Every good thing has a beginning, and for those of us not old enough to be around at the start, and considering they have only been here once ever 41 years ago, here’s a quick visual primer of where The Who started.
Before The Who, there was The Detours, from 1962-63 with Roger, Peter and John the nucleus of the band. They in turn became The Who, but at the suggestion of their new publicist Peter Meaden become The High Numbers, taking them away from their Skiffle and early rock sound to a Mod band. They didn’t stay as The High Numbers very long, but two morsels from that era remain with us. The first is the track by the High Numbers on the Quadrophenia Soundtrack, Zoot Suit, a Mod classic, and the other is the film footage from the Railway Hotel in 1964. Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp (yes brother of Terrence Stamp), had been looking for an unknown group to be the subject for a movie of their own. Thankfully they stumbled upon The High Numbers and filmed this small set from mid July 1964.
The band soon reverted back to The Who and adopted all of the mod imagery, with the art school mod looks, arrows on the band name etc. It was shortly after this that Maximum R&B became The Who’s catch phrase, and the iconic b&w poster with Pete, arm in air performing at the Marquee club was made. Within a very short time, Pete was smashing guitars, and the rest as they say is history.
How awesome would have it have been to have been there with The High Numbers pumping out “Ooh Poo Pah Doo”, RnB music pumped out by white art school boys in the very early 60s. But talk about serendipity, how fantastic that Lambert and Stamp wanted to be the next Brian Epstein and wanted a subject to film.
Maximum R&B indeed, raw at it’s best.
If you are looking for a great source for all things MOD, then this is your blog, link
