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Who’s the best? Just ask them

Posted Feb 8, 2010 by Clarisa Gerlach

Updated Feb 8, 2010 at 10:53 AM

Watching The Who perform during halftime at the Super Bowl Sunday, it occurred to me that, even down to The Two, this band defines rock ‘n’ roll in a way no other band does.

Arrogant, stubborn, and not so much laughing in the face of reason as punching it in the nose, The Who never stumble when they can fall flat on their arses, and they never succeed when they can obliterate the competition.

U2 was the perfect choice for the post-9/11 Super Bowl, while Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers showed just how powerful stripped down rock ‘n’ roll can be.

But while just about any other band would be honored to be there, The Who played as though the pleasure was all ours.

No matter how bald and jowly Pete Townshend gets, he continues to attack his guitar with a vengeance. He may not have smashed his Fender Sunday night, but it probably still needed medical attention afterward.

Daltrey is, quite simply, the greatest rock singer ever, tough, dramatic and still capable of pinning you to the wall with that howl – half victorious, half righteously angry – that climaxed “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

In short, The Who played Sunday night as though there had never been a better band before them and would never be a better band after then. And for those 12 minutes, if was hard to argue.