He’s not given enough credit as a visionary with music technology and ‘sound sculpting’. He embraced electronics so far beyond distortion pedals… beyond the organ in rock music into synthesizers, but in a fresh way that wasn’t pretentious. And somehow it seemed completely natural with the rest of his music. Brilliant music mind.
Ray & Dave Davies of the Kinks acknowledged by a legend. Kinks, amazing & lovely of Pete to mention them. Poets, abundant in the 1960’s. Disguised as pop musicians, guitarists. Incredible, competent musical people. Great to hear Jimi ripping the world apart.
The Who, and especially Pete, were probably the best live band ever, in there prime. Just think, a young man, writing Tommy, and Quadrafinia. Two unbelievable albums, every freaking song, great. What a fucking genius.
One of the joys of a Townshend interview is his knowledge and insight. It would be very easy to go on and on about the 60s but he tends to avoid going on a nostalgia trip.
I saw Cream in 1967. Eric played his psychedelic SG, the Fool. Sunshine of Your Love ruled the airwaves (along with Sgt. Pepper's) and I knew that night what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I had no money. I was 13 and I could not steal a guitar like Pete. Meanwhile the Who are smashing beautiful guitars and drums and it took me 2 years to borrow an old Harmony (Chicago) archtop f-hole acoustic guitar. I'm still here, Pete, and my guitar playing is better than ever. My main guitar is a 200 dollar Epiphone SG, the guitar I wanted since 1967. It plays like a dream. It took me 50 years to obtain the guitar. Don't smash that guitar, Mister Townshend, I'll gladly receive it. Poor people exist, as you well know. The most amazing guitar player I ever met was a homeless guy, in the late nineties. He played with no restraint, he played like himself and no one else. I adopted his methods, pushing my skills beyond what I could imagine. He carried an old battered classical (nylon-string) guitar and would sit in a pew in a classic old spiral church at Highland and Franklin in Hollywood. He played for hours and the church employees allowed it. I'm in L.A., Pete, let's jam.
He's so right about Ray Davies. You either love it or you don't get it. I'm in the love it camp. There isn't an Kinks era of that I don't like. There are preferable eras but none that I dislike.
A friend of mine lived next-door to the Davies family in Muswell Hill. She says Ray Davies can take an event as mundane as eating your breakfast and come up with a great song about it.
What's so amazing is how much Pete has mellowed in his attitude towards some of his contemporaries over the years. He has said some scathing things about The Beatles in the 60s and probably other acts. I know he has professed a jealousy towards Led Zeppelin who became even more successful than The Who and actually outsold The Rolling Stones also.
The thing about that is he has said himself he got on well with the members of Zep... I think Bonham was in the control room cheering them on as they were recording won't get fooled again
I know what you mean. On the other hand, I was listening to this like on the radio. I was in bed, but I had to keep turning my eyes to the screen in order to read the questions. Also, it would help vision-impaired listeners to be able to hear the questions.
Pete fluctuates between periods of brutually blunt, honesty and vulnterability... andconfusion and unjustified egomania. This isn't my opinion - he himself says as much in his biography. Apparenly the abuse he suffered as a child created permanent confusion. Even in the same biography he fluctuates between these two poles. He's either incredibly blunt and straightforward or aggrandizing and arrogant. Several of his earliest commercial successes in his songwriting, deal with this confusion and it can be scary stuff. This is really one of his last great interviews when he hadn't flipped almost 80-20 into the confused egoism state. Great interview.
This is the first interview I’ve ever heard Townshend do, after all these years, and I can’t say I’m blown away by his incredible insights because I’ve listened to his f*cking songs! But I’m so glad I can keep admiring him! I’ve always so admired him that I avoided listening to or reading his interviews, because _I did not want to be disappointed!!!_ I didn’t have an image of his personality or anything, just a huge amount of respect for a driven poet and artist who was always putting everything he had into his music. His honesty and focus was so total that, if he head any addictions, they surely didn’t show. John Lennon was the hugest influence on my developing intellect from a very young age, not just because he was a genius who was so brutally honest-this is really important to me-but Townshend’s abilities made me massively respect him. I also really admired Roger Daltrey, but that’s something else!
Awesome early Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and Tina was good before exploitation and too much media. But a few years after at the Commonder in Vancouver very surprising bored the New York Dolls all dressed up as girls but did they bring the house down silly as all get out but wow could play rock and roll. Thanks for sharing 🙏👍🇨🇦🇹🇭
Super interesting interview, thanks for posting! What was the background on this interview? I see the Royal Albert Hall image, was the interview for an event there?
Petes the best interview in the business barr none, especially when he's content to be interviewed and seems to be in a generally good mood, like he seems to be here.
The Animals and the Kinks were more important groups than the Beatles and the Stones?? Hard to believe he really believes a lot of the stuff he spouts.
