(via The Who – “Much Too Much”)

Year: 1965

Album: My Generation

It’s fun listening to the debut albums of famous bands and hearing what works and what doesn’t. With the blessing, or curse, of hindsight, I can look back on a first album and keep the standouts while laughing off the forgivable throwaways. The Beatles, Radiohead, and many more GOAT-worthy bands have had shaky debuts that might have sounded great when they came out but are now measuring yards to judge how far they’ve come.

The Who’s debut release, My Generation, gave us the famous title track, still the definitive Who statement, and the also excellent “The Kids Are Alright.” But what about the other ten songs? What if I was alive in 1965 and picked up this record? Would I have cared enough about “Much Too Much,” “The Good’s Gone,” or “La-La-La-Lies” to keep my tabs on Pete Townsend and company? I say yes in 2016, but I can’t trust my bias of growing up in a culture where I’ve only known The Who as one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands of all time.

I guess the old saying is true: Time heals most bad songs. (“Much Too Much” is not a bad song)