#18) The Who

In the early 1960's two men of little or no recognition came together to form a jazz band playing the french horn and the banjo. Who would have known that these two men would have gone on to form one of the greatest bands of all time. The two men I'm referring to are of course John Entwistle (bass guitar) and Roger Daltery (lead guitar). Soon after they recruited Pete Townshend to play rhythm guitar, Doug Sandom on drums, and Colin Dawson on vocal. Soon after that Dawson and Sandom left the group and the line up changed quite a bit. Daltery took lead vocals, Entwhistle stayed on bass, Townshend took lead guitar and Keith Moon was brought in as drummer. This line up would become famous as the Who's most popular line up.

The Who's first single was a Kinks inspired song called I Cant Explain. That was followed by Anyway Anyhow Anywhere which was also a hit on the UK charts. Following that was their first complete studio album, My Generation. The album was a hit and the lead single, My Generation, hit 74 on the US billiboard charts. During the following years the Who released albums consistently until 1978 when tradgedy struck. The drummer Keith Moon died of an overdose on September 7th 1978. After Moon's death he was replaced by Kenney Jones and the band released two more albums until their split in 1983. The band had many sporadic reunions throughout recent years but they have never reclaimed their previous success. After John Entwhistle died in 2002 the two remaining members did not replace him permanently. The Who is still touring today with Townshend and Daltery and other touring members.

The Who is a true staple of Rock and Roll and are on this list because of the influence they've had on music today. Townshend was the creator of the windmill guitar move, and is still considered to be one of the greates guitarists alive. Entwhistle is still repeatedly referred to as one of the greates bass guitar platyer to have ever lived. They are an essential on any list of greates artists and will always be remebered.