Smash Your Head Against the Wall

Smash Your Head Against the Wall
Studio album by John Entwistle
Released	May 1971 (1971-05)
Recorded	November 1970 and January 1971
Studio	Trident Studios (Soho, London)
Genre	Hard rock psychedelic rock
Length	37:34
Label	Track Polydor Decca
Producer	John Entwistle
John Entwistle chronology
Smash Your Head Against the Wall (1971) Whistle Rymes (1972)
Singles from Smash Your Head Against the Wall
"I Believe in Everything" Released: May 1971

Smash Your Head Against the Wall is the debut solo studio album by the English rock musician John Entwistle, released in May 1971 by Track Records in the UK and Decca Records in the US. Smash Your Head Against the Wall was the first solo album by any member of rock band the Who, born out of Entwistle's frustrations within the band, namely not having as many of his songs featured on their albums as he would've liked, and it features a guest appearance by the Who's drummer Keith Moon on one track ("No. 29 (External Youth)"), as well as strong musical influences from the band's work.^[1][2]

Entwistle self-produced the album and it was recorded at Trident Studios in Soho, London over 2 weeks, with a young Roy Thomas Baker engineering the album (his first work). Baker would later become known for his work as a producer for the rock band Queen, and the same studio piano that was used by Entwistle during the sessions for this album was later used by Freddie Mercury on "Bohemian Rhapsody".^[3] The album peaked at No. 126 on the US Billboard 200 but it failed to chart in his home country.

The album was initially remastered and re-issued in 1996 by Repertoire Records, featuring one bonus track, a cover of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl", that was only previously available as a bootleg. The album was later remastered and re-issued again in 2005 by Sanctuary Records but this time featuring more extensive rare bonus content; the bonus content this time consists of three unreleased demos of songs that didn't make it onto the album (amongst them is "It's Hard to Write a Love Song" which would later be reworked into the song "Drowning" for his 1975 studio album Mad Dog) as well as four demos of songs featured on the album, an early take of "My Size", and "Cinnamon Girl" from the previous re-issue. It was reissued again in early 2024 as part of a CD boxed set comprising Entwistle's six solo albums; a vinyl reissue, its first since 1981, followed in May 2024.^[4]