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by musician and journalist Bob Stanley, of

Talking to Brian Matthew in 1965, Pete Townshend explains how he wants the Who to be "a bit sensational" and that they "like to keep slightly ahead."

This quickly became apparent, first with the squalling feedback on the Anyway Anyhow Anywhere and singles later in 1965. may have been "written as a hit" - there's confidence for you! - but that certainly wasn't the case with the 1966 album track . This sprawling chorus-free song, clocking in at almost ten minutes, came about after the Who's manager Kit Lambert talked Pete Townshend into writing a "rock opera". Though only just thirty when I Can't Explain was a hit, Kit seemed much older than the group and, as the son of composer Constant Lambert, came from a quite different world.

The under-produced A Quick One While He's Away was more Confessions Of An Engine Driver than The Marriage Of Figaro, but it encouraged Townshend to further his rock opera ambitions. Between A Quick One (1966) and Tommy (1969) came The Who Sell Out, an extraordinary album-length tribute to the pirate radio stations which had just been shut down by postmaster general Anthony Wedgwood-Benn in 1967. Songs were linked by jingles and adverts for real products (Odorono, Heinz Baked Beans, Premier Drums) written by the group. Townshend had always claimed the group were "pop art" and The Who Sell Out was the aural equivalent of a Peter Blake exhibition.

It didn't sell, though, possibly because of the rather off-putting cover with poor Roger Daltrey freezing in a bath of baked beans. Townshend went away to lick his wounds, and came back with the world-conquering Tommy.