10 Perfect 1970s Rock Albums With No Bad Songs
5. Who's Next - The Who
Before this record even started production, the Who were pretty much already between a rock and a hard place. Since this was going to be the record that would follow up Tommy, how are people going to expect you to be on the level of one of the greatest rock operas of all time? As it turns out, the best way to avoid that kind of slump is to not even try a concept at all.
That's not to say that Pete Townshend didn't have plans for new stories to tell with music, with most of the songs on Who's Next originally supposed to be a part of the Lifehouse piece he was making. When sessions started getting booked over and over and his band members starting to not understand the concept, Townshend just decided to release his best material instead, and ended up with a hit anyway.
From the sounds of these "sketches," it's almost like Townshend was actually going to best Tommy in some respects, with songs like Baba O Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again being some of the Who's greatest epics. Even the more playful moments on the record like My Wife and Going Mobile are produced magnificently, almost like they could have served as mini story pieces of their own. While Lifehouse itself may have been a pipedream, the actual songs we have are still the foundation of rock and roll.