he rhythm section of The Who was graced by the presence of two giants at their instruments.  Keith Moon is well known for both his punishing drumming style and his destructive habits, but less celebrated in the public eye are the contributions of bassist John Entwistle.  While he may not be a household name like Moon or Pete Townshend, Entwistle has had a lasting impact on rock and roll bass players and many established bassists have mentioned him as an important influence.

Entwistle was a dedicated experimentalist when it came to creating sounds both onstage and in the studio.  While performing, it was not unusual for him to vary his technique in order to achieve the sounds he was looking for, switching from picking to finger plucking in mid-song.  He was often frustrated at the difficult he faced in trying to get his bass to cut through the incredible wall of sound that The Who generated while performing, and he amassed a huge collection of basses in his quest to find the perfect tool for connecting with the audience.  He was also notable for developing new ways to play the instrument that had previously not been seen in rock bass, such as his tap-fretting method which allowed him to play incredibly fast sequences of notes, experimenting with using multiple amplifiers simultaneously, and having custom made roundwound strings developed in order to increase the brightness of his playing.

John Entwistle's role in shaping the band's sound was twofold.  While Townshend was the primary songwriter for the group, Entwistle penned songs for almost every album, and was also the first member of the band to release a record of his own while still a part of the group.  His melodic bass playing also filled the unusual instrumental arrangement in the band where instead of providing a solid foundation for the groove of a song, the bass acted as a lead instrument and the drums functioned more as ornamentation.  Townshend maintained the backing rhythm for the group with his guitar playing, thus creating a new dynamic not often seen in rock and roll.

After the breakup of The Who, John Entwistle would remain active both creatively and as a musician, recording in his own band and playing with friends and other musical luminaries on tour.  However, he was never able to leave the hard lifestyle of being in one of the world's biggest band behind him, and the years of abuse inflicted on his body through drugs and excess eventually took him from this world in 2002.