15 Most Underrated Hard Rock Albums Of All Time
6. A Quick One - The Who
The career trajectory of the Who tends to be divided between what came out both before and after the rock opera Tommy. Though the band were known as rock gods after Pete Townshend's deaf dumb and blind masterpiece, the band's early period outside "My Generation" seems to get skimmed over as just good Mod rock.
Tommy may have been a watershed moment, but it wasn't a grand ambition that happened overnight. While there were greater moments around the corner, A Quick One is where we see the band first toying with their sound. The entire record is based around a more democratic process, with each member contributing songs. Though this made for some weird moments like Keith Moon's "Cobwebs and Strange," it also saw the arrival of bassist John Entwistle as a real songwriter on the creepy "Boris the Spider."
Even with the equal contributions, Townshend still outshines them all with perfect pop on "Sad About Us" and the album opener "Run Run Run." The 9 minute title track is absolutely magnificent as it closes out the record with four different song ideas crammed into one epic track. As opposed to the band's narrative-driven works, this record was truly the start of the band broadening the horizons for what a rock song could be.