Roger Harry Daltrey was born in London, England back in 1944 and two decades later helped to form The Who, which would become one of the most influential bands in the world. In more than five decades the band released 12 studio albums which gave Rock and Roll real anthems that are now part of the Pop culture and of course, of peoples lives.
With a discography full of hits, it’s hard to find something that the fans don’t like. But the band’s vocalist Roger Daltrey doesn’t like everything the band did and even mentioned one hit that he never liked.
The Who hit that Roger Daltrey was never a big fan of
The albums that The Who made in the 60s and 70s with their classic line-up with Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Keith Moon and John Entwistle were crucial to transform them into one of the best-selling bands of all time. The group have sold an estimated amount of more than 100 million records worldwide. That is something not many bands were able to achieve during their careers.
But as Daltrey told Uncut in 2015, there is one hit that he never really liked. The musician mentioned “The Seeker”, track written by Pete Townshend and released as a single in 1970.
“I was never ever fond of ‘The Seeker’. To sing that song, to me, was like trying to push an elephant up the stairs. I found it cumbersome. The first song we’d ever done where I thought, ‘Nah, this is pretentious.’ I haven’t heard it for so long that. To be honest, I couldn’t even tell you what it sounds like,” Roger Daltrey said.
Hearing what Daltrey said about the song helps the fans to understand the reason why the song might have not been performed live that much over the years. In the last two decades, according to Setlist.FM, the song was more played by the group in 2006 and 2007. However, more recently in 2022 the track was part of their show, being played 26 times in that year.
Pete Townshend was inspired by Meher Baba when he wrote the song
The band’s co-founder, guitarist and main songwriter Pete Townshend was deeply inspired by the teachings of the Indian guru Meher Baba at the time. Talking with The Dallas Morning News in 2019, the musician was asked about what the relation between spirituality and his songwriting when he wrote “The Seeker”.
“I think it was all simple to me in the late ’60s when I discovered the teachings of the Indian master avatar Meher Baba. This was after being both frightened and inspired by a couple of heavy trips on LSD. I just wanted guidance, spiritually speaking. But didn’t trust religion as such.”
“Now I am older and inevitably wiser (not smarter, just wiser!) I realize religion is not so bad. It’s just spirituality fashioned into a shape that suits its congregation.”
Pete Townshend continued:
“Climate change is becoming the new spiritual calling. It’s less about the desire of the individual to achieve some cosmic peace. More about every single one of us being able to enjoy this amazing planet as our spiritual playground into the future,” Pete Townshend said.
At the time of its release, the song reached number 44 on the United States Billboard Hot 100. Also number 19 on the UK Singles Chart.