The Who'S The Who Sell Out Av John (Middle Tennessee State University Usa) Dougan

Released in the U.S. in January 1968, 'The Who Sell Out' was, according to critic Dave Marsh, 'a complete backfire...the album sold well, but not spectacularly [and was] ultimately a nostalgic in-joke'. Who but a pop intellectual could appreciate such a thing? Further rarifying its in-joke status was its unapologetic Englishness; 13 tracks stitched together in a mock pirate radio broadcast, without a DJ, with cool, anglocentric commercials to boot. In the 36 years since its release, 'Sell Out', though still not the best selling release in 'The Who's' catalog, has been embraced by a growing number of fans who regard it as the band's best work; one of the few recordings of the late 1960s that best represents the ambitious aesthetic possibilities of the concept album; without becoming mired in a bog of smug, self-aggrandizing, high art aspirations. 'Sell Out', powerfully and ecstatically, articulates the nexus of pop music and pop culture. As much as it is an expression of the band's