Bill Szymczyk, The Who’s producer, recently joined Rock History Music and addressed why Roger Daltrey disliked post-Keith Moon drummer Kenney Jones. Szymczyk produced the band’s 1981 album ‘Face Dances,’ recalling how Pete Townshend approached him after he rose to notoriety by recording Joe Walsh in the 1970s. Bill remembered: “Joe’s career explodes, and mine with it, and so on and so forth.” And then, after Keith died, Pete phones me up and says, ‘Well, we’re going to hire Kenny Jones, and would you be interested in producing us?’ I replied, ‘Of course.’ The Who had always been one of my favorite bands, but that turned out to be the most difficult album I’d ever had to make.” He went on to explain why working with the Who was difficult: “I was in England, [it was] the only album I ever did outside of the country, and it went to number one.” They were at odds at the time, [number two]. There were some significant drug and alcohol problems going on. So, when you add it all up, it was a difficult time, and I’m still not satisfied with the outcome. That is something I can say.”
Bill then addressed how it felt to be the ‘new kids’ with Kenney Jones and why Daltrey loathed the new drummer, as well as disclosing the only Who member who despised him: “He [Kenney] and I were the new kids; we both arrived at the same time, and Roger had a fairly big beef with Kenney simply because he wasn’t Keith Moon.” I had a fairly large dispute with [John] Entwistle because I didn’t like the way he sounded half the time. Because we already had a guitarist, I always attempted to make him seem like a bass player. So it was just a difficult period.” ‘Face Dances’ was the first Who album to be released without Keith Moon, who died three years before the album’s release in 1978. Kenney’s debut work with the band was recruited by Townshend himself, and you can read everything about how the guitarist persuaded Jones to take the position right here.
