On This Day in 1981, The Who Released Their First Single Since Keith Moon’s Death—With a Replacement Roger Daltrey Admitted Was the “Wrong Choice”

On this day (February 27) in 1981, The Who released “You Better You Bet” as the lead single from their album Face Dances. It was their first release since the death of Keith Moon in 1978. The album was the first of two to feature Faces drummer Kenney Jones. It was the band’s final top 10 hit in the United Kingdom and has remained a fan favorite.

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The time surrounding the recording and release of Face Dances was hard for members of The Who. On one hand, they were mourning the loss of their longtime friend and drummer. On the other hand, they were facing personal issues. For instance, Pete Towshend was going through a rough patch in his marriage and was dating his friend’s daughter. According to Songfacts, he wrote the song for his much younger paramour.

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Townshend reportedly wrote the song over a period of several weeks while partying. “I wanted it to be a great song, because the girl I wrote it for is one of the best people on the planet,” he said.

Roger Daltrey believes that Townshend reached his goal. “A wonderful, wonderful song. The way the vocal bounces, it always reminds me of Elvis,” he said of the song. However, he wasn’t as happy with the lineup change.

Why the Who Changed Drummers Again So Soon

The Who lost Keith Moon and quickly enlisted Kenney Jones to fill the void. “I hate going over this. In retrospect, we did make the wrong choice of drummers,” Roger Daltrey said. “Kenney Jones–don’t get me wrong, a fantastic drummer–but he completely threw the chemistry of the band. It just didn’t work. The spark plug was missing from the engine,” he added.

According to Daltrey, Jones was “brilliant” during their first tour. However, that didn’t last long. “After that, he settled down into what he knew, which was his Faces-type drumming, which doesn’t work with The Who,” he revealed. He added that he’d like to go back and re-record some of the songs on Face Dances. “But ‘You Better, You Bet,’ is still one of my favorite songs of all,” he said.

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