Rock legend Pete Townshend has not only done a lot with The Who. Even as a solo artist, he can write not a few musical achievements on the flag. Important albums, visionary musical ideas, and influential instrumental technique are just a few of his merits on the way to Rockolymp.
That starts with his guitar playing. Earlier than almost all other pioneers, Townshend began using feedback and distortion as a stylistic device as early as 1964.
Thus he lays the foundation for the further musical development of the six-stringed in the rock context.
Especially Jimi Hendrix is impressed and pushes the development of the sound until the total thunderstorm.
They were the young savages of the sixties. “Hope I the before I get old” was Pete Townshend’s dearest wish. The British band The Who, known in the mid-sixties as “My Generation” and later on with the rock operas “Tommy” and “Quadrophenia”, has become one of the most influential bands in music history.
Despite the drug-related deaths of two members and the quarrels between the two cross-heads Roger Daltrey (vocals) and Townshend (guitar, vocals), they still fill the largest halls and stadiums on their occasional tours.
Early Life
Pete Dennis Townshend was born in Chiswick (London) on May 19, 1945. The son of singer Betty Dennis and saxophonist Cliff Townshend, the musician made his classes playing banjo in a Dixieland jazz band before joining The Detours as a rhythm guitarist.
Already formed by Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle, this group will form the backbone of The Who, Townshend will quickly become the leader through his talents as a composer.
Career Path
His first songs describe the pangs of adolescence, including “I Can not Explain”, “Substitute” and what will become the anthem of an age group, “My Generation”, from the 1965 debut album of the same name, before coming to character studies with the following titles “Happy Jack” and “Dogs”.
Through his signature guitar style, which he plays with his own right arm of inimitable reels, he expresses with anger unusual his anger and frustrations.
This musician and author of great influence, responsible for rock operas Tommy (1969) and Quadrophenia (1974, adapted to the cinema in 1979), however, will never manage to equal his production with The Who.
Without this incredible rock machine, Townshend can not convey the same creative energy.
Nevertheless, he is successful as a producer when Thunderclap Newman’s “Something In The Air” reaches one million copies.
He began his solo career in 1970 with contributions to Happy Birthday, a compilation dedicated to his spiritual guru, Meher Baba.
His first official solo album, drawing heavily on The Who’s drawers (Who Came First, 1972), allows the audience to discover a sweet and pastoral facet of his work, which will set the tone for many of his subsequent recordings, including Rough Mix ( 1977).
Until the release of Empty Glass in 1980, Pete Townshend’s solo career was undeveloped. But, galvanized by the vague punk, he emerges with this album both personal and commercial, whose piece “Let My Love Open The Door” enters the American Top 10.
The abstract and quite disappointing All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (1982), and Scoop (1983), a compilation of “home-made” demos, make the time pass until the release of the ambitious White City ( 1985). But the rock soul is no longer there.
Knowing serious hearing problems from his past on stage (The Who was known to be the noisiest group before Led Zeppelin), Townshend is gradually moving away from the audience.
He became a consulting editor at Faber & Faber in London and wrote numerous papers in the rock press (New Musical Express, Rolling Stone), after having created a label and a publishing house. He concludes the 1980s with Iron Man, a musical adaptation of Ted Hughes’ children’s story, to which several musicians, including John Lee Hooker, contributed.
In 1993, he oversaw Tommy’s theatrical adaptation, which was a triumph on Broadway. The same year, his new conceptual album Psychoderelict receives a mixed reception. During the decade, the former mod hero looks at his archives from which he extracts the unpublished tapes of the aborted project Lifehouse, before taking the road with The Who for tours and the album of return, Endless Wire (2006).
The fresco Quadrophenia, performed entirely on stage, is then reissued and adapted in a symphonic version as was Tommy: Classic Quadrophenia (2015), the album in which participate Billy Idol, Alfie Boe and Phil Daniels under the baton of Robert Ziegler, coincides with the fiftieth anniversary tour of The Who.
A real rocker and a rock theorist who can explain the function of the tube: “It’s the child in me who speaks to the child in you. The mistake made by all those who are obsessed with the idea that rock can be anything but teenager is that they confuse adolescence and childhood.
Adolescence is crucial, but because it is the moment when we decide what proportion of childhood we will keep with ourselves for the rest of our lives “(in The name of rock, by Yves Bigot, Stock, 1995). Pete Townshend’s autobiography, Who I Am, was published in 2012.
Personal life
They were the young savages of the sixties. “Hope I the before I get old” was Pete Townshend’s dearest wish. The British band The Who, known in the mid-sixties as “My Generation” and later on with the rock operas “Tommy” and “Quadrophenia”, has become one of the most influential bands in music history.
Despite the drug-related deaths of two members and the quarrels between the two cross-heads Roger Daltrey (vocals) and Townshend (guitar, vocals), they still fill the largest halls and stadiums on their occasional tours.
In 1961, Daltrey founds The Detours in London and finds his comrades in Townshend and John Entwistle (Bass) over the next twelve months.
However, the Detours remain unsuccessful, which changes only when the band renamed in 1964 because of a competing band of the same name in “The Who” and shortly afterwards drummer Keith Moon joins.
Already the first album reaps positive response from the young beat audience. On extended club tours The Who play their “My Generation” with destructive rage and such persuasiveness that the song actually mutates into a kind of anthem.
In 1966 and 1967, the band performs a total of almost twenty times in Germany. The true number of concerts (including in Herford, Siegen and Ravensburg!)
Can be difficult to interpret, since many gigs were announced at that time only in the press. The performance in Cologne from November ’66 with the Lords is considered to have been handed down when the band destroyed the stage after five songs as usual.
The Who makes the breakthrough when they are allowed to present their recently completed rock opera “Tommy” in Woodstock in 1969.
From then on, they are among the greats, playing in a league with the Stones or the Beatles, just more honest. One year later, the album “Live At Leeds” is released, which is still regarded as a milestone in rock history. With the publication of “Quadrophenia” (1973), the happiness begins to turn.
The four-track work sounds in stereo not very convincing and the band’s attempts to save the sound live with backing tapes end in chaos.
Even the acclaimed filming of “Tommy” the following year with guest stars such as Elton John, Tina Turner and Jack Nicholson bring fame, but no luck. From now on, Daltrey, who plays a kind of young Messiah in the film, becomes Townshend’s trouble for the masses.
In 1978, Keith Moon, who has contributed much to the success of The Who with his exceptionally versatile drumming, dies from an overdose of sleeping pills.
Contrary to sweeping predictions that this is the end of the band, Daltrey and Townshend engage the friendly Kenney Jones, ex-drummer of the Small Faces. However, Jones is not a full substitute, and otherwise the misfortune The Who remains hard on the heels.
In 1979, wild fans who want to conquer a good place trample eleven people to death at a concert in Cincinnati. As a result, Townshend falls more and more to the alcohol. Finally, in 1983, the official end of the band is announced.
This applies only to their studio work, because already in 1985 The Who appear on Live Aid. In 1989, they go on a big “Tommy” tour with several guests, including Elton John and Billy Idol. 1996/7 follows “Quadrophenia” as a multimedia spectacle.
Meanwhile, Ringos son Zak Starkey is sitting on the drums. Again in 1999, Daltrey, Townshend and Entwistle can again fight for a small charity tour together and even from a new album is the speech. In reality, nothing happens until 2001, when a tribute album with a prominent guest list appears.
Bassist Enwistle died unexpectedly in June 2002 in his hotel room in Las Vegas. The cause of death is heart failure, but traces of cocaine are found in his blood. The following day should have begun a three-month US tour, the Townshend and Daltrey initially cancel, a few days later with substitute Pino Palladino (Tears For Fears, Eric Clapton, Elton John) but still pull through.
Another hard time begins for Townshend in 2003, when Scotland Yard accused him of downloading child pornography material for a fee from the Internet.
Townshend, who is strongly committed to the protection and rights of children, vehemently denies a sexual interest and cites research as a reason. The support of prominent acquaintances is great, after all, the police believe him and represent Do the procedure with a warning.
Relieved, Townsend and Daltrey get back to work. The first result will be released in 2004: in addition to the x-th Best Of “Then And Now” and a “Singles Box”, they release two new songs (“Real Good Looking Boy” and the Entwistle homage “Old Red Wine “). 2006 follows with “Endless Wire” her first studio album since 1982.
Commercial success is limited, but they’ve proven they can. In the regular tours, of course, the focus is more on the past, as well as the reviews on CD and DVD, including the lush “Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who” (2007) and “Quadrophenia Live” (2014).
For the 50th anniversary in 2014 a new Best Of with the title “The Who Hits 50!” In addition to newly mixed old material, it also receives the new piece “Be Lucky”, which is considered a harbinger for a new studio album.
However, the planned release year 2016 ends without further news.
Quick summary
Full name: Peter Dennis Blandford „Pete“ Townshend
Date of birth: May 19th 1945
Birthplace: Chiswick, Middlesex, England
Age: 74
Profession: Singer, Musician, Author
Height: 1.85 m
Weight: 90 kg
Net Worth: 105$ million