076: The Who - The Who Sell Out (1967)

July 27, 2021 / Amanda Rodgers

"We were hoping to get free Jaguars. We got fifty free tins of baked beans."

—Pete Townshend

This week, we’re throwing away our hard-earned indie cred and dropping in a few more words from our sponsors than usual. We have some great new products to tell you about, and along the way, we will be discussing the 1967 classic The Who Sell Out. Conceptualized as a tribute to the UK pirate radio culture of the mid-60s, The Who go all in on the concept (well, at least until they completely drop it about three-quarters of the way in) complete with station IDs and their own fake commercial jingles. It captures the band at their peak as a 60s pop band with instantly catchy melodies and clever, funny lyrics. Crack open another can of Heinz Baked Beans and join Dan, John, Ben, and Rich as we dig into this product placement classic.

Miscellany

Ben’s book, Listening to the Who: Album by Album, Song by Song, is available as an e-book on Amazon. In addition to Ben’s insightful comments about the Who’s entire catalog, his book includes a thoughtful breakdown of what each individual member of the Who brought to the band. If you enjoyed his commentary in this episode, you’ll enjoy this book.
Rolling Stone interviewed Pete Townshend in April about the Who Sell Out 50th anniversary Super Deluxe box set, and Townshend provides some interesting context about growing up listening to pirate radio in the UK in the ‘60s.
Prior to the release of the album, The Who had recorded a few jingles that were used in actual commercials, such as these Coca-Cola ads.

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call

Dan Watkins (host)
John McFerrin (moderator)
Rich Bunnell
Ben Marlin

The Who Sell Out tracklist

Armenia City in the Sky
Heinz Baked Beans
Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand
Odorono
Tattoo
Our Love Was
I Can See For Miles
I Can’t Reach You
Medac
Relax
Silas Stingy
Sunrise
Rael (1 and 2)

Other clips used

The Who:

My Generation
Heaven and Hell (Live at Leeds version)
Boris the Spider
The Kids Are Alright
I Can't Explain
A Quick One, While He's Away
Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand (alternate single version)
So Sad About Us
Relax (Live at Fillmore East 1968 version)
Someone’s Coming
Girl’s Eyes
Blue, Red and Grey
Rael 2
The Seeker
Amazing Journey
The Real Me
We're Not Gonna Take It (Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 version)
Won't Get Fooled Again
Hall of the Mountain King

Others:

Yo La Tengo - Moby Octopad
Sugar - Armenia City in the Sky
Petra Haden - Heinz Baked Beans
The Moody Blues - Peak Hour (intro)
Yo La Tengo - Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand
Petra Haden - I Can See for Miles
The Byrds - Eight Miles High
The Jam - Smithers-Jones (single version)
Electric Six - Getting into the Jam
The Jam - English Rose
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Shellac - Spike

Band/album personnel

Roger Daltrey - vocals
Pete Townshend - acoustic and electric guitars, vocals, piano
John Entwistle - bass guitar, horns, vocals
Keith Moon - drums, vocals
Al Kooper - organ ("Rael 1", "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand (electric version)")
Speedy Keen - co-lead vocals ("Armenia City in the Sky")
Kit Lambert - producer, engineer
Damon Lyon-Shaw - engineer

Credits

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:

Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
The Who - Armenia City in the Sky (this episode only)

You can buy or stream The Who Sell Out and other albums by The Who at thewho.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.

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