this you had the first Zeppelin album and this is certainly tame compared to that. But this is a good example of when these bands were trying to make harder and more aggressive sounding music.
As for this record in isolation, it's just ok. The title track is obviously the standout. The rest really does just sound like standard British Invasion pop that is slightly leaning into the heavier realm. The Ox is great, though pretty much a Wipeout rip-off. I feel like I should like The Who more than I do but I just never really have. I think they are one of the bands where all of them are amazing at their respective instruments, but they just never really made a lot of music that wowed me. 2.5/5 but rounding up to 3 just for the title track.

Typical 60s rock

probably the best album I've heard from them so far, but still kind of a slog

Big fan of this. This is the second The Who album I’ve listened to and I’ve been happy to hear both of them :)

Never listened to this one before, only really listened to their greatest hits, Live at Leeds and Who's Next. This album is good but they went on to do much better later in their career. The raw power and energy on here is palpable though, and obviously the title track is one of the best ever written. Some other solid tracks on here, but apart from the Kids are Alright and A Legal Matter, nothing very memorable. Great musically though, and I imagine would have been seen as a very promising debut.

One of the classics of all time...

This had a much stronger blues/golden oldies/surf rock vibe than I was expecting. Which is not a bad thing.

If this was 1001 tracks My Generation would be a 5 (as would The Kids Are Alright). The album mostly sounds like young men trying on too many jackets that don't fit.

For its time this album seems a lot more heavy than other albums being released. That being said, if The Who had stopped after this one they would be a footnote in the history of rock music. Most of this album is forgettable, there are a couple songs that have stood the test of time and the rest have rightfully been ignored. Aside from being heavier most of the album is standard fare for what was being released at the time. It is not The Who at a creative peak, it is them working out what they would someday become. I don’t think this album should be on this list. If there was a list of singles to hear before you die, I could see My Generation being on it, it’s an iconic song. But this album is just ok.

Surprisingly but also unsurprisingly bluesy in places.

Much more of an early 60s classic "Oneders"-style rock and roll / soul / doo wop than I really realized. Their blues efforts (please please please, i'm a man) are way less compelling than their pure power pop stuff. The emphasis in all of these very tightly constructed songs is on the harmonies and the big bright pop melodies. But they bring a chaotic high energy rhythm section and overdriven guitar loudness that goes harder than the songs really allow, and so the band erupts from the confines of that early 60s pop rock and roll mould.

Favorites: The Good's Gone, La La La Lies, Kids are Alright, Legal Matter, I Don't Mind

I thought I liked The Who, but after sitting through this I'm less sure. Based on reputation, and my own imagination, I was expecting a rebellious hard hitting album. What I got was fairly boring pop rock. Not bad, but really not noteworthy either.

Lots of hits on this one. Solid.

The standouts here are My Generation (obviously), which is just phenomenally good, and The Ox. Everything else is decent mid sixties blues/rock. A high 3.

Rockiger Sound der 60er. Hat ganz ordentliche Tracks z.B. „The Kids Are allright“ aber absolute Highlights waren nicht dabei. Auch der lead/Song „My Generation“ reihte sich in diese Impression ein. Trotzdem wird das Album in der 2. Hälfte deutlich stärker z.B. mit dem Song „I am a Man“ oder dem schon Heavy klingenden „The Ox“

2.75 per track. I didn’t really care for this but can hear why it’s important l.

I imagine it was crazy hearing My Generation for the first time and then flipping the record to The Kids Are Alright during the 60’s. Knowing what The Who would go on to make later really diminishes the impact of this album. Most of it feels very derivative of similar acts at the time as they hadn’t fully established their sound yet.

Hang on. Where's the anger and angst? This is generic 60's white-boy blues rock.

I'm thinking that I don't like The Who, as it feels, just like the Rolling Stones, they're trying to appeal to more American-like musical styles all the time, rather than developing their own ideas, and it just gets annoying. I mean, I really can't stand the singing here, with all the repeating and stuttering here, and I only like it when it feels as though it isn't so self-indulgent. Plus, for thirty something minutes, this drags. The final track trying to be some mega-wild instrumental comes off as more self indulgent than something cool, and again, this just annoys me. Actually, this album really annoys me. All the music here is just exactly the type of music I dislike from the mid-60s-era. I mean, Rubber Soul came out this year, and in comparison, this is a real drag, man. I was going to go with a two, but writing this review made me realize how little there is I like here. A couple okay tracks don't make up for songs that actively make me angry.