Significant longplayers from yesteryear
3 October 2025
THE WHO released their 7th LP THE WHO BY NUMBERS
today 50 years ago, on 3 October 1975.
It peaked at #7 in the UK, and #8 in the US.
Pete Townshend has claimed that the band recorded practically every song he had written for The Who by Numbers, partially due to a writer’s block that he was experiencing at the time. The songs on the album were, for the most part, more introspective and personal than many other songs that the band had released. Townshend‘s 30th birthday occurred in May 1975; he was troubled with thoughts of being too old to play rock and roll and that the band was losing its relevance.
“The songs were written with me stoned out of my brain in my living room, crying
my eyes out, detached from my own work and from the whole project. I felt empty.”
Rolling Stone Magazine: “They may have made their greatest
album in the face of their personal problems. But only time will tell.”
SINGLE
ALBUM