Friday, September 3rd, 1982

The Who's last studio album for the next 24 years, It's Hard, is released.

The reviews are wildly uneven.

Parke Puterbaugh in Rolling Stone calls it The Who's best work since Who's Next. Joining him in that assessment is Lloyd Sachs in Chicago magazine and John Milward in High Fidelity.

On the other end of the scale is Lynden Barber in Melody Maker ("rock 'n roll menopause"), Kurt Loder in Musician ("pure blather") and Jon Pareles in The New York Times ("Adolescence mars The Who's new disk").

The album peaks at #11 in the U.K. and #8 in the U.S.