Gold Discs

The following gold record awards are the original awards presented to the band member or the record company at the time the album went gold. The first six are the white-matte style, so named because of the white linen background used in the construction of the award. These types of awards were produced from 1963 to 1974. They are by far the rarest style of all gold record awards, be it for The Who or any other artist. Depending on the artist and album title they were produced in extremely limited quantities, usually between 6-12 pieces. The Who had six albums that achieved the designation of "gold" during this time period. All of them are represented here. After 1974 the awards were produced in a different style referred to as the floater style. They were now in a gold painted wooden frame with a gold disc seemingly suspended over a black background. These awards are American awards presented under the guidelines of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). There were also awards presented in England under the guidelines of the BPI (British Phonographic Institute). There is one of these shown

This is Keith Moon's gold record for "Tommy". This was the first Who album to go "gold", meaning that it had sold more than one million dollars worth of albums at the wholesale level. This album was released in May of 1969 and achieved gold status on August 18,1969. The plaque reads: Presented To Keith Moon to Commemorate The Sale Of More Than One Million Dollars Worth Of The Decca Records Long-Playing Record Album "Tommy"

This is a white matte style gold record award presented to Pete Townshend for the LP "Tommy". This was the first Who album to go gold and was arguably the LP that solidified the Who's stature in the U.S. and the rest of the world for that matter. This particular award has the LP "Mini" on the right hand side, just like the award given to Keith Moon, pictured above. These awards with the reversed mini's were produced for a few months in 1969 as a result of an error in the die cutting of a quantity of these matte boards. "Tommy" was released in May of 1969 and was certified gold on August 18, 1969, one day after their performance at Woodstock and ten days before their performance at the Isle Of Wight. The plaque reads: Presented To Pete Townshend To Commemorate The Sale Of More Than One Million Dollars Worth Of The Decca Records Long-Playing Record Album "Tommy"

This is an original gold record for "Live At Leeds". "Live At Leeds" was released in May of 1970 and went gold on August 6, 1970. The plaque reads: Presented To Decca Records To Commemorate The Sale Of More Than One Million Dollars Worth Of The Decca Records Long-Playing record Album "Live At Leeds"

The Woodstock Music and Arts Fair was held on August 16 and 17, 1969 at Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York. Nine months later when this album was released it was already a mythical part of 1960's culture and remains so to this day. This is an original presentation white matte style gold record award presented to Pete Townshend for the album "Woodstock". Released in May of 1970, it was certified gold on May 22, 1970 and reached # 1 in the charts. The plaque reads: Presented To Pete Townshend To Commemorate The Sale Of More Than One Million Dollars worth Of The Cotillion Records Long Playing Record Album " Woodstock"

This is Keith Moon's gold record for "Who's Next". "Who's Next" was released in August of 1971 and went gold on September 16, 1971.Pictured on the right is a series of photos of the presentation "ceremony" for Who's Next and Live at Leeds. The plaque reads: Presented To Keith Moon To Commemorate The Sale Of More Than One Million Dollars Worth Of The Decca Long-Playing Record Album "Who's Next"

This award is presented to MCA Records for the album "Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy". Meaty, Beaty... was released in November of 1971 and was certified gold on January 17, 1972.

This is Keith Moon's gold record for "Quadrophenia". "Quadrophenia" was released in October of 1973 and went gold on October 29, 1973. The plaque reads: Presented to Keith Moon To Commemorate The Sale Of More Than One Million Dollars Worth Of The Decca Records Long-Playing Record Album "Quadrophenia"

This is the final Who album to go "gold" during the era of white-matte style gold records. "Odds and Sods" was released in October of 1974 and was certified gold on December 9,1974. The plaque reads: Presented To MCA Records To Commemorate The Sale Of More Than One Million Dollars worth Of The MCA Records Long-Playing Record Album "Odds & Sods"

This is a gold record in the floater style for the album "The Kids Are Alright". This album was released in June of 1979,as the soundtrack of the movie by the same name, and was certified gold on June 26,1979. The plaque reads: Presented to MCA Records, Inc. To Commemorate The Sale Of Over 500,000 Copies Of The MCA Records, Inc. Long-Playing Record Album " The Kids Are Alright"

This is another floater style gold record for the album "Tommy", as performed with the London Symphony Orchestra with numerous special guests. This album was released in November of 1972 and was certified gold on December 13, 1972. The plaque reads: Presented To Graham Bell To Commemorate The Sale Of More Than 500,000 Copies Of The Ode Long-Playing Record Album " Tommy "

This is a floater style gold record for the album "Face Dances". Released in March of 1981, it was certified gold on April 20, 1981. The plaque reads: Presented To Warner Brothers Records To Commemorate The Sale Of More Than 500,000 Copies Of The Warner Brothers Long-Playing Record Album "Face Dances"

This award is a British BPI silver award presented to Pete Townshend in 1976 for the soundtrack to "Tommy". The plaque reads: Presented To Peter Townshend To Recognize The Sale, In The United Kingdom, Of More Than 75,000 Pounds Worth Of The Polydor Long-Playing Record Album "Tommy" 1975

This is a BPI silver award presented to John Entwistle in 1975 for the LP "The Who By Numbers". The plaque reads: Presented To John Entwistle To Recognize The Sale, in The United Kingdom, Of More Than 75,000 Pounds Worth Of The Polydor Long-Playing Record Album "The Who By Numbers"

This is a BPI silver award presented to John Entwistle in 1975 for the LP "Odds & Sods". The plaque reads: Presented To John Entwistle To Recognize The Sale, in The United Kingdom, Of More Than 75,000 Pounds Worth Of The Track Long-Playing Record Album "Odds & Sods"

This is a BPI Gold Award presented to John Entwistle in 1978 for the LP "Who Are You". The plaque reads: Presented To John Entwistle To Recognize The Sale, in The United Kingdom, Of More Than 300,000 Pounds Worth Of The Polydor Long-Playing Record Album "Who Are You"

This is a BPI platinum award for the album "The Story of The Who" presented to Polydor Records.

This is a British BPI silver award for the album "Quadrophenia presented to Polydor Records.

This award was presented by the venue Madison Square Gardens to Pete Townshend. These awards were manufactured by the same company that produced the white-matte style gold records, New York Frame and Picture Company. The plaque on this award reads: Presented To Pete Townshend To Commemorate The Sale Of More Than 180,000 Tickets At Madison Square Garden from 1974-1979. The top part of the award is a reproduction of a ticket to the September 18, 1979 show.