Roger Daltrey is credited with founding the Who; in a way. Daltrey started the Detours, which would, over time, become the Who.
Starting out as a lead guitar player, Daltrey worked as a sheet metal worker, crafting his own guitars. Roger is noted to be one of the best rock frontmen of all time.
In the sixties, he sported the typical mod hair, the "Dippity-Do" look. (see above right) He dressed as a mod, and appeared tough. He often embodied the angst filled youth, channeling Pete's agression through his vocals. Daltrey was famous for swinging his microphone in a great arc, and catching it out of nowhere. The most astonishing point here is the fact that he never killed one of his band mates wielding that mic with such a deadly force.
With the creation of Tommy, his whole look, as well as the way he was looked at, changed. While the Who performed the rock opera onstage, Daltrey had come to embody the star of the story, Tommy, the messiah. He dressed in fringe, was almost always bare chested, and wore his hair in long golden locks. Hence his posistion as frontman God. In the mid seventies, Roger became famous for his angry, soulful screams, evident in the 1971 Who classic "Won't Get Fooled Again".
Roger was infamous for beating up fellow band members, hecklers, and others who might have messed with the mighty frontman that was, and still is, Roger Daltrey.
Although not an avid songwriter, Roger Daltrey is the unparalleled best at expressing the writer's feelings beyond the melody and volume of a song. These are the standards by which frontmen are measured, and none have come close. |
