“The bass solo in My Generation is one of the classic bass things of all time. And John Entwistle said it was the bane of his life”: Rick Wakeman explains the problem with recording a classic solo, and how he experienced it with Yes’s Close To The Edge (2024)

John Entwistle’s bass solo on The Who’s My Generation remains one of the greatest of all time - not to mention one of the first in rock history - but his friend Rick Wakeman has revealed that it became a bit of an albatross for him.

Discussing his own organ solo on Yes’s Close To The Edge with YouTuber Rick Beato, Wakeman cites what he calls the ‘John Entwistle My Generation syndrome’, and goes on to explain what that means.

“The bass solo in My Generation is one of the classic bass things of all time,” says Wakeman. “And John said it was the bane of his life. He said, ‘because it was a solo.’

“‘We're in the studio,’ he said, ‘I did it and that was it.’ It became a huge hit and he said ‘then we go out and we're playing, and it comes to my bit, so I do a solo,’ and people would come and go, ‘played that wrong.’ And he said, ‘No, I didn't, it's a solo,’ and [they’d say] ‘played it wrong. You didn't play it right.’ And he said it happened so many times.

“Even reviewers said, ‘such a shame that John played the bass bit wrong.’ So he said, ‘One day I went, fuck it. I sat in the hotel with my bass and a little Pignose amp, and I learned what I’d played. That was the only way.’

“It’s interesting, sometimes, when a solo actually becomes a part. It becomes a part. It becomes a part of the music. It's no longer a solo.”

Wakeman seems to be implying that he considers a solo to be something that’s improvised in the moment. However, when it ends up on an album and people expect you to recreate it, note for note, it becomes something else.

“I had that a little bit with the Close To The Edge thing, because I had to learn it,” he says. “It was all right. You know, these things happen, but the truth of the matter is, there is no such thing as a solo on record. It doesn't exist. It's a feeling of that time. It becomes fixed in time.”

• How to play synth solos like Rick Wakeman

Elsewhere in the interview, Wakeman also discusses his friend Elton John, and suggests that his skills in certain musical areas have partially obscured his talent in another.

“One of the things that people forget about Elton John is, because he's such an amazing songwriter and the singer - what a good player,” he says. “He's a great player. He's a really good player, but it sort of gets lost a bit because of his singing and the songwriting.”

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