The Who song that Roger Daltrey found “very, very difficult” to sing
With a revolutionary flourish, The Who gave insight into what an album could be. They gave people a 3D look at something previously only viewed as a surface-level product. No longer were LPs just something that housed a multitude of tracks; instead, they could contain complex narratives and various characters, touching upon a huge range of emotions throughout.
The only thing more complex than the albums they put together was The Who’s relationship with one another and music. Despite being on a run of top ten singles in 1966, there was tension within the band, as they worried that they were leaning too far into the mainstream with their music.
Pete Townshend spoke publicly about his disdain steadily growing towards the band. He was quoted declaring that he didn’t believe the band had any kind of musical quality and also that their success was the result of “musical sensationalism” instead of making any form of decent art. The group were also seen fighting on stage, and both Roger Daltrey and Keith Moon had tried to quit.
It looked like the band was on the brink of destruction; however, during this period, rather than handing in an official resignation, The Who persevered and set about making one of their most popular songs. The product was a punchy riff that was likely a means by which the members could release some pent-up frustration as the track itself was created as a response to media outlets saying that The Who were just a “substitute Rolling Stones.” The track, naturally, was ‘Substitute’.
‘Substitute’ was a classic three-chord rock song that was both filled with energy but simultaneously intricate. Though one of the lines was controversial, as Daltrey professed, “I look all white, but my Dad was black,” the track was met with many positive reviews and is still revered as one of the band’s biggest releases. That being said, it didn’t come without some setbacks.
For one, Moon was taking such a mixture of pills at the time of recording that he doesn’t remember recording it. He got angry at the band when he heard it on the radio, convinced that they had made the song behind his back, given he had no memory of ever making it.
The second issue was that Daltrey found the song too difficult to sing. This had nothing to do with actual vocal ability; given how layered the band’s albums were, conveying various emotions and attitudes through his lyrics came second nature to Daltrey. The problem arose because he simply couldn’t connect with the song because of how poppy it was.
“I still couldn’t find that voice on songs like ‘Substitute’. I found it very, very difficult to sing pop. My voice was very gravelly,” he said. “I couldn’t identify with it, whatever the hell it was. Pop was alien to me. I didn’t find my voice until we got to Tommy.”
Things turned out well for the band, as they went on to create albums like Tommy that played into their ability to construct a narrative and cemented The Who as one of the most exciting rock bands of their generation. However, before they could truly reach their peak, the entire operation almost fell to pieces.