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.

39. “Another Tricky Day” (1981)

The final song on the flawed, fascinating Face Dances finds Pete Townshend coming to the conclusion that “This is no social crisis, just another tricky day for you.” That measure of maturity can’t be felt elsewhere on Face Dances but “Another Tricky Day” crackles with humor and self-awareness, each given a bright pulse by a Who who were attempting to navigate the waters churned up by new wave.