10 Hard Rock Albums Saved By One Song

By the mid '60s, the Who were still in the middle of a transitionary period. While Pete Townshend was getting more ambitious with the potential of his songs, the band still had one foot trailing back into the Mod scene that birthed them. Even if the band's sophomore effort A Quick One seems like a sidestep, the title track is where everything started coming together.

As a coherent album, the tracks on this record are thrown together in a slapdash manner, with every member contributing songs rather than relying on Townshend's musical vision. Though the tracks are great on their own, it's not until we reach the end that we see just how much the band can do. Running at over nine minutes, "A Quick One" was the first test-run of Townshend's operatic song structure, with the entire composition being a medley of about 5 different song ideas.

Rather than making 5 great songs, these songs worked best when played one after another, telling a story of a couple's infidelity while one is off fighting in a war. This song is definitely not on the level of something like Tommy, but it was pivotal in bridging the gap between the pop tunes of the band's early days and the pure rock and roll bombast that was to come.