The Who's 25th anniversary tour rolls into the Tacoma Dome for a sellout show at 8 p.m. Wednesday, and a tidal wave of information — and questions — has preceded it.

Histories of The Who have retraced every step of their careers; medical experts have commented on guitarist Pete Townshend's hearing loss; bassist John Entwistle has admitted he needs the money; singer Roger Daltrey has said he'll pursue his acting career after this final go-around; and writers all over the country have asked, "Is this really The Who?" and "Isn't this just The Who selling out in a big way?"

Townshend and Entwistle were still in school when they joined Daltrey's band, the Detours, in '62. They were the High Numbers when a fast-talking, pill-popping publicist thought they could capture the "mod" scene with a song called "I'm the Face" (just new lyrics to Slim Harpo's blues classic "Got Love If You Want It").

They were The Who (or maybe Maximum R&B) in '64 when Townshend accidentally broke the neck of his 12-string Rickenbacker on a very low ceiling. When he proceeded to smash the ax to smithereens, the crowd reacted and Keith Moon decided to follow suit by kicking over his drum kit. A gimmick was born, and The Who were still destroying equipment five years later at Woodstock (where an irate Townshend stopped Abbie Hoffman from taking over the stage during "Tommy" by clubbing him on the head with a guitar).

In '65, while working as the house band at the Marquee Club in London and playing mostly R&B covers, the group recorded "I Can't Explain" and "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere." The latter featured so much feedback and distortion the label sent it back thinking there had to be a technical glitch. The song became the theme for the TV rock show "Ready, Steady, Go" (Disney Channel will show 14 half-hour episodes beginning in November).

Then came the teen anthem "My Generation," which included Daltrey's unforgettable stuttered delivery of the hook line "Things they do look awful e-c-cold/Hope I die before I get old."

"That deaf, dumb and blind kid/Sure plays a mean pinball," "It's only teenage wasteland" and "Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss" are great lines, too, but the sentiments of "My Generation" and The

Peter Townshend does his leaps with an acoustic guitar on the current Who tour.

Who's wild stage show set the group's image on a track that even the rock opera "Tommy" couldn't change.

But now Townshend's hair is thinning, and bassist Entwistle's beard is gray. Even Daltrey, the trim curly-haired blond, is beginning to show his 45 years. Only Moon lived up to "My Generation" — by dying in '78 from an overdose of pills he was taking to combat alcoholism.

Townshend isn't blind — and he certainly isn't speechless — but he is perilously close to deaf. He blames it more on playing through headphones (in practice at home) than on performing in front of those huge stacks of Marshall speakers. On this tour, a tall Scotsman named Steve "Boltz" Bolton repli-

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The Who says…

"If people want to hear The Who and also put a few million in my pocket, who am I to say no?" — Pete Townshend (New York Daily News)

"There's no way I'm broke… But cash flow is always difficult to maintain, because whenever I earned any money, I spent it on something I could look at." — John Entwistle (Rolling Stone)

"I think The Who stopped two albums too late. I think If I'd stopped two albums earlier, when Keith (Moon) died, I would never have ended up with a drinking problem…" — Pete Townshend (Rolling Stone)

"Maybe they (Entwistle and Daltrey) would prefer going out as a four-piece and I had a stack and we thrash away like we did in the '60s. I don't know what's on their minds. They're not entirely honest with me all the time. They treat me like a lunatic sometimes." — Pete Townshend (Musician)

"I didn't want it to end. I understand the pressure on Pete, because he's the songwriter. But it was the height of stupidity to build up a name for over 20 years and then throw that name in the dust heap." — Roger Daltrey (Los Angeles Times)

"He was a —— genius. He could have stolen my wife and would have been happy about it." — Pete Townshend, asked if Jimi Hendrix had "stolen" the idea of using a stack of Marshall speakers (Musician)

"I've shot my hearing. It hurts, and it's painful, and it's frustrating when little children talk to you and you can't hear them." — Pete Townshend (April 24 press conference)

"After reading all these books by different people who thought they knew The Who, I've come to the conclusion that I never existed." — John Entwistle (Musician)

"Somebody comes along and wants 'My Generation' to sell laxative pills. You know, 'Dah dah dah, my constipation.' They seriously think you're going to give them the song. And you think, 'Let's play with the (expletive deleted).' And you say, 'OK, you can have the song for $16 million, 'cause that's what the hatred of every Who fan in the world is worth to me.' " — Pete Townshend (Musician)