Druga polovina sedamdesetih se pokazala vrlo zanimljivom zbog pojave punka i new wavea, a problematičnom za sve ostale koji su već imali uspešne karijere. Glam rokeri su još uvek preživljvali iako su dostigli svoj zenit, a prog rokeri su velikom brzinom jurili ka provaliji. Diskografske kuće su se brzo snašle i prešaltovale na nove stvari, a mnogi značajni prvoborci su bez pardona proglašeni – dinosaurusima.
Kojima je, jel’te, ostalo još samo da izumru.
U opisanoj atmosferi nastajao je album Who Are You (1978) grupe The Who. Da ne bude zablude, vodeći punkeri mažda najviše duguju na žestini i inspiraciji ovoj grupi i nisu pljuckali po njoj, ali je neosporno da je Pete Townshand bio poprilično rezigniran odnosom čitave diskografske industrije prema njima, što je rezultiralo njegovom čudnom nezainteresovanošću tokom stvaranja ovog albuma (napisao je za njega samo polovinu pesama). Daleko od toga da je album loš, ali nije ni na nivou njihovih antologijskih izdanja.
Uz to, poslednji je na kome je svirao “najluđi bubnjar na svetu” Keith Moon. Umro je mesec dana posle njegovog objavljivanja.
Kao inteligentan čovek, Townshand je ukapirao stvari i zaključio: “Music Must Change”.
Deep in the back of my mind is an unrealized sound
Every feeling I get from the street says it soon could be found
When I hear the cold lies of the pusher, I know it exists
It’s confirmed in the eyes of the kids, emphasized with their fistsBut the high has to rise from the low
Like volcanoes explode through the snow
The mosquito’s sting brings a dream
But the poisons derangeThe music must change
For we’re chewing a bone
We soared like the sparrow hawk flied
Then we dropped like a stoneLike the tide and the waves
Growing slowly in range
Crushing mountains as old as the Earth
So the music must changeSometimes at night, I wake up and my body’s like ice
The sound of the running wild stallion, the noise of the mice
And I wondered if then I could hear into all of your dreams
I realize now it was really the sound of your screamsBut death always leads into life
But the street fighter swallows the knife
Am I so crazy to feel that it’s here prearranged?The music must change
It’s gets higher and higher
Smouldering like leaves in the 1
Then it bursts into fireIts rhythm grows strong
It’s so new and so strange
Like bells in the clouds, then again
The music must changeBut is this song so different?
Am I doing it all again?
It may have been done before
But then music’s an open doorDeep in the back of my is an unrealized sound
Every feeling I get from the street says it soon could be found
When I hear the cold lies of the pusher, I know it exists
It’s confirmed in the eyes of the kids, emphasized with their fistsBut the high has to rise from the low
Like volcanoes explode through the snow
The mosquito’s sting brings a dream
But the poisons derangeThe music must change
For we’re chewing a bone
We soared like the sparrow hawk flied
Then we dropped like a stone
Like the tide and the wavesGrowing slowly in range
Crushing mountains as old as the Earth
So the music must change!
Uprkos problemima sa alkoholom i drogama, što se tematski provlači kroz mnoge od pesma na albumu, glavni problem je postala briga da sama grupa prestaje da bude aktuelna. Ne u smislu da će nove, mlade snage da im otmu deo kolača na koji su navikli, već kao neka vrsta pritiska koja ih tera da The Who ne upadnu u kolotečinu i budu sposobni da se menjaju.
Otuda je i ta potreba za stalnim promenama koja Townshandovo stvaralaštvo prati do današnjih dana. Zlatno doba panka i new wavea je odavno prošlo, a on je još uvek itekako relevantan i zna da iznenadi. Kao malo ko.