Baba O'Riley

Within two years (though many insist four months, citing Altamont as the precise moment), the pie-in-the-sky spirit of Woodstock had come home to roost. Over a tense, understated riff which owes its pedigree to The Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane", Townshend thematically surveys the resulting "teenage wasteland."

Along with "Won't Get Fooled Again", it was on this track that Pete Townshend fully realised the creative possibilities of the synthesizer, not as a novelty box, but as a bona fide rock instrument.

For that alone, many can be grateful.