The Royal Mail is marking the 60th anniversary of The Who's formation by issuing 12 special stamps “saluting 60 years of rock rebellion.”
Eight of the 12 stamps feature some of the band’s most iconic album covers, from 1965's My Generation through to 2019's WHO, while the remaining four stamps feature iconic promo shots of the band and live images.
The full list of featured albums is My Generation (1965), Tommy (1969), Who’s Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973), Who Are You (1978), Face Dances (1981), Endless Wire (2006) and WHO (2019).
Acknowledging the honour, guitarist Pete Townshend says: “Stamp! Stamp! Stamp! It’s what I’ve done on stage all my life, sometimes in the air. At last, my stamping, and that of my buddy Roger, has been honoured properly, and will help letters, parcels and birthday cards travel through time and space, just as we have.”
Vocalist Roger Daltrey adds, “The artwork on the album sleeves was almost as important to the success of the record as the music. It’s great to be reminded of them.”
The stamps and an accompanying range of collectibles are available to pre-order from today, October 3, here.
Other British musical artists to be honoured with their own Royal Mail stamp sets include The Beatles, Queen, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Iron Maiden and The Spice Girls.
Talking in August about the future of The Who, Pete Townshend admitted, “I don’t know what’s gonna happen with The Who.”
He continued, “I’m hoping Roger [Daltrey] and I can find some common ground and find some way to work again, possibly without an orchestra, because I think we’ve done that. But also, there’s this sense that we’re in the last tour period of our career. Are we just hoping to do what Bob Dylan does and just keep going?
“I’m encouraged by seeing what Roger’s doing in his solo tour. It seems to me that if we put a small band together and just decided to throw shit at the wall, it might be great. But Roger and I don’t converse. We don’t talk. So, it might be difficult to land on something that we both share an interest in. But it’s there for the taking, I think.”
