The Who launch furious new single All This Music Must Fade

The Who have released a new single, All This Music Must Fade. The track comes from their upcoming album Who, which will launch on December 6, and arrives three weeks after the band shared Ball And Chain.

Pete Townshend describes All This Music Must Fade as, "A song dedicated to every artist who has ever been accused of ripping off someone else’s song. Seriously? Our musical palette is limited enough in the 21st century without some dork claiming to have invented a common chord scheme."

Roger Daltrey, who ends All This Music Must Fade by proclaiming, "Who gives a fuck?" says, “I think we’ve made our best album since Quadrophenia in 1973. Pete hasn’t lost it, he’s still a fabulous songwriter and he’s still got that cutting edge."

Townsend adds: "This album is almost all new songs written last year, with just two exceptions. There is no theme, no concept, no story, just a set of songs that I – and my brother Simon – wrote to give Roger some inspiration, challenges and scope for his newly revived singing voice.

“Roger and I are both old men now, by any measure, so I’ve tried to stay away from romance, but also from nostalgia if I can. I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Memories are OK, and some of the songs refer to the explosive state of things today."

All This Music Will Fade is available via streaming platforms now.

The Who will tour across the UK and Ireland throughout March and April next year, where they’ll be joined by a full orchestra. Tickets are on sale now.

The Who: Who
1. All This Music Must Fade
2. Ball And Chain
3. I Don't Wanna Get Wise
4. Detour
5. Beads On One String
6. Hero Ground Zero
7. Street Song
8. I’ll Be Back
9. Break The News
10. Rockin’ In Rage
11. She Rocked My World

The Who UK and Ireland 2020 tour
Mar 16: Manchester Arena, UK
Mar 18: Dublin 3Arena, Ireland
Mar 21: Newcastle Utilita Arena, UK
Mar 23: Glasgow SSE Hydro, UK
Mar 25: Leeds First Direct Arena, UK
Mar 30: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, UK
Apr 01: Birmingham Resorts World Arena, UK
Apr 03: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, UK
Apr 06: Liverpool M&S Bank Arena, UK
Apr 07: London SSE Wembley Arena, UK

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.