The Who Sell Out is The Who's third album, released in 1967. It is a concept album, formatted as a collection of unrelated songs interspersed with faux commercials and public service announcements. The album purports to be a broadcast by pirate radio station Radio London. Part of the intended irony of the title was that The Who were actually making commercials during that period of their career, some of which are included as bonus tracks on the remastered CD.
The cover is divided into panels featuring a photograph by David Montgomery of each of the band members, two on the front and two on the back. On the front is Pete Townshend applying Odorono brand deodorant from an oversized stick; Roger Daltrey sitting in a bathtub full of Heinz baked beans (holding an oversized tin can of the same). Roger Daltrey is said to have actually caught pneumonia after sitting for a prolonged period in the bathtub. On the back is Keith Moon applying Medac from an oversized tube; John Entwistle in a leopard-skin Tarzan suit, squeezing a blonde woman in a leopard-skin bikini with one arm and a teddy bear with the other (an ad for the Charles Atlas course mentioned in one of the album's faux commercials). It has been rumored that originally Moon was seen applying a tube of Clearasil, but that the manufacturer objected and the cover was changed for the U.S. and subsequent editions. This would clearly be false, since the album includes—along with commercial pastiches for the other products shown on the cover—the track "Medac." However, variations of Moon's photo featuring the Clearasil label do exist.
"To me it was the ultimate Who record yet it didn't sell. I spat on the British record buyer." - Pete Townshend
Excerpts taken from Wikipedia.com
