Advertisement
Listen
Now
Buy RS
cover reprints!
Download the cd!
Buy the album at Rhino.com
Faced with the impossible task of following up the grand statement of Tommy [see No. 96], the Who just cranked up their amps. Rather than wade through eighty hours of American shows for a live album, Pete Townshend claimed he burned those tapes "in a huge bonfire" and selected a concert at Leeds University in England. Leeds is a warts-and-all live album, including an accidental clunking sound on "My Generation." There's no finesse, just the pure power of a band able to play as loud as it wants to. When the Who blew up Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" to Godzilla-like proportions, they invented Seventies arena rock .
Total album sales: 2 million
Peak chart position: 4