My introduction to The Who came in the 9th grade, when an extremely cool English teacher had us spend a surprising chunk of the school year doing a deep dive into the rock opera Tommy. The idea, of course, was to engage kids in learning how to analyze and think deeply about works of fiction by using something they already liked and cared about: rock music. It was very successful. In my case, though, it worked entirely backwards. Nerdy, uncool me already knew how to think deeply about works of fiction. What that class did for me was to teach me how to appreciate rock and roll, and I carry a love for The Who in my heart to this day. So I couldn't really resist this coffee table history of the band when I came across it cheap.

Now, I never really expect all that much from this sort of thing. You don't need much for it to work. You collect a bunch of cool pictures, throw together a not super in-depth overview of the band's history, grab some quotes and interview snippets, maybe include a small interesting story or two, indulge in a little nostalgia about their discography, and you're done. It doesn't have to be deathless prose or anything.

Honestly, it's a pretty low bar. And yet, I fear this one doesn't manage to clear it. There are lots of pictures, but not one of them comes with a caption. Which, OK, is often not really needed, but it would be nice to have a little context for at least some of them. There's no quotes or interviews and very little commentary. And when it comes to the actual history of the band and the many interesting and often disturbing stories to be told about them, well, those things are not so much "revealed" as "vaguely alluded to."

Oh, well, at least I got it cheap. ( )