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My Generation (album)

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This article is about the album by The Who. For other uses, see My Generation (album) (disambiguation).
Untitled

My Generation is the debut album by the English rock band The Who, released in the UK in December of 1965. It was released in the US in April 1966 as The Who Sings My Generation with a different cover and a slightly different track listing.

The album was made immediately after The Who got their first singles on the charts and according to the booklet in the Deluxe Edition, it was later dismissed by the band as something of a rush job that did not accurately represent their stage performance of the time. On the other hand, critics often rated it as one of the best rock albums of all time in the 1970s and 1980s when such list-making was common. Template:RS500 In 2004, the song My Generation was #11 in Rolling Stones Magazine's List of the 500 greatest songs of all time. In 2006, it was ranked #49 in NME's list of the 100 Greatest British Albums.[1]

History

The album was made during The Who's early "Maximum R&B" period and features several covers of popular R&B tunes, in addition to the R&B leanings of the tracks written by the band's guitarist Pete Townshend.

According to the booklet in the Deluxe Edition, "I'm a Man" was eliminated from the U.S. release due to its sexual content. The U.S. release also excised a brief solo laden with manic drum rolls and guitar feedback before the final verse of "The Kids Are Alright", hiding some of the group's sonic pop-art leanings.

Many of the songs on the album saw release as singles. Aside from "My Generation", which preceded the album's release and reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart, "A Legal Matter", "La-La-La Lies", and "The Kids Are Alright" were also released as domestic singles, though none were as commercially successful as "My Generation". "The Kids Are Alright" was a top 10 single in Sweden, peaking at #8.

"My Generation" and "The Kids Are Alright" in particular remain two of the group's most-covered songs; while "My Generation" is a raw, aggressive number that presaged the heavy metal and punk rock movements. "The Kids Are Alright" is a more sophisticated pop number, with chiming guitars, three-part harmonies, and a lilting vocal melody, though still retaining the driving rhythm of other Who songs of the period. Along with other early Who numbers like "I Can't Explain" and "So Sad About Us", it is considered an important forerunner of the "power pop" movement.[2] "Circles" was notably covered by contemporaries of the group, British freakbeat outfit Les Fleur de Lys. The cover version has found some notice after its inclusion on Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts from the British Empire and Beyond, 1964-1969.

The U.S. release also substituted a portrait of the band with Big Ben in the background for the original UK cover depicting the band standing beside some oil drums and looking upward to the camera, with splashes of color added by the red and blue stenciled letters of the title and a jacket patterned after the Union Flag thrown over John Entwistle's shoulders.

Track listing

All songs composed by Pete Townshend except where noted.

My Generation: UK release

Side 1

  1. "Out in the Street" - 2:31
  2. "I Don't Mind" - 2:36 (James Brown)
  3. "The Good's Gone" - 4:02
  4. "La-La-La-Lies" - 2:17
  5. "Much Too Much" - 2:47
  6. "My Generation" - 3:18

Side 2

  1. "The Kids Are Alright" - 2:46
  2. "Please, Please, Please" - 2:45 (Brown/John Terry)
  3. "It's Not True" - 2:31
  4. "I'm a Man" (McDaniel)
  5. "A Legal Matter" - 2:48
  6. "The Ox" - 3:50 (Townshend/Moon/Entwistle/Hopkins)

The Who Sings My Generation: U.S. release

  1. "Out in the Street" – 2:31
  2. "I Don't Mind" (Brown) – 2:36
  3. "The Good's Gone" – 4:02
  4. "La-La-La Lies" – 2:17
  5. "Much Too Much" – 2:47
  6. "My Generation" – 3:18
  7. "The Kids Are Alright" – 2:46
  8. "Please, Please, Please" (Brown/Terry) – 2:45
  9. "It's Not True" – 2:31
  10. "The Ox" (Townshend/Moon/Entwistle/Hopkins) – 3:50
  11. "A Legal Matter" – 2:48
  12. "Circles" – 3:12

My Generation (Deluxe Edition)

Disc one

  1. "Out in the Street"
  2. "I Don't Mind"
  3. "The Good's Gone"
  4. "La-La-La Lies"
  5. "Much Too Much"
  6. "My Generation"
  7. "The Kids Are Alright"
  8. "Please, Please, Please"
  9. "It's Not True"
  10. "I'm a Man"
  11. "A Legal Matter"
  12. "The Ox"
  13. "Circles (Instant Party)"
  14. "I Can't Explain" (bonus track) [features the lack of tambourine]
  15. "Bald Headed Woman" (bonus track)
  16. "Daddy Rolling Stone" (bonus track)

Disc two

The second disc contains additional bonus tracks.

  1. "Leaving Here"
  2. "Lubie (Come Back Home)"
  3. "Shout and Shimmy"
  4. "(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave"
  5. "Motoring"
  6. "Anytime You Want Me"
  7. "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" (alternate take)
  8. "Instant Party Mixture"
  9. "I Don't Mind" (full length version)
  10. "The Good's Gone" (full length version)
  11. "My Generation" (instrumental version)
  12. "Anytime You Want Me" (a cappella version)
  13. "A Legal Matter" (monaural version with guitar overdub)
  14. "My Generation" (monaural version with guitar overdub)

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1965 UK Chart Albums 5

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1965 "My Generation" Billboard Pop Singles 74
1965 "My Generation" UK Singles Charts 2
1966 "A Legal Matter" UK Singles Charts 32
1966 "The Kids Are Alright" UK Singles Charts 41

Personnel

References

Many of the details in this article are derived from the deluxe edition of the CD, released in 2002.

  1. ^ NME
  2. ^ All-Music Guide "Power Pop" Entry
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