The Who in San Francisco
Michael Lydon, New York Times, September 1968
THE WHO PLAY rock "n roll music ("its got a back beat, you cant lose it," says Chuck Berry). Not art-rock, acid-rock, or any type of rock, but an unornamented wall of noise that, while modern and electronic, has that "golden oldies" feeling. Four Mod kids who started in 1963 as the High Numbers in Londons scruffy Shepherds Bush, the Who play a tight driving music which is a descendant of the rock of Elvis, Bill Haley, Gene Vincent, and even the early Beatles.
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