warning: thread hijack in progress
It makes me wonder, did the Who really have to sell their songs to make a buck? They must heve been plenty rich already. It's kind of a shame that a whole generation will probably think of Baba Oreilly and Won't Get Fooled Again as the themes to the CSI shows. In their minds the Who will always be linked to David Caruso and his cheesy Horatio Caine character.
(or were these songs not under the control of Pete & Roger?)
Yes, it's sad, and I hate it when a good classic song is turned into TV fodder.
A couple of things:
Roger has no control. Pete is the only song writer on those two songs, as he is on 80-90% of the Who's catalog. This is mentioned in "The Kids are Alright/" And in a recent concert TV special, Pete and Rodger are cracking jokes, and Pete says "well, if you had bothered to write any of the songs, maybe you'd have more money"
It's been well documented that The Who signed really bad deals early in their career that gave their managers and assorted record company people a larger cut than most bands. Along with their high touring expenses, The Who spend the entire 60's broke, even though they had a string of hit songs.
It's been well documented the band members weren't very good with their money. In the book "Moon" there is a conversation where Keith complains he doesn't have nearly as much money as John Bonhan has, which came down to those poor contracts, and the fact that Keith spent his money almost as fast as he could earn it.
The tour that John Entwistle was supposed to do right before he died in 2002 was only being done because John was in debt. Pete has said in many interviews that at the time, he only agreed to do the tour because John really needed the money.
And there is the facts that The Who never released as many original albums as other bands over the same time period, and Pete's solo works were hit and miss as far as being big money makers.
Is this an excuse? No. Only Pete knows why he sold the rights to his songs.
Jimmy Page said for years he would never sell his songs to advertising, and then one day Led Zepplin is playing during Cadillac commercials.
I've heard many, many stories of musicians who should have a lot of money, but just don't. They spent their riches thinking the next record will make just as much money, and the next record didn't sell as well as expected, and the musicians are back to renting an apartment.