2006 COMEBACK OF THE YEAR – THE WHO

The Who is the choice for comeback artist of the year by embarking on a tour and releasing their first album in decades.

The Who is our comeback band of the year. While they didn’t earn as much as their contemporaries The Rolling Stones, or U2, their tour was quite respectable. What was a great accomplishment was the fact that Townshend and Daltrey put their differences aside to complete their first studio album since 1982’s It’s Hard.

For the album Townshend and Daltrey said that they learned to work together again. They also said that the inspiration was partly to honor the memory and wishes of their late bassist John Entwistle and also to be able to play for Townshend’s son.

[Daltrey] “Pete and I are two opposite ends of the globe if you like, and John was the equator, but now it’s very very different but we had to come to terms with that. But obviously it all depends on whether Pete had the material to record in the first place. It’s appeared. It was fanstastic it appeared when it did because we’re still able to do it really well. Pete’s music for me is still a driving force in my life. The rest I’ll leave Pete to tell you.” [Townshend] “Roger talks about us being at opposite poles, I think it’s really been about a sense that when The Who stopped making records in 1982 I just felt I couldn’t do it anymore. I felt that what The Who had done was triumphant, huge, innovative, groundbreaking massive, unsurpassable and there was no reason at all, no way that I could come close again.”

Townshend added:

“Why make a record under The Who brand if you like, unless we’re really going to go out there and get behind it properly — do a world tour? And all these years, I had a son in 1989. He’s sixteen now. He’s grown up. That’s why I’m here. He wants to come and see The Who at rock festivals, so I come.”

The Who will continue to tour in support of Endless Wire, and the next leg kicks off February 23 in Reno, Nevada. Other comebacks included The New York Dolls, and Blink 182 members Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker, and Tom Delonge. Hoppus and Barker returned with +44 and Delonge with Angels And Airwaves.