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(Credits: Dena Flows)
To celebrate 60 years since the formation of The Who, the Royal Mail have announced a special selection of stamps to honour the British rockers.
Founded by guitarist Pete Townshend and lead singer Roger Daltrey in the early 1960s, the Who started out playing as the Detours. After performing under this name for several years, the rockers changed their name to The Who in 1964 and released their debut record, My Generation, a year later.
From there, The Who would begin carving out their place as one of the most influential bands in the realm of rock and in British music history. They created iconic songs like ‘Baba O’Riley’ and ‘Pinball Wizard’, penned ambitious rock operas, and blended genres at will. Six decades later, they remain one of the biggest names in rock.
Now, the Royal Mail are set to honour that legacy with a selection of stamps. The postal service has announced 12 The Who-themed stamps, featuring live images of the band, press photos, and album artwork from across their career.
Eight of the stamps are devoted to studio releases, spanning from their 1965 debut to 2019’s WHO. Tommy, Quadrophenia, and Who Are You are also amongst the albums that have their own stamps. “The artwork on the album sleeves was almost as important to the success of the record as the music,” shared Daltrey, “It’s great to be reminded of them.”
Townshend also provided a statement on the honour, enthusing, “Stamp! Stamp! Stamp! It’s what I’ve done on stage all my life, sometimes in the air. At last my stamping has been honoured properly, and will help letters travel through time and space, just as we have.”
David Gold from the Royal Mail praised The Who as “rock royalty” for their “truly original sound and effortless ability to mix musical styles.” He added, “These stamps celebrate one of the UK’s much-loved and revered musical bands who have achieved global popularity for six decades.”
The stamps are now available to pre-order on the Royal Mail website. A set with all eight album-focused stamps will cost £14.60. The Miniature Sheet Pack, which includes the live photo-based stamps, will set you back £7.60. The Presentation Pack, which includes both sets of stamps as well as “images and insights” into the rise of the band, will cost £22.80.
Are The Who still together?
The future of The Who currently looks uncertain. Earlier this year, Daltrey admitted, “I don’t write the songs. I never did. We need to sit down and have a meeting, but at the moment, I’m happy saying that part of my life is over.”
However, in August, Townshend shared his desire to continue with The Who to The Daily Beast but said that he’s unwilling to pressure his bandmate into making a decision. He shared, “I’m not gonna try to bully Roger to do anything. I don’t want to have the job that I used to have around the time of Quadrophenia, which is bullying everybody in The Who to do exactly what I want to do.”
Nevertheless, Townshend remained optimistic that The Who aren’t down and out, but knows work needs to be done first, adding, “It worked, yeah. But it was no fun. And at the end of that, Roger knocked me out. I asked for it, but he knocked me out. Anyway, I’m hopeful. I’m certainly not saying that we won’t do anything, but Roger and I do have a bit of a river to cross. And once we cross that river, we’ll see what happens.”
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