It's Hard (song)

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It's Hard is a song by the English rock band The Who, from their 1982 album also titled It's Hard. It was released as the album’s third and final single in February 1983, with the B-side "Dangerous" written by John Entwistle. The single did not chart on major national charts, but it did reach number 39 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks. It would be the last new-material single from The Who until 2004’s Real Good Looking Boy, and the last album single until Black Widow’s Eyes two years later.

The lyrics were written long before the music. Townshend originally wrote them as a demo called "Popular" in 1981 for the previous album Face Dances, but the band were lukewarm about it at the time. He later rewrote the music and presented it again as "It's Hard" for the It’s Hard album, describing the song as about the struggle to actually do something rather than just complain.

Critical reception was mixed. Some viewed it as solid Who energy, though critics also noted a riff that some compared to Bruce Springsteen’s "Badlands." Cashbox called it standard Who fare, while others called it routine or bland and not very energetic.

"It's Hard" was performed live only on the 1982 tour, with Roger Daltrey sometimes playing rhythm guitar. The final show of the tour, in Toronto on December 17, 1982, is included as a bonus on the 1997 reissue of It’s Hard.