On This Day in 1965, The Who Recorded One of Their Most Successful Songs (And the BBC Banned It for an Interesting Reason)

On October 13, 1965, hard rock icons The Who recorded their now-famous hard rock proto-punk song, “My Generation”, at Pye Studios in London, England. The song would later be released on October 29 in the UK and November 20 in the US. “My Generation” would later serve as the title track of The Who’s debut album, which would drop toward the end of the year.

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Both “My Generation” and its album of the same name would become enormous career-launching hits for the band. “My Generation”, specifically, hit No. 2 in the UK and is still considered one of the band’s highest-charting singles. The song would also appeal to American audiences and make it to No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Honestly, this song was such a good early start for the band’s career. It has all the elements of a perfect Who song: Roger Daltrey’s unique vocal delivery, Pete Townshend’s soaring electric guitar, John Entwistle’s powerful bass, and Keith Moon’s ever-chaotic drumming talents.

“My Generation” by The Who is a legendary song, but the BBC initially banned the track from the airwaves. And their reasoning was well-intentioned, but kind of silly in retrospect.

The Who’s “My Generation” Remains One of Their Greatest Songs, but the BBC Initially Didn’t Air It

“My Generation” by The Who was recorded on this day in 1965 and released just a couple of weeks later. The song would become an enormous charting hit for the band, but the BBC was initially resistant to airing it. The reason why, it seems, is based on a misunderstanding and a good-hearted attempt not to offend people.

Roger Daltrey’s vocal track, which is heard in the famous tune, sounds almost like stuttering. According to Daltrey himself, he went with that style of delivery simply to fit all of the lyrics into the music. Plus, he also noted that he could not hear himself through the monitors during the recording process, was nervous, and admittedly did not rehearse the song ahead of time.

Honestly, considering how passionate and frustrated the lyrics are, stuttering them out only makes sense creatively. The BBC, apparently, thought that the vocal delivery was in bad taste and would offend those who stutter. Later, as “My Generation” by The Who became more popular, the BBC reversed this decision.

Photo by The Visualeyes Archive/Redferns