The Who: 40 most essential songs

The Who is one of a handful of classic rock acts that persevere in the 2020s but it hasn’t been an easy road for either Roger Daltrey or Pete Townshend, the band’s two surviving members. The past 60 years have been filled with loss and scandals that have been as instrumental as their many triumphs in creating the band’s pugnacious character.

As Roger Daltrey celebrates his 80th birthday, we are offered an opportunity to celebrate that long, complicated legacy with a list of forty essential tracks from the Who. Even at this length, it’s not possible to capture all of the band’s best moments; since this was written with Daltrey in mind, such Pete Townshend-fronted songs as “Eminence Front” are not here. Despite that handful of absences, the songs here do convey the richness of the Who’s catalog and the depth of their influence.

40. “Magic Bus” (1968)

In need of a quick single while in the thick of making their magnum opus Tommy, the Who knocked out “Magic Bus,” an overt tribute to the shave-and-a-haircut rhythms of Bo Diddley. There’s not much to “Magic Bus” but it’s not quite as simple as it appears either: Pete Townshend propels the whole thing by bashing away on an acoustic guitar, allowing Keith Moon to run ramshod on the drums, a dynamic that gives the single a real kick. It’s not just a record, either: the call-and-response structure allowed it to become a vibrant set piece in the Who’s live set.