The Who Sell Out by The Who
The Who Sell Out is the third album by English rock band The Who, released in 1967 by Track Records in the UK and Decca Records in the US. It is a concept album, formatted as a collection of unrelated songs interspersed with faux commercials and public service announcements. The album purports to be a broadcast by pirate radio station Radio London. Part of the intended irony of the title was that the Who were making commercials during that period of their career, some of which are included as bonus tracks on the remastered CD. The album's release was reportedly followed by lawsuits due to the mention of real-world commercial interests in the faux commercials and on the album covers, and by the makers of the real jingles (Radio London jingles), who claimed the Who used them without permission. (The jingles were produced by PAMS Productions of Dallas, Texas, which created thousands of station ID jingles in the 1960s and '70s). It was the deodorant company, Odorono, who took offense that Chris Stamp made a request for endorsement dollars. In 2003, it was ranked #113 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
By the summer of 1967, the pirate radio stations that had been so crucial to the development of rock ’n’ roll—and to English counterculture as a whole—were on the chopping block, subject to a new parliamentary edict. At the same time, mod fashion began to fade. Both had been critical to the early success of The Who, whose members were starting to wonder what was next: Could they expand their sound beyond the quick hits of their so-called “Maximum R&B”? Luckily, Pete Townshend’s bigger ambitions had become clear on the group’s second album, <i>A Quick One</i>. That record’s centrepiece, “A Quick One, While He’s Away”, condensed an opera into nine record-closing minutes. And Townshend had started writing an opera, <i>Rael</i>, about an imagined future in which Communists take over of the world. Townshend didn’t lack ambition. But what The Who really needed was a hit. So he turned his attention toward another concept: A 40-minute rock record interspersed with commercial jingles and radio-station call signs. The result was 1967’s <i>The Who Sell Out</i>, a parodic tribute to the fading glories of pirate radio. When the members of The Who actually stick to the idea, <i>The Who Sell Out</i> is hilarious: There’s a silly little ditty-slash-sketch about baked beans (“Heinz Baked Beans”) and a compulsive R&B jangle about a woman cursed with malfunctioning deodorant (“Odorono”). These goofier bits are stitched together with strong songs about decidedly non-comedic topics: cheap cheaters (the thundering “I Can See for Miles”), generational friction (the slinking “Tattoo”) and the emotionally frustrated (the charming “I Can’t Reach You.”) The band members, though, were still restless kids, and they didn’t make it to the end with the idea intact, abandoning their jingles just after the start of the album’s second half. Still, the final songs on <i>The Who Sell Out</i> make for a remarkable run, and point toward the band’s future. A woozy organ line buttresses the psychedelic sting of “Relax”, while Townsend drops into gorgeous solo acoustic mode for the lovesick “Sunrise”. It all ends with a condensed version of <i>Rael</i> that’s full of soul and power, harmony and misdirection, and interlocking melodies—all touchstones that would serve The Who in the years ahead.
