For many, the World's Greatest Rock Band, The Who, will be seen by one of the largest television audiences in history when the group headlines the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLIV Halftime Show on CBS Sports at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida on Sunday, February 7. The Bridgestone Super Bowl halftime show is one of the most anticipated musical events of the year. More than 151 million viewers in the U.S. watched last year's show. The Super Bowl and halftime show will be broadcast worldwide in more than 230 countries and territories. Many of the classic songs the band will perform are just a few of those included on Greatest Hits (Geffen/UMe), to be released on December 21, 2009. The largest single-disc "best of" collection from The Who in more than ten years, it is the first to span the group's entire recording career to date, from 1964 to 2006. The 19-selection Greatest Hits brings together some of rock's most important, influential and incandescent touchstones, along with an essay by renowned music critic Dave Marsh.
The Who stands alone in rock music. The most explosive live act ever to appear on stage, propelled by the most staggeringly brilliant rhythm section in all popular music, layered with deafening power chords and thunderous vocal fury, The Who transcended its original billing as "Maximum R&B" to become the most musically inventive and structurally innovative band of all time. Together, the four divergent personalities of The Who produced a hurricane. Each of them was a pioneer. Wildman drummer Keith Moon beat his kit with a chaotic elegance; stoic bassist John Entwistle held down the center with the melodic virtuosity of a solo guitarist; raging intellectual Pete Townshend punctuated the epic universality of his songs with the windmill slamming of his fingers across his guitar strings; and Roger Daltrey roared above it all with an impossibly virile macho swagger. They exploded conventional rhythm and blues structures, challenged pop music conventions, and redefined what was possible on stage, in the recording studio, and on vinyl. Never before or since has spiritual and intellectual brilliance sounded so gloriously furious.
Arranged chronologically, Greatest Hits includes:
I Can't Explain
My Generation
The Kids Are Alright
Substitute
Happy Jack
Pictures Of Lily
I Can See For Miles
Magic Bus
Pinball Wizard
Behind Blue Eyes
Baba O'Riley
Won't Get Fooled Again
Love, Reign O'er Me
Squeeze Box
Who Are You
You Better, You Bet
Eminence Front
Real Good Looking Boy
It's Not Enough