We’re done! Ranking of The Who’s albums by the community below
The past two weeks, we discussed one album per day and everyone gave their review and rating from 1-10. Hundreds of fans came together and created their combined ranking of the albums. Therefore, this should be more accurate than any review that a critic or single fan could give, since it touches on every good and flaw of every album.
Here’s a summarized version of what everyone thought:
Quadrophenia (10/10) - The Who’s strongest album, with every member doing their absolute best work. Not a dull moment. Enough said, go listen.
Who’s Next (10/10) - A flawless album, with nine brilliant rock songs. Everything here is essential to classic rock
Tommy (9.5/10) - Although not a perfect story, there’s no denying the excellence of the music here. Another masterpiece.
The Who By Numbers (9/10) - Their most underrated work, with Pete Townshend taking a very different but still great approach to his lyrics. Many fan favorites
The Who Sell Out (9/10) - hilarious and fun, with an interesting concept, but second half missing the radio jingles drags it down from being a masterpiece
My Generation (8/10) - revolutionary use of hard rock for pop music, although not the strongest music aside from a few obvious standouts. Better things would come in a few years
A Quick One (7.5/10) - a transitional album, hindered by the whole group writing songs. Pete and John still delivered some of their best work here
WHO (7/10) - The Who prove that they’re still capable of great music. It’s not their best, but pretty good considering how old they are
Who Are You (6/10) - the band can be heard struggling here, most noticeably with Keith in bad shape, and bad production and writing drags it down further. They still managed to bring some great songs, despite it being weaker overall
Endless Wire (6/10) - some good songs came out of this, and they mostly stay true to their sound, but overall was a lesser effort. John is missed
Face Dances (5.5/10) - Pete is clearly keeping his better songs for his solo album. Not terrible, and a few great songs, but mostly made of filler
It’s Hard (5/10) - aside from a few good tracks, and the obvious standout Eminence Front, an inessential record. You can hear that the Who is finished.
Overall, I agree with everything here! I expected some hot takes, but it all looks good to me. Sell Out and Tommy are my favorites, so it was a bit hard to accept that not everyone loves them as much as me, but I think the list looks good.
For anyone who cares, here’s the average rating for the 60s, 70s, and post-Moon:
60s average rating: 8.5/10
70s average rating: 8.8/10
80s and later: 5.9/10
Even more, here’s how they progressed through the years with your ratings. I can’t put a graph here, so here it is with numbers:
1965 (8/10)
1966 (-0.5)
1967 (+1.5)
1969 (+0.5)
1971 (+0.5)
1973 (+0)
1975 (-1)
1978 (-3)
1981 (-0.5)
1982 (-0.5)
2006 (+1)
2019 (+1)
This demonstrates how they got better and better through the 60s before hitting their peak in the early 70s, before declining slowly in the mid 70s and more rapidly in the next few years before hitting their lowest point in the 80s. In the 21st century, they actually managed to improve quite a bit, although never reaching the same level of greatness as in the 60s.
GIVE YOUR THOUGHTS OR PERSONAL RANKINGS BELOW!!
The past two weeks, we discussed one album per day and everyone gave their review and rating from 1-10. Hundreds of fans came together and created their combined ranking of the albums. Therefore, this should be more accurate than any review that a critic or single fan could give, since it touches on every good and flaw of every album.
Here’s a summarized version of what everyone thought:
Quadrophenia (10/10) - The Who’s strongest album, with every member doing their absolute best work. Not a dull moment. Enough said, go listen.
Who’s Next (10/10) - A flawless album, with nine brilliant rock songs. Everything here is essential to classic rock
Tommy (9.5/10) - Although not a perfect story, there’s no denying the excellence of the music here. Another masterpiece.
The Who By Numbers (9/10) - Their most underrated work, with Pete Townshend taking a very different but still great approach to his lyrics. Many fan favorites
The Who Sell Out (9/10) - hilarious and fun, with an interesting concept, but second half missing the radio jingles drags it down from being a masterpiece
My Generation (8/10) - revolutionary use of hard rock for pop music, although not the strongest music aside from a few obvious standouts. Better things would come in a few years
A Quick One (7.5/10) - a transitional album, hindered by the whole group writing songs. Pete and John still delivered some of their best work here
WHO (7/10) - The Who prove that they’re still capable of great music. It’s not their best, but pretty good considering how old they are
Who Are You (6/10) - the band can be heard struggling here, most noticeably with Keith in bad shape, and bad production and writing drags it down further. They still managed to bring some great songs, despite it being weaker overall
Endless Wire (6/10) - some good songs came out of this, and they mostly stay true to their sound, but overall was a lesser effort. John is missed
Face Dances (5.5/10) - Pete is clearly keeping his better songs for his solo album. Not terrible, and a few great songs, but mostly made of filler
It’s Hard (5/10) - aside from a few good tracks, and the obvious standout Eminence Front, an inessential record. You can hear that the Who is finished.
Overall, I agree with everything here! I expected some hot takes, but it all looks good to me. Sell Out and Tommy are my favorites, so it was a bit hard to accept that not everyone loves them as much as me, but I think the list looks good.
For anyone who cares, here’s the average rating for the 60s, 70s, and post-Moon:
60s average rating: 8.5/10
70s average rating: 8.8/10
80s and later: 5.9/10
Even more, here’s how they progressed through the years with your ratings. I can’t put a graph here, so here it is with numbers:
1965 (8/10)
1966 (-0.5)
1967 (+1.5)
1969 (+0.5)
1971 (+0.5)
1973 (+0)
1975 (-1)
1978 (-3)
1981 (-0.5)
1982 (-0.5)
2006 (+1)
2019 (+1)
This demonstrates how they got better and better through the 60s before hitting their peak in the early 70s, before declining slowly in the mid 70s and more rapidly in the next few years before hitting their lowest point in the 80s. In the 21st century, they actually managed to improve quite a bit, although never reaching the same level of greatness as in the 60s.
GIVE YOUR THOUGHTS OR PERSONAL RANKINGS BELOW!!