The Who enter their imperial phase, with John Entwistle on peak form...

n February 14, 1970, 51 years ago as you read this, the English rock quartet The Who appeared at Leeds University, recording the set for the Live At Leeds album, released three months later. A landmark in their catalogue, the LP has gone on to be hailed as one of the greatest in-concert recordings of all time, and is notable from our point of view for the thunderous performance from bassist John Entwistle. Only 25 years old at the time, Entwistle was – whether he knew it or not – well on the way to being the world’s most acclaimed rock bass player, with Paul McCartney and Jack Bruce his only serious competitors at the time.

It’s interesting to note that the London-born Entwistle, who started his musical career on piano, trumpet, and French horn, never regarded himself as a “proper” bass player. In his early career with The Who, he established his presence with the blazing, overdriven solo on the 1965 single ‘My Generation’, and later built a treble-heavy tone that he embellished with an innovative, and frankly bizarre, ‘typewriter’ technique. He also developed roundwound strings for greater clarity with Rotosound; he explored the then-novel bi-amping technology; and he influenced countless bass players, from Geddy Lee and Chris Squire to Lemmy and Billy Sheehan. Entwistle died in 2002 at the age of only 57, but his music lives on after him, and his techniques continue to inspire and bemuse his disciples in the bass community.