POP SHOP

By DONALD BRUCE

WHO ARE THE FOUR MOD MEN

THE conversation could have gone on all spring and summer.

A bloke mumbled me from London in real mouth music to tell me about a group he thought I should write about, and, not being able to catch the name of the group, I said:

"The who?" And he said: "That's right. The Who."

It's the old what-and-Watt business, but I was interested in the whys and wherefores of the group called THE WHO (above), and the filled-in stuff was supplied by Peter Townsend, who is one of The Who.

He also wrote the number which has got them into the top 20—and earned them a trip next month to Scotland—a little something called "I Can't Explain."

But Peter could explain:

"There were three of us at school, and we used to sing together just for a lark. Then we split up when we left school, and took on various sorts of jobs. Then we came together again."

This was in Acton, which is near Hammersmith.

Group-wise, they are the Mod men in. Peter explained: "We wear Mod gear. That is, we wear anything that is in."

Right now, it is reefer jackets—"rather like sailors' gear, Jock, you know"—and jerseys with polo neck collars, which is OK for polo.

The record was their first as The Who, but they made one before as The High Numbers (they appeared thus with The Beatles on a show), and it didn't sell a copy. Meant nothing.

Questions

The decision to change their name to The Who wasn't taken lightly. They asked their best friend—and their best friend told them.

The Who, he said, will, at least, make people ask a question. So The Who it was, is, and will be.

Peter Townsend wrote "I Can't Explain," and everyone liked it in the group. Their manager thought it was great—Peter says it is in the Tamla-Motown groove (Supremes, Martha, Stevie Wonder, and so on)—and they sold it to American Decca, who released it in Britain on the Brunswick label.

They can now be named: Peter Townsend, Keith Moon, Roger Daltrey, and a lad with the uncommon name of John Brown.

Their Scottish tour starts on May 5, taking in Dunfermline, Elgin, Kirkcaldy (Peter called it Kircawldie), and Greenock (Peter called it Girnock).

Still, what can you expect from The Who? The answer might be another hit in a month's time when their next single comes out . . .