Top 10 Who Songs

The original bad boys of roll and roll are none other than England’s legendary rock sons, The Who. Anchoring their rebellious attitude was the genius behind their work and image. Pete Townshend’s “I don’t care what you think” attitude has been clearly defined in their legacy of interviews and concert appearances. Keith Moon’s insane antics and hyper personality augmented his drum performances, which were easily the busiest, most aggressive, and most exciting rock and roll drum performances in rock and roll history. No other drummer could constantly play such aggressive fills while keeping time throughout the entire song. No one has even tried!

Can you name a rock bass player who could play as fast and tight as John Entwistle? And then there is Roger Daltrey. All you have to do is hear the man scream in the middle of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” to realize the man was a God! And it was all wrapped up by Pete Townshend’s virtuoso guitar work, brilliant compositions, and his far underrated vocal contributions.

The Who were formed in 1964. Their first album, My Generation, was released in 1965. Between 1965 and 1982, the band released twelve studio albums. The most recent, called simply Who, was released in 2019.

The band The Who has endured the loss of Keith Moon in 1979 and John Entwistle in 2002. Despite the deaths of the two legendary musicians, The Who has continued performing sparingly over the past two decades.

Our list of Who songs is a simple look at the most-loved songs by fans spanning the band’s career. It is not a definitive list but a peek at the band for those young people who may not know much about the group.

# 10 – Pinball Wizard

If you came of age in the mid to late seventies, chances are the first time you heard The Who’s “Pinball Wizard,” it was Elton John’s version. Elton John had a tremendous hit with the song, which stemmed from his role as the Pinball Wizard in the Hollywood motion picture of The Who’s Tommy album. While critics panned the Hollywood movie, they most certainly praised the iconic original album. The original Tommy record by the Who was released in 1969. It was the band’s fourth studio album. The song “Pinball Wizard” was the first single released from the album. The song’s opening suspended chord riff will forever ring in infamy.

# 9 – Bargain

The Who album Who’s Next easily belongs in the Top 10 Rock Albums of All Time list. There should be no argument or debate about it. Two of the album’s tracks also deserve to be ranked way up high on the list of greatest rock songs of all time. The song “Bargain” was the second track on the Who’s Next album. Roger Daltrey sang lead vocals on the verses, while Pete Townshend sang lead vocals on the bridge.

# 8 – Who Are You

The Who closed out the seventies with one heck of an album. The Who’s Who Are You record was loaded with great rock cuts that spat in the face of punk and new wave at the time. While The Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, and many more were trying to change the rock and roll landscape, The Who followed no one but themselves. The album was released in August 1978. The band released the single “Who Are You” a month before the album was released. As the album’s closing track, the arrangement and persona of the song seemed to be inspired by the band’s anthem, “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

# 7 – I Can’t Explain

The Who’s “I Can’t Explain” was the band’s first single release of their career. It’s hard to believe that the Who released “I Can’t Explain” in the United States almost 60 years ago, in December 1964. Although they had previously released a song called “Zoot Suit” under the band’s name High Numbers, “I Can’t Explain” was the first official single released under the name The Who. The single release barely made the U.S. Billboard music chart’s Top 100, peaking at the No.93 position.

# 6 – I Can See For Miles

The classic song “I Can See For Miles” is another one of those early great Who songs that clearly defined the British Invasion sound of the mid-1960s. The song was released on The Who’s third studio album, The Who Sell Out. That album was released in December of 1967. The song I” Can See For Miles,” was the only single released from the album. Amazingly, it remains the Who’s highest-charting single of their career.

# 5 – Love Reign O’er Me

We could have easily filled this Top 10 Who Songs list with tracks from the band’s masterpiece, Quadrophenia. However, our goal as a classic rock history site is to cover as much ground as we can without dragging you down in a sea of long lists and monotonous information. So we have chosen as wisely as we could. Picking only one or two songs from this amazing album is a pretty tough task. For our first choice, we went with the breathtaking “Love Reign O’er Me.” We will let the music speak for itself on this one

# 4 – The Real Me

If young people who grew up in the age of iPods and streaming could only get their hands on an original Quadrophenia album, complete with the heavy booklet, they would instantly start a revolution to ban all MP3s and return to a world of total vinyl. They don’t release album packages like they used to. And yes, I know what you’re thinking, they don’t release music like this anymore either. You can’t listen to the Who’s “The Real Me” without realizing how great this band was, and how significant their contributions were to rock and roll culture.

# 3- My Generation

As we get closer to the Number 1 position on our Top 10 Who songs list, writing anything original about these unbelievable rock classics becomes more difficult. The Who’s “My Generation” was released on their debut studio album My Generation in 1965. The song “My Generation” was the first single released from the album and peaked at No. 74 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. However, the song was incredibly successful in the U.K., falling just short of the No. 1 spot and landing at No. 2 on the U.K. music charts. It has become one of the most covered songs in the band’s catalog.

# 2- Won’t Get Fooled Again

There is classic rock, and then there is CLASSIC ROCK. The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” is CLASSIC ROCK 101. We could argue that it’s the complete definition of Classic Rock. Sadly, we have to hear Roger’s classic scream at the beginning of every CSI episode, but Townshend has said he doesn’t care about our feelings, and it’s his song, so he can do with it whatever he pleases. That’s why we love Townshend and have songs like this fantastic recording.

For the younger generation, we want you to know that the song closed out the amazing Who’s Next album. It was constantly played on FM radio in the 1970s and remains one of the most-played classic rock songs in history. It doesn’t get much better than this, or does it?

# 1- Baba O’Riley

Well, maybe it does. The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” is our choice for the Who’s most loved song on our Who Songs list. It was the opening track on the classic Who’s Next album. Not only is the song our favorite Who song, but it is also what we believe to be the greatest rock and roll song of all time. No, we are not getting carried away; the song defined the essence of pure rock and roll. The simple three-chord pattern, the passionate filled vocal, the killer bass line, pulsating drums, and the loud-in-your-face guitar work were almost too much to bear. When Roger sang “Sally Take My Hand,” the music’s momentum embraced the glory of youth in all its angst, despair, and joy. That is Rock and Roll!

By Jim Summaria (Wikipedia:Contact us/Photo submission) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Updated January 8, 2026

 

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