Editing It's Hard (section)

== Critical reception ==
{{Music ratings
| rev1      = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/its-hard-mw0000192308|title=The Who – It's Hard |work=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=7 February 2017}}</ref>
| rev2      = [[Robert Christgau]]
| rev2score = C<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=the+who |title=CG: the who |publisher=Robert Christgau |access-date=2012-02-25}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev3score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref>
| rev4      = ''[[MusicHound]]''
| rev4score = {{rating|1|5}}<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Graff|editor-first1=Gary|editor-last2=Durchholz|editor-first2=Daniel|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink Press|location=Farmington Hills, MI|year=1999|isbn=1-57859-061-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/1227 1227]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/1227}}</ref>
| rev5      = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev5score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite web|author=Parke Puterbaugh |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/reviews/album/3045/22014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608082627/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/reviews/album/3045/22014 |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 June 2010 |title=It's Hard &#124; Album Reviews |website=[[RollingStone.com]] |date=1982-09-30 |access-date=2012-02-25}}</ref>
| rev6      = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/the-who/albumguide |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110206034417/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/the-who/albumguide |title=The Who: Album Guide |website=[[RollingStone.com]] |archive-date=6 February 2011 |access-date=2 September 2015}}</ref>
}}
Critical reviews on its release in 1982 were polarized. Parke Puterbaugh of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' gave it the magazine's highest rating (5 stars) and commented that it was "their most vital and coherent album since [the 1971 album] ''[[Who's Next]]''".<ref name="rsreview">{{cite web |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/its-hard-19820930 |title=It's Hard &#124; Album Reviews |publisher=Rolling Stone |date=1982-09-30 |access-date=2013-10-26 |archive-date=10 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110104648/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/its-hard-19820930 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Puterbaugh also proclaimed that the song "[[I've Known No War]]" was "a song that could become an anthem to our generation much the way '[[Won't Get Fooled Again]]' did a decade ago."<ref name="rsreview" /> [[Robert Christgau]], on the other hand, icily disparaged the "prolix" nature and "operatic pretensions" of Townshend's musical ideas, as well as his "book-club poetry".<ref name="Christgau">{{Cite news |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv1-83.php |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide |work=[[The Village Voice]] |date=25 January 1983 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709122913/http://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv1-83.php |archive-date=9 July 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] of [[AllMusic]] considered the album to be an "undistinguished final effort" with "few memorable melodies and little energy".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/its-hard-mw0000192308|title = It's Hard - the Who &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits &#124; AllMusic|website = [[AllMusic]]}}</ref>