The Who – Roger Daltrey

Roger Daltrey was just 21 years old in 1965 when he sang “hope I die before I get old” on My Generation, one of the Who’s earliest signature songs. It didn’t take long for that lyric line to take on ironic significance as The Who continued to tour and record over the next five decades. Recently Roger released his autobiography Thanks a Lot Mr. Kibblewhite: My Story. It’s filled not only with all the wonderful rock ‘n roll and Who stories that you’d expect, but is also a very personal look back at Roger’s life. It’s his take on how the band was formed and grew and almost broke up more than once. We also get a close-up look at his life off the road away from the spotlight, and some of the personal challenges he faced. It was a delight to sit down with Roger in October 2018 to discuss his book and pick up where we left off twenty-three years ago.

The first time I spoke with Roger Daltrey was in 1985 for televsion’s PM Magazine while he was promoting his then newly released solo album Under a Raging Moon. It had been just three years since the Who had broken up (for the first time) and Roger was already reflecting back on “his generation” at the age of 42.