(Who, from Page 1B)

tics was added after Townshend inadvertently stuck his guitar through a low ceiling in a pub one night, breaking the neck of the guitar. Furious, he proceeded to smash the guitar to pieces. And that’s the way The Who’s shows climaxed — with autodestruction — Townshend decimating his guitar and the madcap Moon collapsing over his drum kit. It was a reputation The Who would never shed.

The band became regulars at the fashionable Marquee Club and on the weekly music television show, “Ready, Steady, Go.” The group’s managers then approached Shel Talmy, an American expatriate who had produced hit records for the Kinks.

The Who’s first two records, “I Can’t Explain” and “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere,” were minor hits — but the next single, “My Generation,” became a classic.

It was one of those songs that helped turn pop music into rock music. In ‘65, it was an ideal anthem for rebellious youth. “Hope I die before I get old,” screamed Daltrey as the band pounded relentlessly behind him.

“My Generation” became a three-minute revolution.

Unlike other British bands, The Who’s original music did not seem to be chiefly influenced by American blues and rhythm-and-blues. Instead, the quartet was inspired by white U.S. rockers such as the Beach Boys, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, whose “Summertime Blues” would later became a Who staple. From them, Townshend adapted his own style of guitar playing, heavy on white noise rather than earthy blues.

After “My Generation,” The Who scored four quick hits — “A Legal Matter,” “Substitute,” “The Kids Are Alright” and “I’m a Boy.” The band was becoming very popular in England, even though the musicians’ notorious onstage destruction had put them heavily in debt.

The group, however, was virtually unknown in the United States and Townshend’s ambitions toward a major art-form — he included a 10-minute, Kinks-inspired mini-opera on the second album — seemed foreign to U.S. rock fans.

In 1967, The Who made its U.S. concert debut and the song “Happy Jack,” which showed a strong Beach Boys influence, scored in the States. Yet, the musicians’ destructive antics, especially by Moon and Townshend, carried over to hotel rooms. It would be another two years before the band would make any money.

The group’s third album, “The Who Sell Out,” was a concept record on which the songs were linked by various radio jingles. The album featured another mini-opera and a seminal psychedelic song, “I Can See for Miles,” which became a major hit in both England and the United States.

In 1969, The Who rose to the top of the rock pile with a stirring performance at Woodstock and the landmark album “Tommy,” a 90-minute, two-record rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind pinball wizard-turned-guru, which was supposedly inspired by Townshend’s study with Meher Baba, an Indian guru who lived 44 years without speaking.

“Tommy” was not an immediate commercial or critical success. But the band convinced skeptics by taking the music on tour.

The momentum continued the next year when The Who issued “Live at Leeds,” which captured the instrumental force, phenomenal energy and transcendent effect of the band’s concerts.

While a theatrical production of “Tommy” was being developed for the London stage (in 1975, producer Ken Russell would make a film based on the record), Townshend worked on a science-fiction film that never reached fruition. However, in ’71, the band adopted elements of Townshend’s effort into a remarkable album called “Who’s Next,” which introduced the synthesizer as an instrument of rock music.

Townshend focused on the role of the rock star. In the song “Baba O’Riley,” he called the rock scene a “teen-age wasteland” and in “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” a major hit, he showed little hope.

The next project was another opera, “Quadrophenia,” the story of an aimless Mod lad, with each band member representing one facet of his personality. Although it yielded a hit single, “5.15,” the album was not a major commercial success.

In 1975, the quartet released “The Who by Numbers,” which articulated Townshend’s disillusionment with the trappings of success and produced an offbeat hit, “Squeeze Box.” Three years later, he picked up the theme on “Who Are You.” The title song, which dealt with losing and finding one’s identity, became a hit, but “Music Must Change” signaled an end to the rock ’n’ roll promise of eternal youth.

Along the way, the members of The Who, all of whom became distinct personalities, were involved in other projects. Pretty-boy Daltrey starred in the film “Tommy” and issued three marginal solo albums, which yielded a near-hit, “Giving It All Away.”

Entwistle, the stable force in the band who contributed songs and supervised album production, recorded two respectable solo albums. Moon recorded a disastrous solo record of old rock songs while Townshend’s solo effort, inspired by his guru, and a rock collaboration with ex-Faces bassist Ronnie Lane were well-received by critics.

In addition, two Who compilation albums were issued. “Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy,” a collection of the band’s early singles, was released in ’72 while “Odds and Sods,” an anthology of songs that never made it onto albums, was made available in ’75.