Roger Daltrey: Lets us down easy

The cover of Roger Daltrey's 1985 album "Under a Raging Moon".

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_a_Raging_Moon_%28album%29

(May be subject to copyright)

His biggest days may have been behind him, but for me Roger Daltrey’s reputation preceded him when I started listening to music in 1984.

I started learning more and more about Daltrey and “The Who” when, low and behold, he released a solo album, with some help from some special friends.

Roger Daltrey was on my mind this morning when I read he turned 80 and said “I’m on my way out”.

First contact
The first time I ever heard about a band called “The Who” was in an episode of “Archie Bunker’s Place”. Archie asked his niece’s new boyfriend what kind of music he listened to. When he told Archie he liked “The Who”, Archie asked who does he like. It becomes a variation on the Abbott and Costello “Who’s on First?” routine. The result is the same, Archie thinks the boyfriend is messing with him

The next time I heard about The Who was when they played their final concert in 1982 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. I didn’t really know much about the band, but Channel 7 was televising that farewell concert and I happened upon it just as it was ending.

At that time the significance was lost on me.

Profile
Christmas of 1984 brought me a ghetto blaster for Christmas. Initially, I settled in on listening to LA-107 FM broadcasting from Lethbridge. The station had quite a number of interesting programs. Weeknights at 11 p.m. they had a show called "Profile" that, well, profiled a band.

One week they profiled “The Who”. There was so much history, they profiled “The Who” over two nights. It was then, listening to my ghetto blaster in the dark after bedtime, that I learned the band was made up of Keith Moon on drums; John Entwistle on bass; Pete Townshend on guitar; and Roger Daltrey on vocals.

I was introduced to all their great songs, but it was sensory overload. It would take me years to truly get to know “The Who” and their songs.

Nevertheless, that’s where I first heard about “My Generation”; “I Can See for Miles”; “Pinball Wizard”; “Won’t Get Fooled Again”; “Baba O’Riley”; “Who Are You”; and much more.

After that, I was interested in the band. I also learned about the “Guess Who”, a Canadian band with Burton Cummings, Randy Bachman, Jim Kale, and Garry Pederson. I talked incessantly about both bands to my friends, who kind of rolled their eyes.

However, my friend Dave Perlich went on a school trip to Europe, that included some time in England. He brought me back a really extensive coffee table book biography of “The Who”. That was one of the cooler presents I have ever gotten.

Reunion
Given I really didn’t know much about the band, but had developed this interest, I was excited to hear “The Who” was going to get back together to play at Live Aid in July of 1985. Live Aid was a pair of concerts, one at Wembley Stadium in London, England and one at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. They were held on the same day, featuring a good chunk of the most popular bands of the day. Proceeds were going to African famine relief.

I watched the concert at my friend Chris Vining’s in Coaldale, but “The Who” reunion was not part of the coverage we had access to. I did see some highlights on the news, including Townshend’s classic windmill guitar technique, and heard the songs they played were “My Generation”; “Pinball Wizard”; “Love, Reign o’er Me”; and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.

Solo effort
If that wasn’t enough, I heard on LA-107 that Roger Daltrey was releasing a new solo album. It was called “Under a Raging Moon”. It was a clear reference to Keith Moon who had passed away a few years earlier, and came out in September of 1985. The report I heard said there were a lot of great song writers who contributed including Pete Townshend, Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance, John Parr and more.

The first single, also released in September of 1985, was a great song called “After the Fire”. It was written by Pete Townshend and, Wikipedia reveals, was not only a hit but appeared in the second season finale of “Miami Vice”.

“After the Fire” was also initially intended to be part of the set “The Who” played at Live Aid. However, they didn’t have time to rehearse it, so it became part of “Under a Raging Moon”. Townshend said “After the Fire” was specifically written for Live Aid. It compared the situation in Africa to a fire with the concert figuratively putting it out. Yet it will always still “smoulder and burn”.

“After the Fire” went all the way to number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number three on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart.

The second single released was “Let Me Down Easy” in November of 1985, which was written by Canadians Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. The first time I heard this song was when I saw the music video on “Video Hits” after school one day. That’s when I also discovered Adams actually sang with Daltrey on it.

“Let Me Down Easy” was another great song. It peaked at number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 11 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks, and number 82 in Canada.

The third single released was the title track “Under a Raging Moon”. It was written by John Parr as a tribute to Keith Moon who died in 1978. It peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, and reached number 43 in the United Kingdom, but did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

Soundtrack sensation
Channel 7 on the peasant vision dial used to have a program called “The Movie Show”, that aired on Saturdays. One time, in 1986, they were talking about a number of recent releases. One in particular was a movie called “Quicksilver” that starred Kevin Bacon as a stockbroker who quits his job and becomes a bicycle messenger.

They pointed to the music in the movie, particularly the title song “Quicksilver Lightning” by – Roger Daltrey.

I recall renting this movie and watching it on the farm with Vining, and hearing “Quicksilver Lightning” in the movie. That wasn’t always the case with movie music.

“Quicksilver Lightning” was another great song, a bit of an ear worm that is playing in my mind right now. The song peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

Parting thoughts
Roger Daltrey kept on writing, recording and performing. He has produced a total of 10 solo albums. 

My favourite moment was when Daltrey and Townshend were inducted into the “Kennedy Center Honors” in 2015. Part of the reason was they did a benefit concert for the victims of families of the 9/11 terrorist attacks right after it happened. Well, tradition is to have someone introduce the inductees. In this case it was Rob Thomas, who started singing “Baba O’Riley”. When it was time for the chorus, a curtain was pulled back revealing members of the New York Police Department and Fire Department of New York singing out “Teenage Wasteland”. It was amazing, and still brings a tear to my eye.

That illustrates to me, the character of those two men. They contributed a lot to music, but it was this humanitarian effort that stands out for me

Roger Daltrey said he may be on his way out. If he is, the world will be a poorer place.

If he is on his way out, he better let us down easy.