A Band with Built-In Hate
The Who from Pop Art to Punk
Distributed for Reaktion Books
280 pages
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40 halftones
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5 1/2 x 8 1/2
Review Quotes
Library Journal
“Stanfield uncovers the underpinnings of the Who. . . . He has masterfully identified the mod, pop art, and art rock stages of the Who’s career for rock fans and general readers alike.”
Daily Mail
"If Roger Daltry's 2018 autobiography was a prosaic foot soldier's telling of the Who story, here is a view from the high plains. . . . The best parts of the book mirror the best of the Who, fizzing with ideas and connections. . . . This book vividly reanimates the nasty, transgressive, scene-shaping thrill of their beginnings."
The Irish Times
"Eloquently framing their success as the only successful 1960s UK pop/rock group that didn't want to be either the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, Stanfield locates the Who (and crucially their peak years, during which they were, he writes 'not copyists but innovators') at a boundary-breaking intersection of pop and art-rock."
Just Backdated blog
"[The book] brings together some significant criticism of the Who, connecting them with all manner of cultural references, and is a valuable addition to my ever-expanding Who library. That the Who continue to be so well-served by knowledgeable authors is a tribute to their importance."
Bob Stanley, founding member of St Etienne and author of "Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop"
"The best book on the Who. Stanfield understands that they were built entirely around opposition—they didn’t want to be the Beatles or the Stones; they didn’t even want to be the Who most of the time. He smartly states the case for peak Who as transgressive, how their clashing obsessions with primitive rock’n’roll and sociological statements made them so exciting. He also wisely concentrates on their peak years, before pop solidified as rock, when the Who were the closest thing to pop art British music has ever produced."
Barney Hoskyns, author of "Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits" and "Major Dudes: A Steely Dan Companion"
"With impressive eloquence, A Band with Built-in Hate situates '60s Britain's most volatile and incendiary group at the heart of pop's wild vortex, its sonic assaults on the class system and the cultural status quo. Stanfield digs brilliantly into the Who's transgressions, their upending of entertainment, their transmuting of pop music into art-rock and proto-punk. He can see for miles."
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