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"My Generation" is a song by the English rock band the Who, which became a hit and one of their most recognizable songs. The song was named the 11th greatest song by Rolling Stone on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It became part of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll and is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value.

The song was released as a single on 29 October 1965, reaching No. 2 in the United Kingdom (The Who's highest charting single in their home country along with 1966's I'm a Boy) and No. 74 in the United States. "My Generation" also appeared on The Who's 1965 debut album, My Generation (The Who Sings My Generation in the United States), and in greatly extended form on their live album Live at Leeds (1970). Although The Who re-recorded the song for the Ready Steady Who EP in 1966, ultimately it was not included, and remained unissued until the 1995 remaster of A Quick One. The main difference between this version and the original is that it is heavily abridged and instead of the hail of feedback which closes the original, the band play a chaotic rendition of Edward Elgar's "Land of Hope and Glory." In the album's liner notes the song is thus credited to both Pete Townshend and Elgar.

Overview
Throughout 1965, guitarist Pete Townshend had established himself as a relatively respected songwriter, having composed two of the Who's singles, "I Can't Explain" (1964) and "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" (1965). As both of these had reached the top-ten on Record Retailer, the Who had also become a mainstream group. Due to this newfound fame the group had achieved, they began to get noticed on the UK pop scene. According to Andy Neill and Matt Kent, these two singles had brought them to the attnetion of famous artists, such as Paul McCartney, who considered them "the best thing to happen on the 1965 scene", and Brian Jones, who considered them the only interesting new group. These comments had a lasting impact on the group, upon which Townshend wanted to continue this individuality and come up with something unique, which would eventually result in "My Generation".

At the time, the Who largely based their musical influences on rhythm and blues and were considered one of the biggest mod groups of the era. As such, the group intended their debut album to be filled with covers. However, an acetate of this album was reviewed by Beat Instrumental's John Emery, who had an extremely negative impression of the album. He commented that it was lackluster due to the lack of original material, featuring only one Townshend composition. This too, had a lasting impression on the group as a whole, and in an issue of Melody Maker only a few weeks later, the Who's manager Kit Lambert stated that their next album will be composed of almost solely original material. This led to Lambert encouraging Townshend to write songs, noting the fact that he had previously done so.

The period was also extremely tumultuous and unstable for the group, something reflected during their European tour during that year in which an altercation between band members came up. On 26 September, the band was due to play at both Aarhushallen and Frederikstorv in Aalborg. The initial performance had to be cancelled as fans stormed the stage, reportedly causing thousands of pounds in damage. Roger Daltrey, who was fed up with the band's lack of reactions to the incident and use of drugs flushed them down the toilet. Upset with this, drummer Keith Moon attempted to attack Daltrey to which he promptly responded with punching Moon in the nose. The incident ended with Daltrey being fired from the group for a few days, but due to fan demand and an apology, he was let back into the group on 29 September.

Writing
Lambert can often be credited with inspiring Townshend to write songs during this time, particularly "My Generation" as Lambert had purchased a tape recorder for him, occasionally checking in to see his progress, which was chronicled in the form of demos. The young guitarist was initially very dismissive of "My Generation", stating in a later interview that it was "one I’d tossed off a couple of times". Townshend reportedly wrote the song on a train and is said to have been inspired by the Queen Mother, who is alleged to have had Townshend's 1935 Packard hearse towed off a street in Belgravia because she was offended by the sight of it during her daily drive through the neighbourhood. This alluded to a statement by Lambert, who during one of his visits to Townshend told him to write "something sweeping, something Wagnerian", which would eventually become the inspiration for "My Generation".

Townshend has also credited Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues" (1957) as the inspiration for the song, saying "Without Mose I wouldn't have written 'My Generation'." He would later admit to the song being "a real Mose Allison rip" which he credited to the fact that Mose was "a huge, huge crush of mine". Therefore, he stated that the original version of "My Generation" was a much slower, bluesier number than it would eventually become. While speaking to journalist Nick Logan, he would also comment that it initially started as a "talking blues thing" which eventually would grow and change "six or seven times" However, according to authors Andy Neill and Matt Kent, Townshend was largely inspired by American folk and folk rock music, particularly Bob Dylan, who he largely admired and based his original version of the song of.

More retrospectively however, he has presented alternative theories as to why he wrote "My Generation". In an interview with Radio X in 2019, he stated that it written as a statement on the different cultures of the generations living through World War II and baby boomers, who were born immediately after. He believed that while they had sacrified lives in the war, they had no influence on later generations, in his own words "No guidance, no inspiration. Nothing really." Joe Taysom wrote that it originated in a time of loneliness and isolation for Townshend, who felt that he did not fit into society due to homosexual urges that had made him an outcast. He considered it a message to the older generations, who expected them to own up and be glad with their place in society. Townshend himself told Rolling Stone in 1985 that "'My Generation' was very much about trying to find a place in society."

Music
As recorded by the Who, "My Generation" is a simple two chord song, which has led Bob Carruthers to call it a "two-chord anthem". A large portion of the song features Townshend playing the G major chord in four consecutive strums, before switching to the G/F for another four beats before this is repeated another time. These two chords appear throughout the composition all the way through, with the exception of a brief appearance of the Gsus4 and G7/F chords which occur during the chorus and substitute the previous two chords.

The song modulates from its opening key of G up to C via the keys of A and B♭. Townshend's guitars were tuned down on the original recording, which has made transcribing the song relatively hard. The song is an eight-bar blues, with drummer Keith Moon playing a 4/4 beat using triplets. Carruthers praises this, stating that it makes the rhythm section feel much more livelier than it otherwise would have.

The song's coda features explosive and uncoordinated drumming from Keith Moon, as well, whereupon the song breaks down in spurts of guitar feedback from Townshend's Rickenbacker, rather than fading out or ending cleanly on the tonic. There are two guitar parts, the basic instrumental track followed by Townshend's overdubs including the furious feedback on the coda. John Atkins praises Townshend's guitar part on the song, stating that it is "amazingly hard" for being a two-chord riff.

Lyrics
According to Atkins, "My Generation" has lyrically "become the Who's discussed work" because of it's boldness and edginess. Townshend wrote them largely as a response and as a recollection to his treatment in society. Particularly the opening line "people try to put us down, just because we get around" was a primary and more direct statement against the older generation. However, according to a classmate of Townshend, Brian Eno who attended the Ipswich Art School recalled that Roy Ascott would walk into class with a copy of "My Generation" before holding a lecture on how his work was a major influence for Townshend on his writing of the song.

Townshend wrote in his autobiography Who Am I that the title stemmed from David Mercer's collection Generations. He chose this as Mercer was a socialist and rallied "on behalf of his plays" which enabled Townshend to connect and meet several of the Who's west London fans. Structurally, much like most of the Who's earlier mod output, the song boasts clear influences of American rhythm and blues, most explicitly in the call and response form of the verses. Daltrey would sing a verse, and the backing vocalists, Townshend (low harmony) and Entwistle (high harmony), would respond with the refrain "Talkin' 'bout my generation".

One of the most quoted lines in rock history is "I hope I die before I get old," famously sneered by lead singer Roger Daltrey. Townshend stated that the line wasn't literal, instead it reflected his opinion on older generation's and their unability to comprehend or adapt to changes in the world. On the contrary however, Townshend told reporter George Melly that he wrote the line to stand out amongst a crowd, having to be "drastic and violent to reach the audience." On a later interview for Good Morning America, in 1989, the band was discussing the upcoming 1989 tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Tommy, and Townshend talked about the famous line "I hope I die before I get old." He said that, for him, when he wrote the lyrics, "old" meant "very rich." Retrospectively, at 74 years old, Townshend would instead state that line was a referring to a mindset of archaic ideas rather than dying just because you get old.

Recording


Townshend would work on the composition during their 1965 summer tour of Netherlands and Denmark before eventually presenting a demo of it to the band. They would in the following month record a full-band rendition of song at the Marquee Studios which yielded two versions, neither of which have been released today. These versions both differed significantly from the finished released version and was as a result rejected by Brunswick Records who did not believe they were of higher standards. Shortly after the recording session, the group would embark on a tour across Europe to promote "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" (1965) which was released in many European territories during the summer. It was during this time that Townshend would add parts to the composition.

After performing in Sweden on 10 October, the group flew back to Britain the following morning. They had booked studio time for a nightly session on 13 October at IBC Studios together with producer Shel Talmy assisted by engineers Glyn Johns and Michael Weighell. Following the September incident, the tension between group members was extremely evident, something Talmy himself noted during the recording session. According to Neill and Kent, the session was "acrimonious" and Daltrey would later go on to describe it as a "punch-up". However, Townshend would later state that the session for "My Generation" was "fucking brilliant" and a "fun time for the band". Nonetheless, the band carried on and by the end the early mornings they would cut the masters to both "My Generation" and "The Kids Are Alright".

The studio version differs a lot from what Townshend originally had envisioned. Piano is noticably absent from the song, an instrument that was used on virtually every other track on My Generation. (1965) This was largely due to the fact that session musician Nicky Hopkins who had a fruitful collaboration with Talmy missed the session, after which piano was never dubbed onto the track. The song had a higher tempo and added features not originally on any of the demos for the song. Most notably, it features a bass solo played by John Entwistle on a Fender Jazz Bass. Entwistle had originally envisioned playing a Danelectro bass on the recording. However, as the strings on these bass guitars were very thin they broke easily. As the strings weren't able to be purchased seperately, Entwistle purchased three Danelectro basses for the session before finally settling on a Fender bass after a string on the third bass broke.

Another influential aspect of the song is Daltrey's vocal delivery, on which he stutters. A theory behind the stuttering on the song is that Daltrey sang that way to "imitate a mod on speed". Daltrey has also commented that he had not rehearsed the song prior to the recording, was nervous, and he was unable to hear his own voice through the monitors. The stutter came about as he tried to fit the lyrics to the music. However, Townshend originally wrote "My Generation" without stuttering in mind, but after hearing "Stuttering Blues" by American bluesman John Lee Hooker, he decided to incorporate them into demos as the composition progressed. Talmy has claimed that the stuttering was "one of those happy accidents" that he decided to keep in. However, Mark Blake states that the stuttering came from the attitude and hostility between the band members in the studio during the recording session. It was also used as an allusion, as when he stutters the word "fade" "it sounded that he was going to shout an expletive instead".

Release and commercial performance
In between the recording and the release of "My Generation", the status of the Who as a group was in limbo, as hostilities between the group members once again began rising. In a 2008 interview with Daltrey it was revealed that he was extremely close to forming a soul group. At the same time, it was rumoured for Boz Burrell to replace Daltrey in the group, while adding a second drummer to the line-up. An aquaintance of Moon, Ray Stock was initially considered for this dual-drum line-up. Various British music publications also reported on the group splitting up. Nonetheless, "My Generation" was released as a single on 29 October 1965 in the UK through Brunswick Records, and 20 November 1965 in the US through Decca Records. In the UK, the single was backed by a cover of the James Brown song "Shout and Shimmy" on the insistence of Daltrey, who was a fan of him, while the US release was backed by "Out In The Street", a song written by Townshend which had appeared on their album acetate during the summer of 1965.

The British Broadcasting Company initially banned "My Generation" from broadcast because of the stuttering heard on the tracks, which the corporation believed was offensive to people suffering from it. However, by the time it had sold 300.000 copies in the UK, they reversed its decision. The single therefore was able to chart on the Record Retailer chart, which Townshend commented was "surprising" given the lyrical topic. It entered the chart on 10 November 1965 at a position of 33, before reaching the peak of number two on 1 December, staying there for two weeks. It was kept from the top spot by The Seekers "The Carnival Is Over", and exited the chart on 2 February 1966 at a position of 41, having spent 13 weeks on the chart. It also fared well in other British musical charts, includings the ones published by Melody Maker, where it also reached number two, along with Disc Weekly and New Musical Express, where it peaked at number three. In the chart Fab 40 published by pirate radio, "My Generation" peaked at number one. It is their highest charting single in the United Kingdom together with "I'm a Boy" (1966), which reached number two in October 1966.

The song was also a huge success in Europe, where it reached the top-ten in five different countries outside the British Isles, including Sweden, where it made it to number three on Tio i Topp. In the US, "My Generation" saw only modest commercial success, debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 on 15 January 1966 at a position of number 98, before reaching its' peak of number 74 on 12 February 1966, leaving after spending five weeks on the chart. It also reached number 99 in Cash Box and number 78 in the Record World chart. Out of all North American countries it fared the best in Canada, where the single reached number three on the RPM chart in February 1966.

Critical reception
Upon original release in the UK, "My Generation" received critical acclaim in the music press. In a review for New Musical Express, journalist Derek Johnson writes that "all the ingredients for a hit" could be found in the song, citing the "shake beat", "reverberating bass notes" and hand claps as examples. He ends the review stating that while the lyrics are "loaded with teenage appeal", they are sung "with verse and a strong blues feel". In Record Mirror, critics Peter Jones and Norman Jopling considers "My Generation" another "way-out offering" from the "pop art specialists". Jones and Jopling single out the guitar and drum performances, though negatively note Daltrey's vocal performance, which they consider "OK, but not marvellous". The duo do note the rather "jerky vocal delivery" that fascinated them "after a couple of spins".

Legacy and accolades
Rolling Stone named the song the eleventh greatest song on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. and, in 2009, named it the thirty-seventh Greatest Hard Rock Song. It is also part of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll and is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value. The song has been said by NME to have "encapsulated the angst of being a teenager," and has been characterized as a "nod to the Mod counterculture". NME journalist Larry Bartleet in 2015 rated the Who's recording ten points out of ten.

In 1965, it was voted the fifth best new arrangement of the year in a poll by British pop magazine Beat Instrumental.

Personnel
Personnel per Pete Townshend.
 * Roger Daltrey – lead vocals
 * Pete Townshend – electric guitar, backing vocals
 * John Entwistle – bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Keith Moon – drums