On this day fifteen years ago, John Entwistle, legendary bassist and founding member of The Who, suffered a tragic heart attack induced by cocaine use and an undiagnosed heart condition after years of drug abuse.
A day after Entwistle’s death, The Who was scheduled to go on tour, leaving the band with the option to stop the tour or go on. With heavy hearts and still grieving, Roger Daltrey deferred the decision to Pete Townshend, who decided they would continue with the tour.
In an interview in 2004, Daltrey spoke about his struggle with Entwistle’s death and their decision to continue.
“What do you do when your mates die? You can’t stop living. You’ve got to go on,” Daltrey said. Just four days after his death, The Who stepped back on stage at the Hollywood Bowl and dedicated their show to their late member.
“For those fans who have followed us many years, this is gonna be very difficult. We understand. We’re not pretending that nothing’s happened,” Townshend said as he addressed the crowd.
Nicknamed “The Ox,” Entwistle is remembered for his loud, thumping bass and powerful amplification. Entwistle played much louder than traditional bassists of his time, giving him yet another nickname: “Thunderfingers.”
“The Ox” helped develop The Who’s high energy and patented show stopping performances, even helping them be named the “The Loudest Band in the World” by the Guinness World Records in 1976, peaking at 126 dB during a concert at The Valley in London. In 1990, Entwistle along with other members of The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 2011, a Rolling Stone poll named Entwistle the best bassist of all time and earlier this year, Entwistle landed in the No. 7 spot in Bass Player Magazine’s “100 Greatest Bass Players” issue.
On June 15, BBC Radio Gloucestershire unveiled a plaque in memory of the late bassist.
The blue plaque ready to be fixed in Stow on the Wold for #BBCMusicDay @TheWho pic.twitter.com/7Qjuwbp7JB
— Anna King (@annakingradio) June 15, 2017
Check out footage of Entwistle’s last rehearsal before he passed away below.
Feature photo by Bill Abbott – Flickr: John Entwistle, The Who, 1976, Winterland, San Francisco, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wiki.