Trisha Shetty (Editor)

The Ox (instrumental)

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Released
  
3 December 1965

Genre
  
Hard rock, proto-punk

A-side
  
My Generation

Producer(s)
  
Shel Talmy

Recorded
  
12–13 October 1965; IBC Studios in Central London

Writer(s)
  
Pete Townshend John Entwistle Keith Moon Nicky Hopkins

"The Ox" is an instrumental piece by The Who. It was on their debut album My Generation. It was improvised by Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, Keith Moon and keyboardist Nicky Hopkins. This track appears as the b-side of "The Kids Are Alright" on the single's UK release. The song was also on the compilation album Thirty Years of Maximum R&B. A jingle based on this song exists, and was released as "Top Gear" on both reissues of The Who Sell Out.

The song was very rarely played live by The Who. The band may have played it in 1965 and 1966 while the album was still fresh, though no live recordings of the song are known to exist. The only known live appearance of this song was in a medley of "My Generation" at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 29 September 1969, part of the Tommy tour.

Rolling Stone Magazine's John Swenson described "The Ox" and "My Generation" to be "sonic marvels of the time" due to Townshend's feedback technique on these songs.

References

The Ox (instrumental) Wikipedia