Followers of The Who, do this one: what was it that the band achieved in Britain within the spring of 1965, that it took them two and a half years longer to realize in America? The reply is have a Prime 10 single, which they lastly loved on the Sizzling 100 of November 25, 1967. The track in query was “I Can See For Miles,” which had entered the US chart on October 14.
The Who reached the Prime 10 in their very own nation with their first hit single, when “I Can’t Explain” climbed to No.8 in April 1965. That reached a meagre No.93 within the US, and three extra chart singles within the subsequent two years hardly tore up any timber, both. “My Generation” inexplicably petered out at No.74, “Happy Jack” a minimum of gave them a Prime 40 entry by reaching No.24, and “Pictures Of Lily” topped out at No.51.
A giant urgent and a rush launch
Billboard’s September 30, 1967 subject reported that “I Can See For Miles’” was stated to have one in all Decca’s largest advance pressings. The only was rush-released within the US to capitalize on its notorious efficiency by The Who on the Smothers Brothers’ CBS community TV present.
The track entered the Sizzling 100 at No.72 (one place beneath Elvis Presley’s “Big Boss Man”) and made regular progress, hitting the Prime 10 on the November 18 chart and, every week later, spending the primary of two weeks at No.9. It was listed in Billboard’s year-end subject because the 96th greatest hit of the 12 months; in Rolling Stone’s 2004 listing of the five hundred best songs of all time, “Miles” got here in at No.258.
Probably the most outstanding factor concerning the story, although, is that The Who’ve by no means returned to the Prime 10 of the Sizzling 100 – and the one that got here closest is one which wasn’t a chart file in any respect within the UK: “See Me Feel Me,” which reached No.12 in 1970.