Of all the big English rock groups of the '60s, only the Who has survived the changing times and musical tastes with its membership intact.

So, when the band comes to the Mid-South Coliseum next Sunday at 8 p.m., the audience will see and hear the original four members of the band that gave voice to the often tumultuous existence of teenagers in "My Generation" and then went on to give rock a couple of its most stimulating moments in the concept albums Tommy and Quadrophenia.

Formed in England in 1964, the Who came out of the mod scene with a strong dedication to all-out rock and roll. Their music wasn't the most polished, but it was among the most energetic.

THEIR RECORDS WERE dynamic and successful, but in those early years, it was probably their stage show that brought them most of their fans. Pete Townshend, the group's guitarist and main writer, dazzled audiences with his acrobatic leaps through the air, which brought forth mounds of electronic feedback and distortion from his amplifiers, and for a finale, he would smash his guitar to bits.

Roger Daltrey, the lead singer, was even more active than Townshend. He would make dramatic posturings on stage and whirl the microphone in a huge arc over his head, pulling it in just in time to sing his lyrics.

DRUMMER KEITH MOON became known as a wild man, both for his drumming and for his off-stage habits of tearing things up. John Entwistle was, by contrast, the rock of the band. His bass playing was steady, and standing off to the left side of the stage, he left the theatrics to the others.

Then in 1969, the Who released the Tommy album. Written by Townshend, it was called the first rock opera and was the first concept piece to show that rock could work in such a scheme. But while the acclaim for Tommy was growing, the Who went back to writing and recording explosive rock and roll. In 1971, they released an album called Who's Next, one of rock's best albums.

Through the years, the band's members have managed to keep the group together and still allow each other room to work outside the group. Each member has recorded solo albums of songs that probably wouldn't have come across well if recorded within the context of the Who, and Daltrey has become involved in acting, through the film version of "Tommy" and Ken Russell's "Lisztomania."

Opening for the band next Sunday will be Toots and the Maytals, one of the leading exponents of Jamaica's reggae music.

The concert is being sponsored by Mid-South Concerts.