Editing Who's Next (section)

==Release and promotion==
[[File:The Who at Charlotte, NC (1971).jpg|thumb|The Who playing in [[Charlotte, North Carolina]], shortly after ''Who's Next'' was released]]

The lead single from the album, "Won't Get Fooled Again" (edited down to three and a half minutes), was released ahead of the album on 25 June 1971 in the UK and in July in the US; it reached #9 and #15 in the charts of the respective countries.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=284}} The album was released on 2 August in the US and on 27 August in the UK. It became the only album by the Who to top the UK charts.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2002|p=288}}

The Who started touring the US just before the album was released.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=389}} They used the ''Lifehouse'' PA, though soundman [[Bob Pridden]] found the technical requirements of the equipment to be over-complicated.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=390}} The set list was revamped, and, while it included a smaller selection of numbers from ''Tommy'', several songs from the new album, such as "My Wife", "Baba O'Riley", and "Won't Get Fooled Again", became live favourites. The latter two songs involved the band playing to a [[backing track]] containing the synthesizer parts.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=392}} The tour moved to the UK in September, including a show at [[The Oval]] in [[Kennington]] in front of 35,000 fans and the opening gig at the [[Rainbow Theatre]] in Finsbury Park, before going back to the US, ending in [[Seattle]] on 15 December. The group then took eight months off touring, the longest break of their career at that point.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=393}}

Several songs recorded at the ''Who's Next'' sessions, but not included on the album, were later released as singles or on compilations. "Let's See Action" was released as a single in 1971,{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=383}} while "Pure and Easy" and "Too Much of Anything" were released on ''[[Odds & Sods]]'',{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=383}} and "Time is Passing" was added to the 1998 CD version of that album.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/odds-sods-mw0000201469|title=Odds & Sods|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=23 November 2014|archive-date=15 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815204313/https://www.allmusic.com/album/odds-sods-mw0000201469|url-status=live}}</ref> The longest version of the cover "[[Baby Don't You Do It]]" from the sessions that is currently available is on the 2003 deluxe edition of ''Who's Next''.{{sfn|Atkins|2003|p=24}}

The album has been re-issued and remastered several times using tapes from different sessions. The master tapes for the Olympic sessions are believed to be lost, as [[Virgin Records]] threw out a substantial number of old recordings when they purchased the studio in the 1980s.{{sfn|Unterberger|2011|p=107}} Video game publisher [[Harmonix]] wanted to release ''Who's Next'' as downloadable, playable content for the [[music video game]] series ''[[Rock Band]]'', but were unable to do so due to their inability to find the original [[multitrack recording]]s. Instead, a compilation of Who songs dubbed ''The Best of The Who'', which includes three of the album's songs ("Behind Blue Eyes", "Baba O'Riley", and "Going Mobile") was released as downloadable content.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Cavalli|first=Earnest|url=http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/07/whos-next-repla.html|title=Who's Next Replaced by Compilation for Rock Band|magazine=[[Wired News]]|date=1 July 2008|access-date=25 November 2014|archive-date=2 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090102101100/http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/07/whos-next-repla.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The 16-track tapes for "Won't Get Fooled Again" and the 8-track tapes for the other material, except for "Bargain" and "[[Getting in Tune]]", have since been discovered.{{sfn|Unterberger|2011|p=107}}