Editing Who's Next (section)

==Critical reception and legacy==
{{Music ratings
| rev1      = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="AllmusicReview">{{cite web | url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r21820/review|pure_url=yes}} | title=Allmusic review | website=[[AllMusic]] | first=Stephen Thomas | last=Erlewine | access-date=22 June 2011}}</ref>
| rev2      = ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|Christgau's Record Guide]]''
| rev2score = A<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]|publisher=[[Ticknor & Fields]]|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: W|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=W&bk=70|access-date=9 March 2019|via=robertchristgau.com|archive-date=10 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510072755/https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=W&bk=70|url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev3      = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev3score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|title=[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|page=5812|edition=3rd|year=1998|publisher=[[Muze|Muze UK]]|isbn=1561592374|volume=7}}</ref>
| rev4      = ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]''
| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Mojo">{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|location=London|page=110|date=May 2003|quote=WHO'S NEXT is The Who's most polished album, its hook-ridden songs pioneering the use of rock synthesizers without diluting the power-quartet attack that had defined the group since the mid-60s...|title=none}}</ref>
| rev5      = ''[[MusicHound|MusicHound Rock]]''
| rev5score = 5/5<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Graff|editor1-first=Gary|editor2-last=Durchholz|editor2-first=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>
| rev6      = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Qmag">{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]|location=London|page=158|date=January 1996|quote=Considered by many to be the band's best, 1971's WHO'S NEXT was their only Number 1 album...|title=none}}</ref>
| rev7      = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'' 
| rev7score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref name= "RS 2004">{{cite book |chapter= The Who|last= Kemp|first= Mark|title=[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]] |year=2004 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |edition=4th |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages = 871–873}}</ref>
| rev8      = ''[[Tom Hull – on the Web]]''
| rev8score = A+<ref>{{cite web|last=Hull|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Hull (critic)|date=n.d.|url=http://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/get_gl.php?n=The+Who|title=Grade List: The Who|website=Tom Hull – on the Web|access-date=19 July 2020|archive-date=19 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719114331/http://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/get_gl.php?n=The+Who|url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev9     = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
| rev9score = {{Rating-Christgau|A+}}<ref name="Christgau">{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=19 August 1971|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cg19.php|title=Consumer Guide (19)|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|access-date=9 March 2013|archive-date=1 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210401060800/https://platform.twitter.com/widgets/widget_iframe.0edc1ef9f8b82d9b79c6115bda79f63f.html?origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.robertchristgau.com|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
Reviewing for ''[[The Village Voice]]'' in 1971, music critic [[Robert Christgau]] called ''Who's Next'' "the best hard rock album in years" and said that, while their previous recordings were marred by a thin sound, the group now "achieves the same resonant immediacy in the studio that it does live".<ref name="Christgau"/> Billy Walker from ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]'' highlighted the songs "Baba O'Riley", "My Wife", and "The Song Is Over", and wrote: "After the unique brilliance of ''Tommy'' something special had to be thought out and the fact that they settled for a straight-forward album rather than an extension of their rock opera, says much for their courage and inventiveness."<ref>{{cite news |title= Album Reviews |first=Billy| last=Walker |newspaper=[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]] |publisher= Spotlight Publications |date= 28 August 1971|page= 18}}</ref> ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine's [[John Mendelsohn (musician)|John Mendelsohn]] felt that, despite some amount of seriousness and artificiality, the album's brand of rock and roll is "intelligently-conceived, superbly-performed, brilliantly-produced, and sometimes even exciting".<ref>{{Cite news |newspaper=[[Rolling Stone]] |issue=90 |date=1 September 1971 |first=John Ned |last=Mendelsohn |author-link=John Mendelsohn (musician) |title=The Who ''Who's Next'' > Album Review |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/whos-next-19970122 |access-date=14 February 2005 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050915050139/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/196775 |archive-date=15 September 2005}}</ref> At the end of 1971, the record was voted the best album of the year in the [[Pazz & Jop]], an annual poll of American critics published by ''The Village Voice''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres71.php|title=Robert Christgau: Pazz & Jop 1971: Critics Poll|publisher=Robertchristgau.com|access-date=24 October 2013|archive-date=9 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709105538/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pjres71.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

Retrospectively, ''Who's Next'' has often been viewed as the Who's best album.<ref name="Qmag"/> In a review for [[AllMusic]], [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] said its music was more genuine than ''Tommy'' or the aborted ''Lifehouse'' project because "those were art – [''Who's Next''], even with its pretensions, is rock & roll."<ref name="AllmusicReview"/> [[BBC Music]]'s Chris Roberts cited it as the band's best record and "one of those carved-in-stone landmarks that the [[rockism|rock canon]] doesn't allow you to bad-mouth."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/98zf |title=Music – Review of The Who – Who's Next |publisher=BBC |date=25 August 1971 |access-date=24 October 2013 |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815204316/https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/98zf/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' claimed its sophisticated music and [[hook (music)|hook]]-laden songs featured innovative use of rock synthesizers that did not weaken the Who's characteristic "power-quartet attack".<ref name="Mojo"/> In ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]'' (1998), [[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]] said the album raised the standards for both hard rock and the Who, whose "sense of [[dynamics (music)|dynamics]]" was highlighted by the [[contrast (music)|contrast]] between their powerful playing and a [[counterpoint]] produced at times by acoustic guitars and synthesizer [[obbligato]]s.<ref name="Larkin"/> Christgau, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic about the record during the 1980s, when the Who became what he felt was "the worst kind of art-rock band", writing that ''Who's Next'' revealed itself to be less tasteful in retrospect because of Daltrey's histrionic singing and "all that synth noodling".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rockcriticsarchives.com/interviews/robertchristgau/02.html|title=Robert Christgau: Online Exchange, part 2|publisher=RockCritics.com|access-date=8 August 2015|archive-date=1 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401225325/http://rockcriticsarchives.com/interviews/robertchristgau/02.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it 28th on its list of [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|the 500 greatest albums of all time]];<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=28 &#124; The Who, 'Who's Next' |chapter-url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531/the-who-whos-next-20120524 |access-date=20 March 2005 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061117211904/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6598147/28_whos_next |archive-date=17 November 2006 |last=Levy |first=Joe |author2=Steven Van Zandt |title=[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]] |orig-year=2005 |edition=3rd |year=2006 |publisher=Turnaround |location=London |isbn=1-932958-61-4 |oclc=70672814}}</ref> it maintained this rank on the 2012 edition of the list,<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/the-who-whos-next-169047/| year=2012| title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time| publisher=[[Rolling Stone]]| access-date=23 September 2019| archive-date=1 September 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901102150/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/the-who-whos-next-169047/| url-status=live}}</ref> and was ranked 77th on the 2020 edition.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/the-who-whos-next-2-1063156/|title=Who's Next ranked 77th greatest album by Rolling Stone magazine|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=22 September 2020|access-date=13 October 2020|archive-date=18 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018133552/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/the-who-whos-next-2-1063156/|url-status=live}}</ref> It appeared at number 15 on [[Pitchfork Media]]'s 2004 list of the 100 best records from the 1970s,<ref>{{cite web|title=Top 100 Albums of the 1970s |work=[[Pitchfork Media]] |date=23 June 2004 |url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/36725-staff-list-top-100-albums-of-the-1970s/page_9 |access-date=31 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070505102823/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/36725-staff-list-top-100-albums-of-the-1970s/page_9 |archive-date=5 May 2007}}</ref> and was included in the book ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]'' (2005).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/1001albums.htm |title=Rocklist.net...Steve Parker...1001 Albums |publisher=Rocklistmusic.co.uk |access-date=24 October 2013 |archive-date=30 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130151506/http://rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker//1001albums.htm |url-status=usurped }}</ref> The ''Classic Albums'' [[BBC]] documentary series aired an episode on ''Who's Next'', initially on radio in 1989, and then on television in 1998,<ref>{{cite book|title=Popular Music And Television In Britain|publisher=Ashgate|editor1-first=Ian|editor1-last=Inglis|year=2013|pages=43–44|isbn=978-1-409-49417-1}}</ref> which was released in 2006 on DVD as ''[[Classic Albums|Classic Albums: The Who&nbsp;– Who's Next]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Whos-Next-Who/dp/B000I5XD24/whomovie-20|title=Classic Albums : Who's Next|date=3 October 2006 |publisher=Amazon|access-date=25 November 2014|archive-date=15 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815204351/https://www.amazon.com/Whos-Next-Who/dp/B000I5XD24/whomovie-20|url-status=live}}</ref> That year, it was chosen by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as one of the 100 best albums of all time.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Light |first=Alan |url=http://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061201085911/http://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 December 2006 |title=Kind of Blue |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=27 January 2010 |access-date=24 October 2013}}</ref> In 2007, the album was inducted into the [[Grammy Hall of Fame]] for "lasting qualitative or historical significance".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/music-from-led-zeppelin-elected-to-grammy-hall-of-fame/|title=Music From Led Zeppelin Elected To Grammy Hall Of Fame|publisher=blabbermouth.net|date=11 January 2007|access-date=25 November 2014|archive-date=15 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815204316/https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/music-from-led-zeppelin-elected-to-grammy-hall-of-fame/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was voted number 48 in the third edition of [[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]'s ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]''.<ref name="Larkin57">{{cite book|title=[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2000|edition=3rd|isbn=0-7535-0493-6|page=57}}</ref>