The Who

The Who are one of the very few bands from the 60s that stand up well. Pete Townshend is an amazingly creative songwriter who was responsible for outstanding and influential tunes like this one:

Kinda makes most bands in performance seem rather dull, huh? But he could also write distinctive and unusual ballads like this one:

And is famous for having written a rock opera, later made into a film. Here is the overture to Tommy:

It's not Mozart (or even Rossini), but it's not bad! How many other rock songwriters could have done it? Not to mention, some very fine guitar-playing towards the end. But I think my favorite song by The Who and the one that got me back interested in them when I heard it on an episode of House, MD is this one:

Named "Baba O'Riley" after the respective spiritual and musical influences.