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{{Short description|English musician (born 1945)}}
{{npov}}
{{Similar names|Peter Townsend (disambiguation){{!}}Peter Townsend|Peter Townend (disambiguation){{!}}Peter Townend}}
'''Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend''' (born ], ] in ], ]) is an influential ] ] ] and ] best known for his work with ].
{{Use British English|date=March 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Pete Townshend
| image = Pete Townshend (2012).jpg
| caption = Townshend in 2012
| birth_name = Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend
| alias = Bijou Drains
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1945|05|19}}
| birth_place = ], England
| genre = {{hlist|Rock|]|]|]|]}}
| origin = London, England
| occupation = {{hlist|Musician|songwriter|author}}<!--Please do not add to this list without first discussing your proposal on the talk page. -->
| instrument = {{hlist|Guitar|vocals|keyboards}}<!--- If you think an instrument should be listed or removed, a discussion to reach consensus is needed first per: ] --->
| years_active = 1962–present
| label = {{hlist|]|]|]|]|]|]|]}}
| current_member_of = ]
| past_member_of = ]
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Karen Astley|1968|1994|end=separated}}
* {{marriage|]|2016}}
}}
| website = {{URL|thewho.com}}
| module = {{Listen |embed= yes |filename= Pete_Townsend_BBC_Radio4_Front_Row_26_Dec_2012_b01pg54v.flac |title= Pete Townshend's voice |type= speech |description= from the BBC programme '']'', 26 December 2012<ref>{{Cite episode |title= Pete Townshend |series= Front Row |series-link= Front Row (radio programme) |url= http://bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pg54v |station= ] |date= 26 December 2012 |access-date= 18 January 2014 }}</ref> }}
}}
'''Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend''' ({{IPAc-en|'|t|aʊ|n|z|ən|d}}; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of ], one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29374342 |title=The Who unveil first new song in eight years |work=BBC News |date=26 September 2014 |access-date=5 June 2015}}</ref><ref>. '']''</ref> His aggressive playing style and poetic songwriting techniques, with the Who and in other projects, have earned him critical acclaim.


Townshend has written more than 100 songs for 12 of the Who's studio albums. These include ]s, the ]s '']'' (1969) and '']'' (1973), plus popular rock radio staples such as '']'' (1971); as well as dozens more that appeared as non-album singles, bonus tracks on reissues, and tracks on rarities compilation albums such as '']'' (1974). He has also written more than 100 songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as ] and ].
==Biography==
Born into a musical family (his father Cliff was a professional ] and his mother Betty a singer), Townshend exhibited a fascination with music at an early age. He had early exposure to American rock and roll (his mother recounts that he repeatedly saw the ] film ]'') and obtained his first ] from his grandmother at age 12, which he described as a "Cheap Spanish thing."


While known primarily as a guitarist, Townshend also plays keyboards, ], ], harmonica, ], ], violin, synthesiser, bass guitar, and drums; he is self-taught on all of these instruments and plays on his own solo albums, several Who albums, and as a guest contributor to an array of other artists' recordings. Townshend has also contributed to and authored many newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts, and he has collaborated as a lyricist and composer for many other musical acts.
In ] Townshend enrolled at ], and, a year later, Townshend and his art school friend ] founded their first band, The Confederates, a ] duet featuring Townshend on banjo and Entwistle on horn. From this beginning they moved on to The Detours, a ] band fronted by then sheet-metal welder ], which, under Townshend's leadership, would metamorphose into The Who. They were soon taken on by a mod publicist who convinced them to change their name to The High Numbers to give it more of a mod feel. After bringing out one single (Zoot Suit), they were signed on by two new managers, Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert. This was the beginning of The Who.


In 1983, Townshend received the ] for Lifetime Achievement and in 1990 he was inducted into the ] as a member of the Who. Townshend was ranked No. 3 in ]'s 1994 list of Best Guitarists in ''The New Book of Rock Lists''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/newbookofrocklis00mars |url-access=registration |quote=new book of rock lists. |title=The New Book of Rock Lists|year=1994 |publisher=]|location=New York City|isbn=978-0671787004|page=|access-date=15 May 2011}}</ref> In 2001, he received a ] as a member of the Who; and in 2008 he received ]. He was ranked No. 10 in Gibson.com's 2011 list of the top 50 guitarists,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/Top-50-Guitarists-528/ |title=Top 50 Guitarists |website=Gibson.com |access-date=15 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708022758/http://www.gibson.com/en%2Dus/Lifestyle/Features/Top%2D50%2DGuitarists%2D528/ |archive-date=8 July 2011 }}</ref> and No. 37 on ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s 2023 list of 250 greatest guitarists of all time.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=13 October 2023 |title=The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-guitarists-1234814010/ |access-date=14 October 2023 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref> He and ] received ] for Lifetime Musical Achievement at ] on 21 May 2016.<ref name="Gershwin Awards 2016 Recipient"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121163546/https://alumni.ucla.edu/traditions/spring-sing/gershwin-awards/ |date=21 November 2020 }}, Alumni.UCLA.edu,</ref><ref name="dailybruin.com">{{cite news|first=Lindsay|last=Weinberg|url=http://dailybruin.com/2016/05/10/the-who-to-receive-lifetime-achievement-award-at-spring-sing-2016/|title=The Who to receive lifetime achievement award at Spring Sing 2016|newspaper=]|publisher=]|location=Los Angeles, California|date=10 May 2016|access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref>
Townshend's biggest guitar influences include ], ], and ] of ].


== Early life and education ==
The High Numbers once again became the Who. The early singles Townshend wrote for The Who, including "I Can't Explain," "Substitute," and "]" matched an ironic and psychologically-astute lyrical sense with crashing, sometimes crude music, a combination which would become the hallmark of the band. During the band's early days, Townshend became known for his eccentric stage style, often interrupting concerts with lengthy introductions of songs, swinging his right arm against the guitar strings windmill-style, and sometimes smashing his guitar on stage. Although the first incident of guitar-smashing was thought to be an accident, the onstage destruction of instruments became a regular part of The Who's performances. Townshend, always a voluble interview subject, would later relate these antics to Austrian painter ]'s theories on ], to which he had been exposed at art school.
Townshend was born in ], West London, at the Chiswick Hospital, Netheravon Road, in the UK. He came from a musical family: his father, ], was a professional alto saxophonist in the ]'s dance band ] and his mother, Betty (née Dennis), was a singer with the ] and Les Douglass Orchestras.{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=2}}


The Townshends had a volatile marriage. Both drank heavily and had fiery tempers. Cliff Townshend was often away from his family touring with his band while Betty carried on affairs with other men. The two split when Townshend was a toddler and he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother Emma Dennis, whom Pete later described as "clinically insane", later citing this experience as having unknowingly influenced the plot of '']''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Friedlander |first1=Matt |title=Pete Townshend Shares Onstage Trauma That Occurred While Performing 'Tommy' with The Who in 2017 |url=https://americansongwriter.com/pete-townshend-shares-onstage-trauma-that-occurred-while-performing-tommy-with-the-who-in-2017/ |website=American Songwriter |date=April 2024 |access-date=18 July 2024}}</ref> The two-year separation ended when Cliff and Betty purchased a house together on Woodgrange Avenue in middle-class ], and the young Pete was happily reunited with his parents.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=6}} His neighbourhood was one-third Polish, and a devout Jewish family upstairs shared their housing with them and cooking with them—many of his father's closest friends were Jewish.<ref name="The Secret Jewish History of The Who">{{Cite web |url=https://forward.com/culture/music/434550/whos-jewish/ |title=The Secret Jewish History of The Who |last=Rogovoy |first=Seth |date=12 November 2019|website=The Forward |access-date=6 February 2024}}</ref>
The Who thrived, and continue to thrive, despite the death of two of the original members. They are regarded by many rock critics as one of the best live bands of the late 60s - early 70s, the result of a unique combination of high volume, showmanship, a wide variety of rock beats, and a high-energy sound that alternated between tight and free-form. Their 2005 performance at Live 8 was much applauded.


Townshend says he did not have many friends growing up, so he spent much of his boyhood reading adventure novels like '']'' and '']''. He enjoyed his family's frequent excursions to the seaside and the ]. It was on one of these trips in the summer of 1956 that he repeatedly watched the 1956 film ], sparking his fascination with American ].{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|pp=8,12}}
Townshend remained the primary songwriter for the group, writing over 100 songs which appeared on the band's 10 studio albums. Among his most well-known accomplishments are the creation of '']'', for which the term "]" was coined, pioneering the use of feedback, and the introduction of the synthesizer as a rock instrument. Townshend revisited album-length storytelling techniques throughout his career and remains the musician most associated with the rock opera form. Townshend also demonstrated prodigious talent on the guitar and was influential as a player, developing a unique style which combined aspects of rhythm and lead guitar and a characteristic mix of abandon and subtlety.


Not long thereafter, he went to see ] perform in London, Townshend's first concert.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=8}} At the time, he did not see himself pursuing a career as a professional musician; instead, he wanted to become a journalist.{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=7}}
Townshend has been a follower of the ]n religious guru ], who blended elements of ] and ] ] with conventional ]. Baba's teachings were a major source of inspiration for many of his works, including ''Tommy'', and the unfinished Who project ''].'' The Who song "]," written for ''Lifehouse'' and eventually appearing on the album '']'', was named for Meher Baba and minimalist composer ]. Although Baba's teachings require abstinence from ] and ] use, Townshend has had several public battles with ].


Upon passing the ] exam, Townshend was enrolled at ].{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=19}} At Acton County, he was frequently bullied because he had a large nose, an experience that profoundly affected him. His grandmother Emma purchased his first guitar for Christmas in 1956, an inexpensive Spanish model.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|pp=9-10}} Though his father taught him a couple of chords, Townshend was largely self-taught on the instrument and never learned to read music.{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=13}} Townshend and school friend ] formed a short-lived ] group, the Confederates, featuring Townshend on banjo and Entwistle on horns.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=26}} The Confederates played gigs at the Congo Club, a youth club run by the Acton Congregational Church, and covered ], ], and ].{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=15}} However, both became influenced by the increasing popularity of ], with Townshend particularly admiring ]'s debut single, "]".{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=17}} Townshend left the Confederates after getting into a fight with the group's drummer, Chris Sherwin, and purchased a "reasonably good Czechoslovakian guitar" at his mother's antique shop.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=12}}
In addition to his work with the Who, Townshend has been sporadically active as a solo recording artist. Between ] and ] Townshend recorded a trio of little-heard albums devoted to Meher Baba. His first major-label solo release, ]'s '']'' was a moderate success and featured demos of Who songs as well as a showcase of his acoustic guitar talents. He collaborated with ] bassist and fellow Meher Baba devotee ] on a duet album (]'s '']''). Townshend's solo breakthrough, following the death of Who drummer ], was the ] release '']'', which included a top-10 single, "Let My Love Open the Door." This release was followed in ] by '']'', which included the popular radio track "Slit Skirts." Through the rest of the ] and early ] Townshend would again experiment with the ] and related formats, releasing several story-based albums including '']'' (]), '']'' (]), and '']'' (]).


Townshend's brothers Paul and ] were born in 1957 and 1960, respectively.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=7}} Lacking the requisite grades to attend university, Townshend was faced with the decision of art school, music school, or getting a job.{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=19}} He ultimately chose to study ] at ], enrolling in 1961. At Ealing, Townshend studied alongside future ] guitarist ]. Townshend dropped out in 1964 to focus on music full-time.{{sfn|Wooldridge|2002|p=136}}
Townshend also got the chance to play with his hero Hank Marvin for ]'s ] sessions, along with other respected rock musicians such as ], ] and ].


== Musical career ==
In 1979, Townshend became the first major rock musician to donate his services to the ] organization ] when he performed three songs for its benefit show ] - performances that were released on record and in the film of the show. The show was Townshend's first major live solo appearance. Townshend's acoustic performances of three of his songs (including ] and ]) were subsequently cited as having been the forerunner and inspiration for the "]" phenomenon in the 1990's. Townshend had been invited to perform for Amnesty by the producer of ] ] who stated later that Townshend's participation had been the key to his securing the subsequent participation for Amnesty (in the 1981 sequel show) of ], ], ], ] and ]. Other performers inspired by Townshend's early committment to Amnesty International to support the organization include ] and ] singer ] who in 1986 told ] magazine: "I saw 'The Secret Policeman's Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..."
=== 1961–1964: the Detours ===
In late 1961, Entwistle joined the Detours, a ]/] band, led by Roger Daltrey. The new bass player then suggested Townshend join as an additional guitarist.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=18}} In the early days of the Detours, the band's repertoire consisted of instrumentals by ] and ], as well as pop and trad jazz covers. Their lineup coalesced around ] on rhythm guitar, Townshend on lead guitar, Entwistle on bass, ] on drums, and Colin Dawson as vocalist.{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=22}} Daltrey was considered the leader of the group and, according to Townshend, "ran things the way he wanted them."{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=22}}


Dawson quit in 1962 after arguing too much with Daltrey, who subsequently moved to lead vocalist. As a result, Townshend, with Entwistle's encouragement, became the sole guitarist. Through Townshend's mother, the group obtained a management contract with local promoter Robert Druce, who started booking the band as a support act for bands including ], ], ], and ] and the Pirates.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|pp=21,24}} In 1963, Townshend's father arranged an amateur recording of "It Was You", the first song his son ever wrote.{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=40}} The Detours became aware of a group of the same name in February 1964, forcing them to change their name.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=26}} Townshend's roommate ] came up with "The Who", and Daltrey decided it was the best choice.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=66}}
Townshend has also recorded several ]s, including one featuring a supergroup he assembled called ], who performed just three concerts and a TV show session for '']'', to raise money for a charity supporting drug addicts. In ] Townshend published an anthology of short stories entitled ]. He has also reported that he is writing an autobiography. In ] he and ] wrote and directed the ] adaptation of the Who album '']'', as well as a less successful stage musical based on his solo album ''The Iron Man'', based upon the book by ]. (MacAnuff and Townshend would later co-produce the animated film '']'', also based on the Hughes story.)


=== 1964–1982: The Who ===
From the mid-] through the present, Townshend has participated in a series of reunion and farewell concerts with the surviving members of The Who, including a ] tour immediately after Entwistle's death.
{{main|The Who}}
] in ], Germany on 12 April 1967]]
Not long after the name change, drummer ] was replaced by ], who had been drumming semi-professionally with the Beachcombers for several years.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=80}} The band was soon taken on by a ] publicist named ] who convinced them to change their name to the High Numbers to give the band more of a mod feel. After bringing out one failed single ("I'm the Face/Zoot Suit"), they dropped Meaden and were signed on by two new managers, ] and ], who had paired up with the intention of finding new talent and creating a documentary about them.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=55}} The band anguished over a name that all felt represented the band best, and dropped the High Numbers name, reverting to the Who.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=60}} In June 1964, during a performance at the Railway Tavern, Townshend accidentally broke the top of his guitar on the low ceiling and ]. The on-stage destruction of instruments soon became a regular part of the Who's live shows.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|pp=125-126}}


With the assistance of Lambert, the Who caught the ear of American record producer ], who had the band signed to a record contract. Townshend wrote a song, "]", as a deliberate sound-alike of ], another group Talmy produced. Released as a single in January 1965, "I Can't Explain" was the Who's first hit, reaching number eight on the British charts.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=40}} A follow-up single ("]"), credited to both Townshend and Daltrey, also reached the top 10 in the UK.{{sfn|Howard|2004|pp=107–108}} However, it was the release of the Who's third single, "]", in November that, according to Who biographer Mark Wilkerson, "cemented their reputation as a hard-nosed band who reflected the feelings of thousands of pissed-off adolescents at the time."{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=52}} The Townshend-penned single reached number two on the UK charts, becoming the Who's biggest hit. The song and its famous line "I hope I die before I get old" was "very much about trying to find a place in society", Townshend stated in an interview with ].{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=53}}
Townshend suffers from partial ] and ] as a result of extensive exposure to loud music through ] and in concert, including one notable 1970s concert where the volume level was claimed to have been measured at 120 ] 40 ] from the stage. Part of his condition may be attributed to an infamous ] appearance on the '']'', during which Keith Moon set off a large amount of explosives inside his drum kit, while Townshend was standing in front of it.


To capitalise on their recent single success, the Who's debut album '']'' (''The Who Sings My Generation'' in the US) was released in late 1965, containing original material written by Townshend and several ] covers that Daltrey favoured.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-who-sings-my-generation-mw0000020578|title=My Generation&nbsp;– review|first=Richie|last=Unterberger|website=]|access-date=19 September 2013}}</ref> Townshend continued to write several successful singles for the band, including "]", "]", "]", and "]".{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=63}} Lambert encouraged Townshend to write longer pieces of music for the next album, which became "]". The album was subsequently titled '']''{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=227}} and reached No. 4 in the charts upon its release in December 1966.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=229}} In their stage shows, Townshend developed a ] in which he would ] in a style reminiscent of the vanes of a windmill.{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=37}} He developed this style after watching ] guitarist ] warm up before a show.<ref name=Daly>{{cite news |url=https://www.tampabay.com/features/books/review-pete-townshend-memoir-who-i-am-gloomy-yet-addictive/1259585/ |title=Review: Pete Townshend memoir 'Who I Am' gloomy yet addictive |work=] |first=Sean |last=Daly |date=4 November 2012 |access-date=5 March 2014}}</ref>
Townshend met Karen Astley (daughter of composer ]) while in art school and married her in ]. The couple separated in ] and ]d in ]. They have three children, ] (b. ]), who is herself a singer/songwriter, Aminta (b. ]), and Joseph (b. 1989). For many years Townshend refused to confirm or deny rumors that he was ]. In a ] interview with '']'' magazine, however, he explained that, although he engaged in some brief same-sex experimentation in the 1960s, he is ]. Townshend has been romantically involved with musician Rachel Fuller for several years. He currently lives in ], England.


]
==Child pornography vigilantism==
The Who commenced their first US tour on 22 March 1967.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=76}} Townshend took to trashing his hotel suites, though not to the extent of his bandmate Moon.{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=76}} He also began experimenting with ], though stopped taking the drug after receiving a potent hit after the ] on 18 June.{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=77}} Released in December, their next album was '']''—a ] based on pirate radio, which had been instrumental in raising the Who's popularity. It included several humorous jingles and mock commercials between songs,{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=148}} and the Who's biggest US single, "]".{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=149}} Despite the success of "]", which reached No. 9 on the American charts, Townshend was surprised it was not an even bigger hit, as he considered it the best song he had written up to that point.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=93}}
In early January ], Townshend publicly acknowledged having used his ] on a single occasion to obtain access to a commercial ] website. He stated that he had visited the site once while researching ] and child pornography on the ]. Townshend made the admission after a story was illicitly leaked to a British tabloid newspaper that a single credit card transaction of a well-known rock star had been found amidst thousands of UK transactions recovered by "]," a large anti-child pornography operation undertaken in the UK. Townshend made a statement identifying himself as the individual hinted at in the tabloid story. (No investigation was made of who leaked information known only by the police to the tabloid newspaper and no charges were ever brought for the illicit leak of classified information.)


By 1968, Townshend became interested in the teachings of ].{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=294}} He began to develop a musical piece about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy who would experience sensations musically.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=113}} The piece would explore the tenets of Baba's philosophy.{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=89}} The result was the ] '']'', released on 23 May 1969 to critical and commercial success. In support of ''Tommy'', the Who launched a tour that included a memorable appearance at the ] on 17 August. While the Who were playing, ] leader ] jumped the stage to complain about the arrest of ]. Townshend promptly knocked him offstage with his guitar, shouting, "Fuck off my fucking stage!"{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=224}}
He stated that he had only viewed the site briefly as part of his research, that (in his opinion) he had not downloaded any images, and that he had not retained any images. Townshend also volunteered his willingness to fully cooperate with a police investigation. The ] arrested him on ]] on suspicion of possessing ], making such images and inciting others to distribute such images{{ref|arrest}}. The police duly searched his home and offices and confiscated a total of 14 of his computers, which were all returned several months later after a ] had failed to reveal any evidence that Townshend had downloaded or possessed indecent photographs of children (thus indirectly acknowledging Townshend's claim that the computers contained not one single image of child pornography). In May 2003 the police ] Townshend, thereby making him subject to the requirement to notify police of his personal details (for a period of 5 years, the period defined as being appropriate to cautions and non-custodial disposals): this also means that his details will be held on the ].


In 1970, the Who released '']'', which several music critics cite as the best live album of all time.<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3653281/Hope-I-dont-have-a-heart-attack.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3653281/Hope-I-dont-have-a-heart-attack.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Hope I don't have a heart attack |newspaper=]|location=London|date=22 June 2006 |access-date=22 January 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Townshend began writing material for another rock opera. Dubbed '']'', it was designed to be a multi-media project that symbolised the relationship between a musician and his audience.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=368}} The rest of the band were confused by its convoluted plot and simply wanted another album. Townshend began to feel alienated, and the project was abandoned after he suffered a nervous breakdown.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=378}} Much of the material intended for ''Lifehouse'' was released as a traditional studio album, '']''. It became a commercial smash, reaching number one in the UK, and spawned two successful hit singles, "]" and "]", that featured pioneering use of the synthesizer.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=275}} "Baba O'Riley" in particular was written as Townshend's ode to his two heroes at the time, Meher Baba and composer ].<ref>{{cite news|last=Suddath|first=Claire|url=https://entertainment.time.com/2011/10/24/the-all-time-100-songs/slide/baba-o-reilly-the-who/ |title='Baba O'Riley' |newspaper=]|date=21 October 2011 |access-date=22 January 2014}}</ref>
Townshend claimed he was researching the subject of child abuse for his autobiography - and revealed that he had been sexually abused as a child by a mentally disturbed relation. He referred also to the commonly-known fact that he had written specifically about the topic in '']'' (whose protagonist was also sexually abused by a disturbed relation); indeed, two of the Who's earlier hit singles, "I'm a Boy" and "Happy Jack," dealt with child abuse either directly ("I'm a Boy") or by implication ("Happy Jack"). Townshend also stated that he had notified an anti-abuse group about the website immediately after encountering the site. This claim was confirmed in February 2003 when the anti-abuse group searched its email archive and discovered several emails from Townshend - sent at the time that he had claimed. The group released a statement to this effect. Townshend's claim was further reinforced by a document he had written and posted on his official website in January 2002 - a full year before the incident became public. The emails and his published warnings about the topic - predated Townshend's first awareness (in January 2003) that his name might publicly surface as a result of the Operation Ore investigation.


]
In "," Townshend forewarned that portions of the Internet represent a terrible danger because "they provide deviant material to deviant people." In March, ], Townshend was featured on a ] television documentary in which he described his experiences as a result of the child pornography charges. He apologized for the incident and stated that he was so upset by the accusations made against him and the subsequent perceptions that he had briefly considered ].
Townshend began writing songs for another rock opera in 1973. He decided it would explore the mod subculture and its clashes with ]s in the early 1960s in the UK.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=412}} Entitled '']'', it was the only Who album written entirely by Townshend, and he produced the album as well due to the souring of relations with Lambert.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=211}} It was released in November, and became their highest charting cross-Atlantic success, reaching No. 2 in the UK and US.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=428}} '']'' reviewer ] called it "prime cut Who" and "the most rewarding musical experience of the year."{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=213}} On tour, the band played the album along to pre-recorded backing tapes, causing much friction. The tapes malfunctioned during a performance in Newcastle, prompting Townshend to drag soundman ] onstage, scream at him and kick over all the amplifiers, partially destroying the malfunctioning tapes.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=336}} On 14 April 1974, Townshend played his first solo concert, a benefit to raise funds for a London community centre.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=222}}


A ] was directed by ], and starred ] in the title role, ] as his mother, and ] as his step-father, with cameos by ], ], ], and other rock notables; the film premiered on 18 March 1975.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=369}}{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=439}} Townshend was nominated for an Academy Award for scoring and adapting the music in the film.{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=451}} '']'' came out in November of that year and peaked at No. 7 in the UK and 8 in the US. It featured introspective songs, often with a negative slant. The album spawned one hit single, "]", that was written after Townshend learned how to play the accordion.{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=240}} After a 1976 tour, Townshend took a year-long break from the band to focus on spending time with his family.{{sfn|Neill|Kent|2009|p=394}}
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Incidentally, the law in England at the time of Townshend's transaction in 1999 explicitly outlawed the downloading of pornographic images, something that the police found no evidence of Townsend ever doing. But there had been no legal ruling in 1999 on the topic of what Townshend did do - which was to pay money to access a website that contained child pornography. The first legal ruling in England on this specific issue occurred in a case in 2001 - nearly two years after the solitary occasion on which Townshend had accessed the website. At that time - a judge ruled that a law passed in the 1970's in respect of the purchase of printed child pornography should be applied to purchases made on the internet. Irrespective of whether it was for prurient purposes or legitimate research. That ruling meant that anyone who had made any transaction at any time since the 1970's would have infringed the law - even though the person would have been unaware (till the 2001 ruling ) that the old law applied to internet purchases. Townshend might thus have been found guilty in 2003 of a technical infringement that occurred in 1999 of a law that neither he (nor anyone else in England) could have been aware was relevant to his activity prior to 2001.
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The Who continues despite the deaths of two of the original members (] in 1978 and ] in 2002). The band is regarded by many rock critics as one of the best<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/the-who/bio/ |title=The Who Biography |newspaper=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame |access-date=3 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/642975/the-Who# |title=The Who |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=15 May 2011}}</ref> live bands<ref>]. ''Rolling Stone'', 15 April 2004.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vodafonemusic.co.uk/index.cfm?action=tba_event/awards2006/12b_tba_news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927202524/http://www.vodafonemusic.co.uk/index.cfm?action=tba_event%2Fawards2006%2F12b_tba_news |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 September 2007 |title=First Annual Lifetime Achievement Award in Live Music |website=Vodafonemusic.co.uk |access-date=15 May 2011 }}</ref> from the 1960s to the 2000s. The Who continues to perform critically acclaimed sets into the 21st century, including highly regarded performances at ] in 2001,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watson |first=Tom |title=The Night The Who Saved New York |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomwatson/2012/12/07/the-night-the-who-saved-new-york/ |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> the 2004 ],<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Who: Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 2004 {{!}} WHSmith |url=https://www.whsmith.co.uk/ |access-date=2024-06-14 |website='WHSmith |language=en-US}}</ref> ] in 2005,<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC - The Live 8 Event - Live 8 Running Order |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/thelive8event/lineupandartists/running_order.shtml |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> and the 2007<ref>{{Cite web |last=NME |date=2007-06-24 |title=The Who close Glastonbury 2007 |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/glastonbury-345-1348278 |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=NME |language=en-GB}}</ref> and 2015 ].<ref>{{Cite news |last=music |first=Guardian |date=2015-07-10 |title=The Who say they were sabotaged at Glastonbury |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/10/the-who-say-they-were-sabotaged-at-glastonbury |access-date=2024-06-14 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
==Musical Equipment==
Throughout his solo career and his career with ], Townshend has played (and destroyed) a large variety of different guitars.


Townshend remained the primary songwriter and leader of the group, writing over 100 songs which appeared on the band's eleven studio albums. Among his creations is the rock opera '']''. Townshend revisited album-length storytelling throughout his career and remains associated with the rock opera form. Many studio recordings also feature Townshend on piano or keyboards, though keyboard-heavy tracks increasingly featured guest artists in the studio, such as ], ], or ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thewho.net/linernotes/ |title=The Who liner notes |website=Thewho.net |date=16 October 2007 |access-date=15 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514060731/http://www.thewho.net/linernotes/ |archive-date=14 May 2011 }}</ref>
In the early days with ], Townshend played 6-string and 12-string ] semi-hollow electric guitars primarily (particularly the Rose-Morris UK-imported models with special f-holes). However, as instrument-smashing became increasingly integrated into The Who's concert sets, he switched to more durable and resilient (and sometimes cheaper) guitars for smashing, such as the ], ], and various ] models. In the late-60s, Townshend began playing ] models almost exclusively, specifically the Special models. He used this guitar at the ] and ] shows in 1969 and 1970.


Townshend is one of the key figures in the development of feedback in rock guitar. When asked who first used feedback, ] guitarist ] said:
By 1972, ] changed the design of the SG Special which Townshend had been using previously, and thus he began using other guitars. For much of the 1970s, he used ]s, some with only two mini-humbucker pickups and others modified with a third pickup. He can be seen using several of these guitars in the documentary "The Kids Are Alright".


{{blockquote|Pete Townshend was definitely the first. But not being that good a guitarist, he used to just sort of crash chords and let the guitar feedback. He didn't get into twiddling with the dials on the amplifier until much later. He's overrated in England, but at the same time you find a lot of people like ] and ] getting credit for things he started. Townshend was the first to break his guitar, and he was the first to do a lot of things. He's very good at his chord scene, too.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehighwaystar.com/interviews/blackmore/rb1973xxxx.html |title=Ritchie Blackmore interview |website=Thehighwaystar.com |access-date=15 May 2011}}</ref>}}
During the 1980s, Townshend mainly used ]s and Telecaster-style models built for him by ] and various other luthiers. Since the late-1980s, Townshend has used the ], with Lace-Sensor pickups, both in the studio and on tour.


Similarly, when ] was asked about the development of guitar feedback, he said:{{blockquote|I don't know who really did feedback first; it just sort of happened. I don't think anybody consciously nicked it from anybody else. It was just going on. But Pete Townshend obviously was the one, through the music of his group, who made the use of feedback more his style, and so it's related to him. Whereas the other players like Jeff Beck and myself were playing more single note things than chords.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zepagain.com/page_rosen.html |title=Steven Rosen's Jimmy Page Interview |website=Zepagain.com |year=1977 |access-date=15 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110124114142/http://www.zepagain.com/page_rosen.html |archive-date=24 January 2011 }}</ref>}}
Townshend has used a number of other electric guitars, including various ], ], and ] models. He has also used Guild, ] and ] acoustic models.


Many rock guitarists have cited Townshend as an influence, among them ],<ref>{{cite web |title=Fan Questions/SLASH Answers – 2003 |url=http://www.snakepit.org/answers03.html |website=Snakepit.org|access-date=10 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115100119/http://www.snakepit.org/answers03.html |archive-date=15 January 2018 |year=2003 |quote=Brian, there are a lot of guitarist that have stage presence that I like, but I also like their playing. To give you some examples: Joe Perry, Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page...}}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.epiphone.com/news.asp?NewsID=137 |title=Alex Lifeson interview |website=Epiphone.com |date=29 July 2004 |access-date=15 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928151801/http://www.epiphone.com/news.asp?NewsID=137 |archive-date=28 September 2011 }}</ref> and ].<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324183836/http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/The%20Sex%20Pistols_%20Steve%20Jones_/ |date=24 March 2012 }}. '']''.</ref>
There are several ] Pete Townshend signature guitars, such as the Pete Townshend SG, the Pete Townshend J-200, and two different Pete Townshend Les Paul Deluxes. The SG was clearly marked as a Pete Townshend limited edition model and came with a special case and certificate of authenticity, signed by Pete himself. There has also been a Pete Townshend signature ] limited edition guitar.


=== 1972–present: solo career ===
==Solo discography==
In addition to his work with the Who, Townshend has been sporadically active as a solo recording artist. Between 1969 and 1971 Townshend, along with other devotees to ], recorded a trio of albums devoted to his teachings: '']'', '']'', and '']''. In response to bootlegging of these, he compiled his personal highlights (and "Evolution", a collaboration with ]), and released his first major-label solo title, 1972's '']''. It was a moderate success and featured demos of Who songs as well as a showcase of his acoustic guitar talents. He collaborated with ]' bassist and fellow Meher Baba devotee ] on a duet album (1977's '']''). In 1979 Townshend produced and performed guitar on the novelty single "Peppermint Lump" by Angie on ], featuring 11-year-old Angela Porter on lead vocals.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/pete-townshend-peppermint-lump.226955/ |title= Steve Hoffman Music Forums: Pete Townshend – Peppermint Lump |access-date= 8 May 2018}}</ref>
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Townshend made several solo appearances during the 1970s, two of which were captured on record: ]'s Rainbow Concert<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/eric-clapton-rainbow-concert/|title=When Eric Clapton Staged His Rainbow Concert Comeback|first=Eduardo|last=Rivadavia|website=Ultimate Classic Rock|date=13 January 2016 |access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref> in January 1973 (which Townshend organized to revive Clapton's career after the latter's heroin addiction),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bestclassicbands.com/eric-clapton-rainbow-concert-review-1-17-18/|title=Eric Clapton's Lifesaving 'Rainbow Concert' Revisited|last=Rowman & Littlefield in 2018|date=12 August 2015|website=Bestclassicbands.com|access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref> and the ]-sponsored Concerts for the People of Kampuchea in December 1979. The commercially available video of the Kampuchea concert shows the two rock icons duelling and clowning<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/john-lennons-coolness-to-pete-townshend.653256/|title=John Lennon's Coolness to Pete Townshend|website=Steve Hoffman Music Forums|access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref> through ] mega-band versions of "Lucille", "Let It Be", and "Rockestra Theme"; Townshend closes the proceedings with a characteristic split-legged leap.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/12/watch-paul-mccartney-lead-all-star-band-with-pete.html|title=Watch Paul McCartney Lead an All-Star Band with Pete Townshend, Robert Plant (on Bass!) and John Bonham|newspaper=Paste Magazine|date=28 December 2017|access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref>
==Compilations and EPs==
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Townshend's solo breakthrough, following the death of Who drummer ], was the 1980 release '']'', which included the top-10 single "]", and lesser singles "]" and "]". This release was followed in 1982 by '']'', which included the popular radio track "]". While not a huge commercial success, music critic Timothy Duggan listed it as "Townshend's most honest and introspective work since Quadrophenia." Through the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s Townshend would again experiment with the ] and related formats, releasing several story-based albums including '']'' (1985), '']'' (1989), and '']'' (1993). Townshend also got the chance to play with his hero ] for ]'s "]" sessions, along with other rock musicians such as ], ], and ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-28 |title=Pete Townshend |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Pete-Townshend/6000000040346272468 |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=geni_family_tree |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Collaborations==
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Townshend recorded several concert albums, including one featuring a ] he assembled called ], with David Gilmour on guitar, who performed just three concerts and a television show session for '']'', to raise money for his Double-O charity, supporting drug addicts.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Omnibus| isbn = 0-7119-4109-2| last1 = Miles| first1 = Barry| last2 = Mabbett| first2 = Andy| title = Pink Floyd – The Visual Documentary| location = London| date = 1994}}</ref> In 1993, he and ] wrote and directed the Broadway adaptation of the Who album '']'', as well as a less successful ] based on his solo album ''The Iron Man'', based upon the book by ]. McAnuff and Townshend later co-produced the animated film '']'', also based on the Hughes story.
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A production described as a Townshend rock opera and titled '']'' debuted as part of ]'s Powerhouse Summer Theater program in July 2007.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Who - Album by Album by Song |url=https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-who-album-by-album-by-song.944089/ |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=Steve Hoffman Music Forums |language=en-US}}</ref>
In 1969 Townshend assembled a band called ], produced their album ''Hollywood Dreams'', and played bass on it under the alias Bijou Drains. The album contained the band's number one single "Something in the Air".


On 2 September 2017 at ] in ], Townshend embarked with fellow singer and musician ], tenor ], and an orchestra on a short (5-date) "Classic Quadrophenia" US tour that ended on 16 September 2017 in Los Angeles, California.<ref name="ultimateclassicrock.com Pete Townshend Classic Quadrophenia">{{cite web |url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/pete-townshends-classic-quadrophenia-tour/ |title=Pete Townshend's Classic Quadrophenia With Billy Idol Announces U.S. Tour Dates (by Michael Gallucci) |date= 6 June 2017 |website=Ultimateclassicrock.com |access-date= 8 October 2017}}</ref><ref name="rollingstone.com Pete Townshend Classic Quadrophenia">{{cite magazine |url= https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pete-townshend-plots-short-classic-quadrophenia-tour-w486025 |title= Pete Townshend Plots Short 'Classic Quadrophenia' Tour – Townshend will revisit the Who's famous double album with an orchestra to reach "classical and pop music lovers alike" (by Elias Leight) |date= 6 June 2017 |magazine= Rolling Stone |access-date= 8 October 2017 |archive-date= 8 October 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171008231440/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pete-townshend-plots-short-classic-quadrophenia-tour-w486025 |url-status= dead }}</ref>
For albums Townshend composed as a member of ], see their entry. Not included are albums by other artists on which Townshend played as a session musician.
Through much of 2005, Pete Townshend has been recording and performing alongside his partner ], a classically trained pianist and singer songwriter.


=== 1996–present: latest Who work ===
==See also==
From the mid-1990s through the present, Townshend has participated in a series of tours with the surviving members of the Who, including a 2002 tour that continued despite Entwistle's death.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/petetownshend/articles/story/5939827/pete_townshend_the_rs_interview |title=Pete Townshend: The Rolling Stone Interview |first=Chris |last=Heath |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=July 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505214145/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/petetownshend/articles/story/5939827/pete_townshend_the_rs_interview |archive-date=5 May 2009 }}</ref>
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In February 2006, a major world tour by the Who was announced to promote their first new album since 1982. Townshend published a semi-autobiographical story '']'' as a serial on a blog beginning in September 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/projects |title=The Who Official Band Website – Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon, Home |website=Petetownshend.co.uk |access-date=15 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127080528/http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/projects/ |archive-date=27 January 2007 }}</ref> The blog closed in October 2006, as noted on Townshend's website. It is now owned by a different user and does not relate to Townshend's work in any way. On 25 February 2006, he announced the issue of a mini-opera inspired by the novella for June 2006. In October 2006 the Who released their first album in 24 years, '']''.
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The Who performed at the ] half-time show on 7 February 2010, playing a medley of songs that included "Pinball Wizard", "]", "Baba O'Riley", "]", and "Won't Get Fooled Again".<ref>{{cite news|last=Belson |first=Ken |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/sports/football/03halftime.html |title=The Who, and the Super Bowl's Evolving Halftime Show |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2 February 2010 |access-date=8 February 2010}}</ref> In 2012, the Who announced they would tour the rock opera ''Quadrophenia''.
== References ==

#{{note|arrest}} , ], Tuesday ] ]
The Who were the final performers at the ] in London, performing a medley of "Baba O'Riley", "See Me, Feel Me", and "My Generation".<ref>{{cite web|title=Closing Ceremony|url=http://www.london2012.com/spectators/ceremonies/closing-ceremony/|publisher=London 2012|access-date=20 July 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120718061942/http://www.london2012.com/spectators/ceremonies/closing-ceremony/|archive-date=18 July 2012}}</ref>

On 22 March 2018, Townshend stated that a new Who album should feature original songs by ] as well as him.<ref name="kshe95 Townshend Daltrey new Who album">{{cite web |url=http://www.kshe95.com/news/real-rock-news/pete-townshend-thinks-roger-daltrey-should-write-songs-next-who-album |title=Roger Daltrey should write songs for next Who album |date=21 March 2018 |website=Kshe95.com |access-date=22 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323031215/http://www.kshe95.com/news/real-rock-news/pete-townshend-thinks-roger-daltrey-should-write-songs-next-who-album |archive-date=23 March 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> That album, simply titled ''],'' was released on 6 December 2019. It was the band's second album as a duo, and their first in thirteen years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://consequence.net/2019/11/album-review-the-who-who/|title=Album Review: The Who Remain Blunt as Ever on Uneven WHO|date=29 November 2019}}</ref>

=== Unfinished work ===
''The Age of Anxiety'', formerly ''Floss the Musical'',<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pete-townshend-on-the-future-of-the-who-237511/|title=Pete Townshend on the Future of the Who|first=Patrick|last=Doyle|date=10 October 2012|magazine=]|access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref> is the name given to a work-in-progress by Townshend.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://wror.com/2015/06/01/townshend-offers-update-new-solo-project/|title=Townshend Offers Update On New Solo Project – WROR|date=1 June 2015|publisher=WROR|access-date=18 December 2017|language=en-US}}{{Dead link|date=July 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The musical has been a work in progress at least since 2009 with an original estimated release of 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-08-26/the-whos-pete-townshend-plans-new-musical/1405472|title=The Who's Pete Townshend plans new musical|date=26 August 2009|website=ABC News|access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref> On 24 January 2012 Townshend sold the rights to all of his back catalog and much of his future work including ''Floss The Musical'' if it is ever completed.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-who-sell-out-pete-townshend-gets-millions-for-back-catalog-96537/|title=The Who Sell Out: Pete Townshend Gets Millions for Back Catalog|first=Andy|last=Greene|date=17 February 2012|magazine=]|access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spiritmusicgroup.com/news/spirit-music-acquires-classic-song-catalog-pete-townshend-and-who-partners-rock-icon-promoting|title=Spirit Music Group press release|website=Spiritmusicgroup.com|access-date=12 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150304183741/http://www.spiritmusicgroup.com/news/spirit-music-acquires-classic-song-catalog-pete-townshend-and-who-partners-rock-icon-promoting|archive-date=4 March 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> He summarized the work in an interview with ] published February 2010.<ref>{{Citation|last=SiriusXM|title=The Who's Pete Townshends New Stage Production "Floss" // SiriusXM|date=9 February 2010|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzmZmpYd6O0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/HzmZmpYd6O0| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=18 December 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In a 2015 interview Townshend stated that the work was intended to be an art installation.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/the-view-from-here/an-interview-with-pete-townshend-i-might-retire-from-making-money-69223/7 | title=An interview with Pete Townshend: 'I might retire... from making money...' | date=24 June 2015 | first=Michael | last=Bonner | work=Uncut | access-date=28 July 2019 }}</ref> In March 2019 it was announced that a work entitled ''The Age of Anxiety'' would be published as a novel, with an opera to follow.<ref name=Guardian0319/>

== Musical influences ==
Townshend was born ten days after ] ] in the ] and grew up in the shadow of reconstruction in and around London. According to Townshend, postwar trauma was the driving force behind the rock music revolution in the UK. "Trauma is passed from generation to generation", he said, "I've unwittingly inherited what my father experienced."<ref>{{citation |last=Kelts |first=Roland |date=9 October 2012 |title=Pete Townshend's War |url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/pete-townshends-war |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=20 August 2015}}</ref> Townshend notes that growing up in this period produced the narrative that runs through his music of a boy lost in the stresses and pressures of postwar life.<ref>{{citation |last=Victoriano |first=Camila |date=16 October 2012 |title=Townshend Talks Postwar Lyricism |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/10/16/pete-townshend-who-berklee |work=] |access-date=20 August 2015}}</ref> In his autobiography, he wrote: {{blockquote|I wasn't trying to play beautiful music. I was confronting my audience with the awful, visceral sound of what we all knew was the single absolute of our frail existence{{mdash}}one day an aeroplane would carry the bomb that would destroy us all in a flash. It could happen at any time.<ref name=art>{{citation |last=Deusner |first=Stephen |date=19 October 2012 |title=Pete Townshend: "I wasn't trying to make beautiful music" |url=http://www.salon.com/2012/10/19/pete_townshend_i_wasnt_trying_to_make_beautiful_music |work=Salon |access-date=20 August 2014}}</ref>}}

Although he grew up in a household with jazz musicians, Townshend absorbed many of his ideas about performance and rock music themes during art school. Townshend's roommate at Ealing Art College, Tom Wright, had a large record collection, and Townshend listened to and became influenced by R&B and rock & roll artists like ], ], ], ], ], and ].{{sfn|Wilkerson|2006|p=16}} He was also strongly influenced by cellist ], who often damaged his cello during performances, along with ], pioneer of ]. In light of these influences, guitar smashing became not just an expression of youthful angst, but also a means of conveying ideas through musical performance. "We advanced a new concept", he writes. "Destruction is art when set to music."<ref name=art /> Townshend also cited ] as a significant influence, saying "I've totally been influenced by him. You can hear it in my work."<ref>Andrew Male. "Strength of Strings". '']''. January 2020. Issue 314. p. 112.</ref>

== Equipment ==
{{BLP sources section|date=July 2012}}
{{See also|The Who's musical equipment}}

=== Guitars ===
]
Throughout his solo career and his career with the Who, Townshend has played a large variety of guitars—mostly various ], ], and ] models. He has also used ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/guild12.html|title = Guild F-612XL 12-string acoustic guitar &#124; Pete Townshend's Guitar Gear &#124; Whotabs}}</ref> ]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/takamine.html|title = Takamine Guitars &#124; Pete Townshend's Guitar Gear &#124; Whotabs}}</ref> and ] ] models, with the J-200 providing his signature recorded acoustic sound in such songs as "]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/gibson-montana-sj-200-standard|title=Gibson Montana SJ 200 Standard review|website=]|date=5 May 2018}}</ref>

In the early days with the Who, Townshend played an Emile Grimshaw SS De Luxe and 6-string and 12-string Rickenbacker semi-hollow electric guitars primarily (particularly the Rose-Morris UK-imported models with special f-holes). When the excited audience responded enthusiastically after he accidentally broke the head off his guitar on a low ceiling during a concert at the Railway Hotel pub in ], west London, he incorporated the eventual smashing of his instrument into the band's performances.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/pete-townshends-guitar/|title=Pete Townshend's Guitar|first=Online Museum|last=Victoria and Albert Museum|date=3 May 2011|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref> However, as ] became increasingly integrated into the Who's concert sets, he switched to more durable and resilient (and, importantly, cheaper) guitars for smashing, such as the ], ] and various ] models.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/danelectro.html|title=Danelectro Guitars &#124; Pete Townshend's Guitar Gear &#124; Whotabs|website=Thewho.net}}</ref> On the Who's '']'' appearance in 1967, Townshend used a ] Cheetah guitar,<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.guitarplayer.com/technique/10-things-you-gotta-do-to-play-like-pete-townshend-tab|title=10 Things You Gotta Do To Play Like Pete Townshend|first=Jesse|last=Gress|website=GuitarPlayer.com|date=12 May 2023 }}</ref> which he only used for that performance; the guitar was destroyed by Townshend and Moon's drum explosion. In the late 1960s, Townshend began playing ] Special models almost exclusively. He used this guitar at the ]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/the-who-s-guitar-is-smash-hit-of-woodstock-display-6754706.html|title=The Who's guitar is smash hit of Woodstock display|newspaper=Evening Standard |date=12 April 2012}}</ref> and ] shows in 1969 and 1970, as well as the '']'' performance in 1970.

By 1970 ] changed the design of the SG Special that Townshend had been using previously, and he began using other guitars. For much of the 1970s, he used a ], some with only two mini-] pick-ups and others modified with a third pick-up in the "middle position" (a ] Superdistortion / Dual Sound). He can be seen using several of these guitars in the documentary ''The Kids Are Alright'', although in the studio he often played a '59 ] guitar (given to him by ]),<ref name="auto"/> most notably on the albums '']'' and '']''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/the-secrets-behind-pete-townshends-tone-on-the-whos-wont-get-fooled-again|title=The secrets behind Pete Townshend's tone on The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again|first=Chris|last=Gill 2019-07-08T18:36:48Z|website=Guitarworld.com|date=8 July 2019|access-date=4 February 2020}}</ref>

During the 1980s, Townshend mainly used Fenders, Rickenbackers and Telecaster-style models built for him by ] and various other ]s. Since the late-1980s, Townshend has used the ], with ] pick-ups,<ref name="auto"/> both in the studio and on tour. Some of his Stratocaster guitars feature a Fishman PowerBridge piezo pick-up system to simulate acoustic guitar tones. This piezo system is controlled by an extra volume control behind the guitar's bridge.

During the Who's 1989 Tour Townshend played a Rickenbacker guitar that was ironically smashed accidentally when he tripped over it. Instead of throwing the smashed parts away, Townshend reassembled the pieces as a sculpture.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/pete-townshends-smashed-rickenbacker-takes-more-than-78k-at-auction|title=Pete Townshend's Smashed Rickenbacker Takes More Than $78K at Auction|first=Christopher|last=Scapelliti|website=GuitarPlayer.com|date=17 May 2023 }}</ref> The sculpture was featured at the ''Rock Stars, Cars And Guitars 2'' exhibit during the summer of 2009 at ] museum.

]]]

There are several ] Pete Townshend signature guitars, such as the Pete Townshend SG, the Pete Townshend J-200, and three different Pete Townshend Les Paul Deluxes. The SG was clearly marked as a Pete Townshend limited edition model and came with a special case and certificate of authenticity, signed by Townshend himself. There was a Pete Townshend signature ] limited edition guitar of the model 1998, which was his main 6-string guitar in the Who's early days. The run featured 250 guitars that were made between July 1987–March 1988, and according to Rickenbacker CEO John Hall, the entire run sold out before serious advertising could be done.

He also used the ], one of which he donated to the Hard Rock Cafe. Townshend also used a ] double-neck very briefly circa late 1967, and both a ] Sovereign H1270<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equipment/guitar/equip-harmony12.html |title=Pete's Equipment, Harmony Sovereign H-1270 12-string acoustic guitar, Whotabs, Pete Townshend |website=Thewho.net |access-date=15 May 2011}}</ref> and a ] for the studio sessions for '']'' for the 12-string guitar parts. He also occasionally used Fender Jazzmasters on stage in 1967 and 1968<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/fenderjazzmaster.html|title=Fender Jazzmaster &#124; Pete Townshend's Guitar Gear|website=Thewho.net|access-date=12 May 2020}}</ref> and in the studio for ''Tommy''.

=== Amps ===
Over the years, Townshend has used many types of amplifier, including ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/voxamps.html|title=Vox amplifiers &#124; Pete Townshend's Guitar Gear |website=Thewho.net|access-date=12 May 2020}}</ref> ], ], ], and ], sticking to using Hiwatt amps for most of four decades. Around the time of '']'', he used a tweed ] amp (also given to him by Joe Walsh in 1970<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/fenderbandmaster.html |title=Pete's Gear: 1959 Fender Bandmaster Amplifier|access-date=4 January 2016}}</ref>), which he also used for '']'' and '']''. While recording '']'' and the collaborative album '']'', Townshend made use of a ] amplifier in the studio. Since 1989, his rig consisted of four Fender Vibro-King stacks and a Hiwatt head driving two custom made 2×12" Hiwatt/Mesa Boogie speaker cabinets. However, since 2006, he has only three Vibro-King stacks, one of which is a backup.

Townshend figured prominently in the development of what is widely known in rock circles as the "]". He ordered several speaker cabinets that contained eight 12" speakers in a housing standing nearly six feet in height with the top half of the cabinet slanted slightly upward. These were too heavy to move easily, so ] cut the massive speaker cabinet in half, at the suggestion of Townshend, with each cabinet containing four 12-inch speakers. One of the cabinets had half of the speaker baffle slanted upwards and Marshall made these two cabinets stackable. The Marshall stack was born, and Townshend used these as well as Hiwatt stacks.

He has always regarded his instruments as being merely tools of the trade<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Pete_Townshend_On_Guitar_Smashing_Regrets_Stylistic_Evolution_and_Becoming_a_Gear_Aficionado|title=Pete Townshend: On Guitar-Smashing Regrets, Stylistic Evolution, and Becoming a Gear Aficionado|newspaper=Premier Guitar|date=11 March 2010|access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref> and has, in latter years, kept his most prized instruments well away from the concert stage. These instruments include a few vintage and reissue Rickenbackers, the Gretsch 6120, an original 1952 ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/52telecaster.html|title=1952 Fender Telecaster &#124; Pete Townshend's Guitar Gear|website=Thewho.net|access-date=12 May 2020}}</ref> Gibson Custom Shop's artist limited edition reissues of Townshend's Les Paul DeLuxe models 1, 3 and 9 as well his signature SG Special reissue.

=== Keyboards ===
Townshend played keyboards on several Who songs. On ''Who's Next'', he began to work with ]s, using the ] model that he first encountered at ].{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=95}} He had this to say about the instrument: "I like synthesizers because they bring into my hands things that aren't in my hands: the sound of an orchestra, French horns, strings. There are gadgets on synthesizers that enable one to become a virtuoso on the keyboard. You can play something slowly and you press a switch and it plays it back at double speed. Whereas on the guitar you're stuck with as fast as you can play and I don't play fast, I just play hard. So when it goes to playing something fast I go to the synth."{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=96}}

The synths Townshend was referring to included the EMS ] and ARP 2600, some of which modified a ]. Current photos of his home studio also show an ]. Townshend was featured in ARP promotional materials in the early 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/arp.html|title=ARP 2500 and 2600 synthesizers &#124; Pete Townshend's Guitar Gear &#124; Whotabs|website=Thewho.net|access-date=12 May 2020}}</ref>

Since the late 1980s Townshend has predominantly used ] Digital Audio systems for keyboard composition, particularly solo albums and projects.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.synclavier.com/about/ |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=Synclavier |language=en-CA}}</ref>

== Literary work ==
Although known for his musical compositions and musicianship, Townshend has been extensively involved in the literary world for more than three decades, writing newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts.

An early example of Townshend's writing came in August 1970 with the first of nine installments of "The Pete Townshend Page", a monthly column written by Townshend for the British music paper '']''. The column provided Townshend's perspective on an array of subjects, such as the media and the state of US concert halls and public address systems, as well as providing valuable insight into Townshend's mindset during the evolution of his ''Lifehouse'' project.

Townshend also wrote three sizeable essays for ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, the first of which appeared in November 1970. "In Love With Meher Baba" described Townshend's spiritual leanings. "Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy", a blow-by-blow account of the Who compilation album of the same name, followed in December 1971. The third article, "The Punk Meets the Godmother", appeared in November 1977.

Also in 1977, Townshend founded ], which specialised in children's titles, music books, and several Meher Baba-related publications. He also opened a bookstore named Magic Bus (after the popular Who song) in London. ''The Story of Tommy'', a book written by Townshend and his art school friend ] (now the Who's official biographer) about the writing of Townshend's 1969 rock opera and the making of the 1975 ]-directed film, was published by Eel Pie the same year.

In July 1983, Townshend took a position as an ] for London publisher ]. Notable projects included editing ] frontman ]'s autobiography, ]'s award-winning ''Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix and Post-War Pop'', ] and ]'s '']'', and working with ] on a volume of his collected speeches. Townshend commissioned Dave Rimmer's '']'', and was ] for radical playwright ].

Two years after joining Faber and Faber, Townshend decided to publish a book of his own. '']'', issued in May 1985, was a collection of short stories he'd written between 1979 and 1984, tackling subjects such as childhood, stardom and spirituality. As a result of his position with Faber and Faber, Townshend developed friendships with both Nobel prize-winning author of '']'' Sir ] and British ] ]. His friendship with Hughes led to Townshend's musical interpretation of Hughes's children's story ''The Iron Man'', six years later, as '']'', released in 1989.

Townshend has written several scripts spanning the breadth of his career, including numerous drafts of his elusive ''Lifehouse'' project, the last of which, co-written with radio playwright Jeff Young, was published in 1999. In 1978, Townshend wrote a script for ''Fish Shop'', a play commissioned but not completed by ], and in mid-1984 he wrote a script for '']'' which led to a short film.

In 1989 Townshend began work on a novel titled ''Ray High & The Glass Household'', a draft of which was later submitted to his editor. While the original novel remains unpublished, elements from this story were used in Townshend's 1993 solo album '']''. In 1993, Townshend authored another book, '']'', a chronicle of the development of the award-winning ] version of his rock opera.

The opening of his personal website and his commerce site Eelpie.com, both in 2000, gave Townshend another outlet for literary work. (Eelpie.com was closed down in 2010.) Several of Townshend's essays have been posted online, including "Meher Baba—The Silent Master: My Own Silence" in 2001, and "A ''Different'' Bomb", an indictment of the ] industry, the following year.

In September 2005, Townshend began posting a novella online entitled '']'' as background for a musical of the same name. He posted a chapter each week until it was completed, and novella was available to read at his website for several months. Like ''Psychoderelict'', it was yet another extrapolation of ''Lifehouse'' and ''Ray High & The Glass Household''.

In 1997 Townshend signed a deal with ] publishing to write his autobiography, reportedly titled ''Pete Townshend: Who He?'' Townshend's creative vagaries and conceptual machinations have been chronicled by Larry David Smith in his book ''The Minstrel's Dilemma'' (] 1999). After a lengthy delay, Townshend's autobiography, now titled '']'', was released 8 October 2012.<ref>Townshend, Pete. (2012) '']'', New York City: ]. {{ISBN|978-0-06-212724-2}}</ref> The book ranked in the top 5 of '']'' best seller list in October 2012.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2012-10-28/overview.html |title=Best Sellers|newspaper=]|date=28 October 2012 |access-date=10 January 2013}}</ref>

On 5 March 2019, Townshend announced that his debut novel, titled ''The Age of Anxiety'', would be published on 5 November 2019 by ] imprint Coronet. Townshend called the work an "extended meditation on manic genius and the dark art of creativity." The novel will be accompanied by an opera, which is currently in development, with an art installation to follow.<ref name=Guardian0319>{{cite news|last1=Flood |first1=Alison |title=The Who's Pete Townshend announces debut novel, The Age of Anxiety |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/05/the-whos-pete-townshend-announces-debut-novel-the-age-of-anxiety |newspaper=] |access-date=6 March 2019 |date=5 March 2019}}</ref>

{{anchor|Spirituality|Religion|Religious views|Faith|Meher Baba}}

== Spirituality ==
In 1967 Townshend had begun to explore spirituality.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/in-love-with-meher-baba-by-pete-townshend-237859/|title=In Love with Meher Baba, by Pete Townshend|first=Pete|last=Townshend|magazine=]|date=26 November 1970}}</ref> Townshend swiftly absorbed all of ]'s writings that he could find; by April 1968, he announced himself Baba's disciple. At about this time, Townshend, who had been searching the past two years for a basis for a rock opera, created a story inspired by the teachings of Baba and other writings and expressing the enlightenment he believed that he had received from them, which ultimately became '']''.<ref>Barnes, Richard. Liner notes from 1996 CD release.</ref>

In interviews Townshend was more open about his beliefs, penning an article on Baba for ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 1970 and stating that following Baba's teachings, he was opposed to the use of all ]s, making him one of the first rock stars with ] credibility to turn against their use.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Pete |last=Townshend |title=In Love With Meher Baba |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=71 |date=26 November 1970}}</ref> This did not prevent him from later indulging in substance abuse. He wrote in ] of becoming addicted to cocaine in 1980-1981, to the point of overdosing and needing resuscitation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Townshend |first=Pete |title=] |publisher=] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0062127242 |pages=258–261, 271, 278–279}}</ref> He also wrote that by January 1982, "I needed help to break my dependence on prescription drugs and heroin."<ref>ibid., p.280</ref>

== Personal life ==
=== Relationships ===
Townshend met Karen Astley, daughter of film composer ], while in art school. They married on 20 May 1968 and moved into a three-bedroom townhouse in ] in outer south-west London that overlooked the ].{{sfn|Giuliano|2002|p=}} They have three children: ] (born 1969), who is a gardening columnist, Aminta (born 1971), who works in film production, and Joseph (born 1989), who studied graphic design at Central St. Martins.<ref>{{cite news|last=Seigel|first=Jessica|url=http://www.jessicaseigel.com/articles/townshend.shtml|title=Pete Townshend: So Why Did a Guy Who Hates Pinball Write A Rock Opera About it? |newspaper=]|date=2 October 1994 |access-date=12 March 2013}}</ref>

Townshend and his wife separated in 1994. He has since been in a romantic relationship with arranger and musician ], whom he secretly married in 2016. Townshend lived at ], ], England, but sold the house in August 2021 for more than £15&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-whos-pete-townshends-15-million-london-home-has-been-sold-3009871|title=The Who's Pete Townshend's £15 million London home has been sold|date=3 August 2021|work=]}}</ref> He also owns a house in ], Surrey, and in 2010 purchased a lease of part of the ] property ] in Oxfordshire.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7140275.ece |location=London|date=30 May 2010 |work=]|author=Mikhailova, Anna|title= Talkin' 'bout my National Trust generation|access-date=4 June 2010}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> According to '']'' ] his assets were worth £40&nbsp;million as of 2009.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/specials/rich_list/rich_list_search/?l=17&list_name=Rich+List+2009&advsearch=1&t=1&x=33&y=3&i=Music |title=Rich List 2009 |newspaper=]|location=London |access-date=22 May 2010 }}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

=== Sexuality ===
In a 1989 interview with radio host ], Townshend apparently acknowledged his ], referencing the song "Rough Boys" on his 1980 studio album '']''. He called the song a "coming out, an acknowledgment of the fact that I'd had a ] life, and that I understood what gay sex was about."<ref>{{cite news |title=Pete Townshend Says He Is Bisexual |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1990/11/08/pete-townshend-says-he-is-bisexual/ |newspaper=] |date=8 November 1990 |access-date=3 December 2012 |archive-date=30 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530222743/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-11-08/news/9011080600_1_pete-townshend-gay-life-bisexual |url-status=live }}</ref> In a 1994 interview for '']'', he said, "I did an interview about it, saying that 'Rough Boys' was about being gay, and in the interview I also talked about my 'gay life', which—I meant—was actually about the friends I've had who are gay. So the interviewer kind of dotted the t's and crossed the i's and assumed that this was a coming out, which it wasn't at all."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Interview: Pete Townshend|author=Sheff, David|magazine=]|year=1994}}</ref> Townshend later wrote in his 2012 autobiography '']'' that he is "probably bisexual".<ref name=dorian>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/09/who-i-am-pete-townshend-review |title=Who I Am: A Memoir by Pete Townshend |newspaper=] |first=Dorian |last=Lynskey |date=9 October 2012 |access-date=4 January 2013}}</ref> Townshend also stated that he once felt sexually attracted to ]' lead vocalist, ].<ref name=dorian/>

=== Legal issues ===
{{Main| Operation Ore}}
Townshend accepted a ] from the ] (the Met) as part of ], a major investigation on ] conducted in 2002–2003. The Met stated that "it was established that Mr Townshend was not in possession of any downloaded child abuse images". Townshend was on a ] for five years, beginning in 2003, after admitting he had used his credit card to access a ] website.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|first=Jamie|last=Wilson|title=Pete Townshend put on sex offenders register |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/may/08/arts.ukcrime |newspaper=] |location=London, England |date=8 May 2003 |access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19876936 |title=Pete Townshend says court 'would have destroyed me' |work=BBC News |date=9 October 2012 |access-date=29 September 2014}}</ref> Townshend said he accessed the images as research in a campaign against ]<ref>{{cite news|first=Mark|last=Taylor|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/sep/28/pete-townshend-internet-child-abuse-images|title=Pete Townshend book describes 'insane' attempt to expose internet child abuse|newspaper=]|location=London |date=27 September 2012|access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref>—specifically, to prove that British banks were complicit in channelling the profits from ] rings.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9572773/Pete-Townshend-I-paid-for-child-porn-to-prove-British-banks-were-channelling-sex-ring-cash.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9572773/Pete-Townshend-I-paid-for-child-porn-to-prove-British-banks-were-channelling-sex-ring-cash.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Pete Townshend: I paid for child porn to prove British banks were channelling sex-ring cash|newspaper=]|location=London, England|date=28 September 2012|access-date=18 October 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Authorities could not prove that the website accessed by Townshend involved children, and no incriminating evidence was found on his personal computer.<ref>{{cite web |first=Duncan |last=Campbell |author-link=Duncan Campbell (journalist) |url=https://www.duncancampbell.org/menu/journalism/pcpro/sex_lies_videotape.pdf |title= Sex, Lies and the Missing Videotape |magazine=PC PRO |date=June 2007 |via=duncancampbell.org |access-date= 23 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020100309/https://www.duncancampbell.org/menu/journalism/pcpro/sex_lies_videotape.pdf |archive-date=20 October 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Hearing loss ===
Townshend suffers from partial ] and ], likely the result of ] from long-term exposure to loud music. The Who were known as a very loud band in their live performances; for example, a Who concert at the ] on 31 May 1976—where the volume level 32 metres from the stage was measured at 126 ]s—was listed as the "Loudest Concert Ever" by the ]. Townshend has also attributed his hearing loss to the explosion of Keith Moon's drum set during a 1967 Who appearance on '']''.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Grow |first=Kory |date=4 March 2016 |title=Flashback: Watch the Who Blow Up 'Smothers Brothers' in Primetime |magazine=] |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/flashback-the-who-blow-up-smothers-brothers-in-primetime-20160304 |access-date=15 August 2016 |archive-date=16 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816180330/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/flashback-the-who-blow-up-smothers-brothers-in-primetime-20160304 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1989, Townshend gave the initial funding to allow the formation of the non-profit hearing advocacy group ] (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers). After the Who performed at half-time at ] in 2010, Townshend stated that he is concerned that his tinnitus has grown to such a point that he might be forced to discontinue performing with the band altogether. He told ''Rolling Stone'', "If my hearing is going to be a problem, we're not delaying shows. We're ''finished''. I can't really see any way around the issue." ] introduced him to an ] who suggested he use an ], and although they cancelled their spring 2010 touring schedule, Townshend used the device at their one remaining London concert on 30 March 2010, to ascertain the feasibility of Townshend continuing to perform with the Who.<ref name="Tinnitus RS1">{{cite magazine |last=Kreps |first=Daniel |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2010/02/18/the-whos-future-uncertain-as-townshends-tinnitus-returns/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221054237/http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2010/02/18/the-whos-future-uncertain-as-townshends-tinnitus-returns/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 February 2010 |title=The Who's Future Uncertain as Townshend's Tinnitus Returns |date=8 February 2010 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=21 February 2010}}</ref>

In March 2011, Roger Daltrey said in an interview with the ] that Townshend had recently experienced gradual but severe ] and was trying to save what remained of his hearing: "Pete's having terrible trouble with his hearing. He's got really, really bad problems with it...not tinnitus, it's deterioration and he's seriously now worried about actually losing his hearing".

Referring to that, in July 2011, Townshend wrote at his blog: "My hearing is actually better than ever because after a feedback scare at the ] in December 2008 I am taking good care of it. I have computer systems in my studio that have helped me do my engineering work on the forthcoming Quadrophenia release. I have had assistance from younger forensic engineers and mastering engineers to help me clean up the high frequencies that are out of my range. The same computer systems work wonderfully well on stage, proving to be perfect for me when the Who performed at the Super Bowl and doing Quadrophenia for ] at the ] in 2010. I'm 66, I don't have perfect hearing, and if I listen to loud music or go to gigs I do tend to get tinnitus".

=== Political views ===
In 1998, Townshend was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the ].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/161057.stm |title='Luvvies' for Labour |work=BBC News |date=30 August 1998 |access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref> He refused to let ] use "]" in '']'' (2004), saying that he watched '']'' (2002) and was not convinced.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rashbaum |first=Alyssa |date=13 July 2004 |title=Pete Townshend Says Don't Be 'Fooled' By Michael Moore |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/yw68t8/pete-townshend-says-dont-be-fooled-by-michael-moore |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230617203943/https://www.mtv.com/news/yw68t8/pete-townshend-says-dont-be-fooled-by-michael-moore |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 June 2023 |publisher=MTV |access-date=8 December 2012}}</ref> In 1961 while in art school, Townshend joined the ] and was a prominent figure in their 1966 "Trend" recruitment campaign. In a 1974 '']'' interview he stated that he recognised in practice he was a ] who was rewarded well for his work, but that his ideals were ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thewho.net/articles/penthouse_1974.htm |title=The Hypertext Who › Article Archive › Penthouse Interview (1974) |website=Thewho.net |access-date=4 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714200124/http://www.thewho.net/articles/penthouse_1974.htm |archive-date=14 July 2014 }}</ref>

In a widely reported 2012 interview with ], Townshend described himself jokingly as being "a bit of a ]" stating that, "I like the idea of America as the world's police force. Then we don't have to do it. You guys sort it out."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-townshend-neocon-neoconservative-the-who-admits-r_n_2244317|title=The Who Guitarist Says He Is A Neoconservative|first=Cavan|last=Sieczkowski|date=5 December 2012|website=]|access-date=12 May 2019}}</ref>

In a 2019 interview with '']'', Townshend revealed he was in favour of the United Kingdom remaining in the ], stating, "I'm a ], he is a ]. I believe in God, he doesn't."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-who-new-album-pete-townshend-roger-daltrey-interview-6wh7gzltz|title=The Who on a new album, ageing and artistic differences|first=Will|last=Hodgkinson|website=The Times}}</ref>

== Charity work ==
]/] musician, ] in 2007]]
Townshend has woven a long history of involvement with various charities and other philanthropic efforts throughout his career, both as a solo artist and with the Who. His first solo concert, for example, was a 1974 benefit show which was organised to raise funds for the Camden Square Community Play Centre.

The earliest public example of Townshend's involvement with charitable causes was in 1968, when Townshend donated the use of his former Wardour Street apartment to the Meher Baba Association.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} The following year, the association was moved to another Townshend-owned apartment, the ] former residence of his wife Karen. Townshend sat on a committee that oversaw the operation and finances of the centre. "The committee sees to it that it is open a couple of days a week, and keeps the bills paid and the library full", he wrote in a 1970 ''Rolling Stone'' article.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

In 1969 and 1972, Townshend produced two limited-release albums, ''Happy Birthday'' and ''I Am'', for the London-based Baba association. This led to 1972's ''Who Came First'', a more widespread release, 15 per cent of the revenue of which went to the Baba association.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} A further limited release, ''With Love'', was released in 1976. A limited-edition boxed set of all three limited releases on CD, ''Avatar'', was released in 2000, with all profits going to the ] in India, which provided funds to a dispensary, school, hospital and pilgrimage centre.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

In July 1976, Townshend opened Meher Baba Oceanic, a London activity centre for Baba followers, which featured film dubbing and editing facilities, a cinema and a recording studio. In addition, the centre served as a regular meeting place for Baba followers. Townshend offered very economical (reportedly £1 per night) lodging for American followers who needed an overnight stay on their pilgrimages to India.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} Townshend wrote in a 1977 ''Rolling Stone'' article: {{blockquote|For a few years, I had toyed with the idea of opening a London house dedicated to Meher Baba. In the eight years I had followed him, I had donated only coppers to foundations set up around the world to carry out the Master's wishes and decided it was about time I put myself on the line. The Who had set up a strong charitable trust of its own which appeased, to an extent, the feeling I had that Meher Baba would rather have seen me give to the poor than to the establishment of yet another so-called 'spiritual center'.}}{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} Townshend also embarked on a project dedicated to the collection, restoration and maintenance of Meher Baba-related films. The project was known as MEFA, or Meher Baba European Film Archive.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

=== Children's charities ===
Townshend has been an active champion of children's charities. The debut of Townshend's stage version of '']'' took place at San Diego's ] in July 1992. The show was earmarked as a benefit for the London-based ] Music Therapy Foundation, an organisation that helps children with ] and ].{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Townshend performed at a 1995 benefit organised by ] at ]'s Paramount Theatre for the ]. The following year, Townshend performed at a benefit for the annual ], a California facility for children with severe speech and physical impairments, with concerts organised by ] and ]. In 1997, Townshend established a relationship with ], a Chicago area children's charity. Between 1997 and 2002, Townshend played five benefit shows for Maryville Academy, raising at least $1,600,000. His 1998 album '']'' was made to support their activities and proceeds from the sales of his release were donated to them.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

As a member of ], Townshend has also performed a series of concerts, beginning in 2000 to benefit the ] in the UK, which raised several million pounds.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} In 2005, Townshend performed at New York's ] for Samsung's Four Seasons of Hope, an annual children's charity fundraiser. In the same year, he donated a smashed guitar to the Pediatric Epilepsy Project.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/001029.html |title=Pete Townshend Smashes Guitar... for Charity |work=Modern Guitars |date=12 August 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051119144842/http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/001029.html |archive-date=19 November 2005}}</ref>

On 4 November 2011, Roger Daltrey and Townshend launched the Daltrey/Townshend Teen and Young Adult Cancer Program at the ] in Los Angeles, to be funded by the Who's charity Who Cares. The launch, followed on 5 November by a fund-raising event, was also attended by ] and ].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/04/4031201/the-who-launch-teen-cancer-program.html|title=The Who launch teen cancer program at LA hospital|newspaper=]|date=4 November 2011|access-date=4 November 2011}}{{Dead link|date=December 2012}}</ref>

In 2024, Townshend contributed guitar to a re-release of ]'s "]" in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.nme.com/news/music/mark-knopfler-recruits-bruce-springsteen-brian-may-ronnie-wood-teenage-cancer-trust-single-3584338 | title= Mark Knopfler recruits Bruce Springsteen, Brian May, Ronnie Wood and more for Teenage Cancer Trust single | work=NME | first=Liberty | last=Dunworth | date=8 February 2024 | access-date=4 March 2024}}</ref>

=== Drug rehabilitation ===
Townshend has also advocated for ]. In a 1985 radio interview, he said:

{{blockquote|What I'm most active in doing is raising money to provide beds in clinics to help people that have become victims of drug abuse. In Britain, the facilities are very, very, very lean indeed&nbsp;... although we have a national health service, a free medical system, it does nothing particularly for ] drug addicts – ] abusers, heroin abusers&nbsp;... we're making a lot of progress&nbsp;... the British government embarked on an anti-heroin campaign with advertising, and I was co-opted by them as a kind of figurehead, and then the various other people co-opted me into their own campaigns, but my main work is raising money to try and open a large clinic.}}{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

The "large clinic" Townshend was referring to was a drug treatment facility in London that he and drug rehabilitation experimenter ] had devised, but the plan failed to come to fruition. Two early 1979 concerts by the Who raised £20,000 for Patterson's Pharmakon Clinic in ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=des Chenes |first=Josema |date=2013-08-08 |title=Dreams and Music |url=https://josemadeschenes.wordpress.com/ |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=josemadeschenes.wordpress.com |language=en}}</ref>

Further examples of Townshend's drug rehabilitation activism took place in the form of a 1984 ] (incidentally the first live performance of Manchester band ]), an article he wrote a few days later for Britain's '']'' urging better care for the nation's growing number of drug addicts, and the formation of a charitable organisation, Double-O Charities, to raise funds for the causes he'd recently championed.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} Townshend also personally sold fund-raising anti-heroin T-shirts at a series of UK ] concerts and reportedly financed a trip for former ] drummer ] to undergo drug rehabilitation treatment. Townshend's 1985–86 band, Deep End, played two benefits at ] in 1985 for Double-O Charities.<ref>{{Citation |title=Pete Townshend's Deep End Live! - Pete Townshe... {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/pete-townshends-deep-end-live!-mw0000650900 |access-date=2024-06-14 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Amnesty International ===
In 1979 Townshend donated his services to the human rights organisation ] when he performed three songs for its benefit show '']''—performances that were released on record and seen in the film of the show. Townshend's acoustic performances of three of his songs ("]", "Drowned", and "]") were subsequently cited as forerunners and inspiration for the "]" phenomenon in the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.secretpolicemansball.com/schedule.200906131930e.html |title=The Secret Policeman's Film Festival |year=2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090618062059/http://www.secretpolicemansball.com/schedule.200906131930e.html |archive-date=18 June 2009}}</ref>

Townshend had been invited to perform for Amnesty by ], the producer of '']'', who stated later that Townshend's participation had been the key to his securing the subsequent participation for Amnesty (in the 1981 sequel show) of ], ], ], ] and ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Randy |date=2013-10-08 |title=Amnesty International benefit concerts coming on DVD/CD on Nov. 5 |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-amnesty-international-concerts-dvd-box-set-released-20131006-story.html |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Other performers inspired to support Amnesty International in future '']'' shows and other benefits because of Townshend's early commitment to the organisation include ], ], ] and ]'s lead singer ] who in 1986 told ''Rolling Stone'' magazine: "I saw ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed...."<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 May 2011 |title=Amnesty: 50 years of fighting for human rights |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/amnesty-50-years-of-fighting-for-human-rights-2290410.html |work=The Independent}}</ref>

== Discography ==
{{Main|Pete Townshend discography}}
{{See also|The Who discography}}

=== Solo albums ===
* '']'' (1972)
* '']'' (1977) <small>(with Ronnie Lane)</small>
* '']'' (1980)
* '']'' (1982)
* '']'' (1985)
* '']'' (1989)
* '']'' (1993)
<small>Townshend also released several albums dedicated to his spiritual mentor ], listed on the discography page.</small>

=== Guest appearances ===
In 1968 Townshend helped assemble a band called ] consisting of three musicians he knew: pianist Andy Newman (an old art school friend), drummer ] (who had written "Armenia City in the Sky" for the Who to record for their 1967 studio album '']'') and teenage guitarist ] (later to join ]). Townshend produced the band and played bass on their recordings under the tongue-in-cheek pseudonym "Bijou Drains". Their first recording was the single "]", which became a number one hit in the UK and a substantial hit elsewhere in the world. Following this success, Townshend produced their sole album, ''Hollywood Dream''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thunderclap Newman Hollywood Dream - Ex UK Vinyl LP Record 2406003 Hollywood Dream - Ex Thunderclap Newman 2406003 Track |url=https://test.991.com/Buy/ProductInformation.aspx?StockNumber=697744&PrinterFriendly=1 |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=test.991.com}}</ref>

In 1971 Townshend, along with ] and ], backed ] (of the ]) on one song "Warm Heart Pastry" from Heron's first solo LP, '']''. On the album notes, they are listed as "Tommy and the Bijoux".

In 1984 Townshend contributed lyrics to the track "I'm the Answer" on his brother ]'s debut solo album, '']''.

Townshend shares songwriting credit on two songs ("Love on the Air" and "All Lovers Are Deranged") on ] guitarist ]'s 1984 solo album '']''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.davidgilmour.com/music_about_face.htm#:~:text=Musician%20Credits,Kewley%20%E2%80%93%20Hammond%20organ%2C%20piano\ |title=David Gilmour &#124; Official Website |website=davidgilmour.com |access-date=19 May 2022}}</ref>

Townshend often recorded and performed alongside his girlfriend ], a classically trained pianist and singer-songwriter.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005-11-01 |title=Rachel Fuller, Pete Townshend & Friends, The Bedford, London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/rachel-fuller-pete-townshend-friends-the-bedford-london-323914.html |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-06-14 |title=LAist Interview: Rachel Fuller |url=https://laist.com/news/entertainment/laist-interview-rachel-fuller |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=LAist |language=en}}</ref>

In 2006 Townshend opened a website for implementation of ] based on his 1971 '']'' concept. This website was in collaboration with composer ] and software developer David Snowden, with instrumentation by Steve Hills. Applicants at the website could input data to compose a musical "portrait" that the musical team could then develop into larger compositions for a planned concert or series of concerts.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Other appearances include:
* '']'' with The Who, rockumentary, dir. by Jeff Stein (1979)
* "]" with ] on '']'' (1980)
* Backing vocals on "]" with "]" '']'' (1981)
* Acoustic guitar on "]" with ] on '']'' (1982)
* Backing vocals on "I'm the Answer" with ] on '']'' (1983)
* "Lonely at the Top" and "Hard Woman" with ] on '']'' (1985)
* Guitar on "]" with ] on '']'' (1988)
* Acoustic guitar with ] on "Hey Manhattan!" on '']'' (1988)
* "]" with ] on '']'' (1993)
* "Joy" and "Gun" with ] on '']'' (2001)
* "]" with ] on '']'' (2002)
* "Angry" and "Move Over Busker" on ]'s '']'' (1986)
* "Travelator" on ]'s '']'' (2015)

== Bibliography ==
* ''The Story of Tommy'' (1977, ]) – with ]
* ''Horse's Neck'' (1985, ]) – short story collection
* ''The Who's Tommy'' (1993, ])
* ''The Who: Maximum R&B'' (2004, ]) – with Richard Barnes
* '']'' (2012, ]) – autobiography
* ''The Age of Anxiety'' (2019, Coronet) – novel

== Awards ==
* ] 1983 – Life Achievement Award
* ] 1991 – Merit Award
* ] 1991 – Living Legend Award<ref>{{YouTube|ZspXfaltJ3E}}</ref>
* ] 1993 – ] (music & lyrics) – '']'' (tie)
* ] 1994 – Best Musical Show Album (as composer and lyricist of '']'')
* ] 1998 – Songwriter Award
* ] 2001 – Lifetime Achievement Award
* ] 2001 – Lifetime Achievement Award<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.myguitarsolo.com/content/pete-townshend|title=Pete Townshend|website=Myguitarsolo.com|access-date=29 September 2014|archive-date=3 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903070912/http://www.myguitarsolo.com/content/pete-townshend|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* ] 2007 – Lifetime Achievement Award
* Honorary doctorate from ], 2010<ref name=Peel>{{cite speech
| title = Can John Peelism Survive The Internet?
| first = Pete
| last = Townshend
| event = BBC Radio 6 Inaugural John Peel Lecture
| location = Radio Academy Radio Festival, Salford's Lowry Theatre, Manchester
| date = 31 October 2011}}</ref>
* ] 2008 – Hall of Fame
* ] 2008 – Classic Songwriter
* Classic Album Award for ''Quadrophenia'' from the ] at ], 9 November 2011, London, England
* ] 2013 – Les Paul Award<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/01/27/pete-townshend-les-paul-award/1867905/|title=Pete Townshend receives Les Paul Award|first1=Elysa |last1=Gardner |first2=Edna |last2=Gundersen|date=27 January 2013|work=]|access-date=29 September 2014}}</ref>
* Stevie Ray Vaughan Award 2015<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruce-springsteen-to-honor-pete-townshend-for-addiction-charity-work-20150423|magazine=Rolling Stone|title=Bruce Springsteen to Honor Pete Townshend for Addiction Charity Work|author=Blistein, Joan|date=23 April 2015|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=23 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150823214507/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruce-springsteen-to-honor-pete-townshend-for-addiction-charity-work-20150423|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* ] 2016 – Lifetime Musical Achievement.<ref name="Gershwin Awards 2016 Recipient"/><ref name="dailybruin.com"/>
* ] 2019 – Golden Plate Award. Townshend received his Golden Plate along with ] and presented by Awards Council member ].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=achievement.org|publisher=]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= 2019 International Achievement Summit|publisher= ]|url= https://achievement.org/summit/2019/}}</ref>

== Other lifetime honours ==
* 1990 ]
* 2005 ]
* 2008 ]

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Cited references ===
* {{cite book|last=Giuliano|first=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Giuliano|title=Behind Blue Eyes: The Life of Pete Townshend|publisher=Cooper Square Press|isbn=978-1-46173-196-2|year=2002 }}
* {{cite book|last=Howard|first=David|title=Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|year=2004|isbn=978-0-634-05560-7}}
* {{cite book|title=Before I Get Old: The Story of The Who|last=Marsh|first=Dave|author-link=Dave Marsh|publisher=Plexus Publishing Ltd|year=1983|isbn=978-0-85965-083-0 }}
* {{cite book|title=Anyway Anyhow Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of The Who 1958–1978|first1=Andrew|last1=Neill|first2=Matthew|last2=Kent|publisher=Sterling Publishing|isbn=978-0-7535-1217-3|year=2009}}
* {{cite book|last=Wilkerson|first=Mark|title=Amazing Journey: The Life of Pete Townshend|year=2006|publisher=]|isbn=978-1-411-67700-5}}{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}
* {{cite book|last=Wooldridge|first=Max|title=Rock 'n' Roll London|publisher=Macmillan|year=2002|isbn=978-0-312-30442-3}}

== Further reading ==
* ''Horses Neck'' by Pete Townshend, Mariner Books 1987, new edition, (21 May 1998) {{ISBN|978-0-395-90559-3}}
* ''The Who: Maximum R&B'' by Pete Townshend and Richard Barnes, Plexus Publishing; 5th edition (27 September 2004) {{ISBN|978-0-85965-351-0}}
* ''Pete Townshend: A Minstrel's Dilemma'' by Larry David Smith, Praeger Publishers (30 March 1999) {{ISBN|978-0-275-96472-6}}
* ''Who Are You: The Life of Pete Townshend'' by Mark Ian Wilkerson, Omnibus Press; 1st edition (30 November 2008) {{ISBN|978-1-84772-243-0}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Pete Townshend}}
{{wikiquote}}
*
* {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p5678|label=Pete Townshend}}
* {{discogs artist}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0870228}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* (Archived version; site was closed down in 2010)
* {{Pop Chronicles|49|2}}
* (Townshend's 1970 '']'' article)


{{Pete Townshend}}
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Latest revision as of 16:19, 11 December 2024

English musician (born 1945) For other people with similar names, see Peter Townsend and Peter Townend.

Pete Townshend
Townshend in 2012Townshend in 2012
Background information
Birth namePeter Dennis Blandford Townshend
Also known asBijou Drains
Born (1945-05-19) 19 May 1945 (age 79)
Chiswick, England
OriginLondon, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • songwriter
  • author
Instruments
  • Guitar
  • vocals
  • keyboards
Years active1962–present
Labels
Member ofThe Who
Formerly ofDeep End
Spouses
Karen Astley ​ ​(m. 1968; sep. 1994)
Rachel Fuller ​(m. 2016)
Websitethewho.com
Pete Townshend's voice from the BBC programme Front Row, 26 December 2012

Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (/ˈtaʊnzənd/; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. His aggressive playing style and poetic songwriting techniques, with the Who and in other projects, have earned him critical acclaim.

Townshend has written more than 100 songs for 12 of the Who's studio albums. These include concept albums, the rock operas Tommy (1969) and Quadrophenia (1973), plus popular rock radio staples such as Who's Next (1971); as well as dozens more that appeared as non-album singles, bonus tracks on reissues, and tracks on rarities compilation albums such as Odds & Sods (1974). He has also written more than 100 songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as radio jingles and television theme songs.

While known primarily as a guitarist, Townshend also plays keyboards, banjo, accordion, harmonica, ukulele, mandolin, violin, synthesiser, bass guitar, and drums; he is self-taught on all of these instruments and plays on his own solo albums, several Who albums, and as a guest contributor to an array of other artists' recordings. Townshend has also contributed to and authored many newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts, and he has collaborated as a lyricist and composer for many other musical acts.

In 1983, Townshend received the Brit Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 1990 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Who. Townshend was ranked No. 3 in Dave Marsh's 1994 list of Best Guitarists in The New Book of Rock Lists. In 2001, he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as a member of the Who; and in 2008 he received Kennedy Center Honors. He was ranked No. 10 in Gibson.com's 2011 list of the top 50 guitarists, and No. 37 on Rolling Stone's 2023 list of 250 greatest guitarists of all time. He and Roger Daltrey received The George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement at UCLA on 21 May 2016.

Early life and education

Townshend was born in Chiswick, West London, at the Chiswick Hospital, Netheravon Road, in the UK. He came from a musical family: his father, Cliff Townshend, was a professional alto saxophonist in the Royal Air Force's dance band the Squadronaires and his mother, Betty (née Dennis), was a singer with the Sidney Torch and Les Douglass Orchestras.

The Townshends had a volatile marriage. Both drank heavily and had fiery tempers. Cliff Townshend was often away from his family touring with his band while Betty carried on affairs with other men. The two split when Townshend was a toddler and he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother Emma Dennis, whom Pete later described as "clinically insane", later citing this experience as having unknowingly influenced the plot of Tommy. The two-year separation ended when Cliff and Betty purchased a house together on Woodgrange Avenue in middle-class Acton, and the young Pete was happily reunited with his parents. His neighbourhood was one-third Polish, and a devout Jewish family upstairs shared their housing with them and cooking with them—many of his father's closest friends were Jewish.

Townshend says he did not have many friends growing up, so he spent much of his boyhood reading adventure novels like Gulliver's Travels and Treasure Island. He enjoyed his family's frequent excursions to the seaside and the Isle of Man. It was on one of these trips in the summer of 1956 that he repeatedly watched the 1956 film Rock Around the Clock, sparking his fascination with American rock and roll.

Not long thereafter, he went to see Bill Haley perform in London, Townshend's first concert. At the time, he did not see himself pursuing a career as a professional musician; instead, he wanted to become a journalist.

Upon passing the eleven-plus exam, Townshend was enrolled at Acton County Grammar School. At Acton County, he was frequently bullied because he had a large nose, an experience that profoundly affected him. His grandmother Emma purchased his first guitar for Christmas in 1956, an inexpensive Spanish model. Though his father taught him a couple of chords, Townshend was largely self-taught on the instrument and never learned to read music. Townshend and school friend John Entwistle formed a short-lived trad jazz group, the Confederates, featuring Townshend on banjo and Entwistle on horns. The Confederates played gigs at the Congo Club, a youth club run by the Acton Congregational Church, and covered Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, and Lonnie Donegan. However, both became influenced by the increasing popularity of rock 'n' roll, with Townshend particularly admiring Cliff Richard's debut single, "Move It". Townshend left the Confederates after getting into a fight with the group's drummer, Chris Sherwin, and purchased a "reasonably good Czechoslovakian guitar" at his mother's antique shop.

Townshend's brothers Paul and Simon were born in 1957 and 1960, respectively. Lacking the requisite grades to attend university, Townshend was faced with the decision of art school, music school, or getting a job. He ultimately chose to study graphic design at Ealing Art College, enrolling in 1961. At Ealing, Townshend studied alongside future Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. Townshend dropped out in 1964 to focus on music full-time.

Musical career

1961–1964: the Detours

In late 1961, Entwistle joined the Detours, a skiffle/rock and roll band, led by Roger Daltrey. The new bass player then suggested Townshend join as an additional guitarist. In the early days of the Detours, the band's repertoire consisted of instrumentals by the Shadows and the Ventures, as well as pop and trad jazz covers. Their lineup coalesced around Roger Daltrey on rhythm guitar, Townshend on lead guitar, Entwistle on bass, Doug Sandom on drums, and Colin Dawson as vocalist. Daltrey was considered the leader of the group and, according to Townshend, "ran things the way he wanted them."

Dawson quit in 1962 after arguing too much with Daltrey, who subsequently moved to lead vocalist. As a result, Townshend, with Entwistle's encouragement, became the sole guitarist. Through Townshend's mother, the group obtained a management contract with local promoter Robert Druce, who started booking the band as a support act for bands including Screaming Lord Sutch, Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, Shane Fenton and the Fentones, and Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. In 1963, Townshend's father arranged an amateur recording of "It Was You", the first song his son ever wrote. The Detours became aware of a group of the same name in February 1964, forcing them to change their name. Townshend's roommate Richard Barnes came up with "The Who", and Daltrey decided it was the best choice.

1964–1982: The Who

Main article: The Who
Townshend (with Moon, rear right) backstage before a gig at Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Ludwigshafen, Germany on 12 April 1967

Not long after the name change, drummer Doug Sandom was replaced by Keith Moon, who had been drumming semi-professionally with the Beachcombers for several years. The band was soon taken on by a mod publicist named Peter Meaden who convinced them to change their name to the High Numbers to give the band more of a mod feel. After bringing out one failed single ("I'm the Face/Zoot Suit"), they dropped Meaden and were signed on by two new managers, Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert, who had paired up with the intention of finding new talent and creating a documentary about them. The band anguished over a name that all felt represented the band best, and dropped the High Numbers name, reverting to the Who. In June 1964, during a performance at the Railway Tavern, Townshend accidentally broke the top of his guitar on the low ceiling and proceeded to destroy the entire instrument. The on-stage destruction of instruments soon became a regular part of the Who's live shows.

With the assistance of Lambert, the Who caught the ear of American record producer Shel Talmy, who had the band signed to a record contract. Townshend wrote a song, "I Can't Explain", as a deliberate sound-alike of the Kinks, another group Talmy produced. Released as a single in January 1965, "I Can't Explain" was the Who's first hit, reaching number eight on the British charts. A follow-up single ("Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere"), credited to both Townshend and Daltrey, also reached the top 10 in the UK. However, it was the release of the Who's third single, "My Generation", in November that, according to Who biographer Mark Wilkerson, "cemented their reputation as a hard-nosed band who reflected the feelings of thousands of pissed-off adolescents at the time." The Townshend-penned single reached number two on the UK charts, becoming the Who's biggest hit. The song and its famous line "I hope I die before I get old" was "very much about trying to find a place in society", Townshend stated in an interview with David Fricke.

To capitalise on their recent single success, the Who's debut album My Generation (The Who Sings My Generation in the US) was released in late 1965, containing original material written by Townshend and several James Brown covers that Daltrey favoured. Townshend continued to write several successful singles for the band, including "Pictures of Lily", "Substitute", "I'm a Boy", and "Happy Jack". Lambert encouraged Townshend to write longer pieces of music for the next album, which became "A Quick One, While He's Away". The album was subsequently titled A Quick One and reached No. 4 in the charts upon its release in December 1966. In their stage shows, Townshend developed a guitar stunt in which he would swing his right arm against the guitar strings in a style reminiscent of the vanes of a windmill. He developed this style after watching Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards warm up before a show.

Townshend's "windmill" technique

The Who commenced their first US tour on 22 March 1967. Townshend took to trashing his hotel suites, though not to the extent of his bandmate Moon. He also began experimenting with LSD, though stopped taking the drug after receiving a potent hit after the Monterey Pop Festival on 18 June. Released in December, their next album was The Who Sell Out—a concept album based on pirate radio, which had been instrumental in raising the Who's popularity. It included several humorous jingles and mock commercials between songs, and the Who's biggest US single, "I Can See for Miles". Despite the success of "I Can See for Miles", which reached No. 9 on the American charts, Townshend was surprised it was not an even bigger hit, as he considered it the best song he had written up to that point.

By 1968, Townshend became interested in the teachings of Meher Baba. He began to develop a musical piece about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy who would experience sensations musically. The piece would explore the tenets of Baba's philosophy. The result was the rock opera Tommy, released on 23 May 1969 to critical and commercial success. In support of Tommy, the Who launched a tour that included a memorable appearance at the Woodstock Festival on 17 August. While the Who were playing, Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman jumped the stage to complain about the arrest of John Sinclair. Townshend promptly knocked him offstage with his guitar, shouting, "Fuck off my fucking stage!"

In 1970, the Who released Live at Leeds, which several music critics cite as the best live album of all time. Townshend began writing material for another rock opera. Dubbed Lifehouse, it was designed to be a multi-media project that symbolised the relationship between a musician and his audience. The rest of the band were confused by its convoluted plot and simply wanted another album. Townshend began to feel alienated, and the project was abandoned after he suffered a nervous breakdown. Much of the material intended for Lifehouse was released as a traditional studio album, Who's Next. It became a commercial smash, reaching number one in the UK, and spawned two successful hit singles, "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", that featured pioneering use of the synthesizer. "Baba O'Riley" in particular was written as Townshend's ode to his two heroes at the time, Meher Baba and composer Terry Riley.

Townshend performing in Hamburg, Germany in August 1972

Townshend began writing songs for another rock opera in 1973. He decided it would explore the mod subculture and its clashes with rockers in the early 1960s in the UK. Entitled Quadrophenia, it was the only Who album written entirely by Townshend, and he produced the album as well due to the souring of relations with Lambert. It was released in November, and became their highest charting cross-Atlantic success, reaching No. 2 in the UK and US. NME reviewer Charles Shaar Murray called it "prime cut Who" and "the most rewarding musical experience of the year." On tour, the band played the album along to pre-recorded backing tapes, causing much friction. The tapes malfunctioned during a performance in Newcastle, prompting Townshend to drag soundman Bob Pridden onstage, scream at him and kick over all the amplifiers, partially destroying the malfunctioning tapes. On 14 April 1974, Townshend played his first solo concert, a benefit to raise funds for a London community centre.

A film version of Tommy was directed by Ken Russell, and starred Roger Daltrey in the title role, Ann-Margret as his mother, and Oliver Reed as his step-father, with cameos by Tina Turner, Elton John, Eric Clapton, and other rock notables; the film premiered on 18 March 1975. Townshend was nominated for an Academy Award for scoring and adapting the music in the film. The Who by Numbers came out in November of that year and peaked at No. 7 in the UK and 8 in the US. It featured introspective songs, often with a negative slant. The album spawned one hit single, "Squeeze Box", that was written after Townshend learned how to play the accordion. After a 1976 tour, Townshend took a year-long break from the band to focus on spending time with his family.

The Who continues despite the deaths of two of the original members (Keith Moon in 1978 and John Entwistle in 2002). The band is regarded by many rock critics as one of the best live bands from the 1960s to the 2000s. The Who continues to perform critically acclaimed sets into the 21st century, including highly regarded performances at The Concert for New York City in 2001, the 2004 Isle of Wight Festival, Live 8 in 2005, and the 2007 and 2015 Glastonbury Festival.

Townshend remained the primary songwriter and leader of the group, writing over 100 songs which appeared on the band's eleven studio albums. Among his creations is the rock opera Quadrophenia. Townshend revisited album-length storytelling throughout his career and remains associated with the rock opera form. Many studio recordings also feature Townshend on piano or keyboards, though keyboard-heavy tracks increasingly featured guest artists in the studio, such as Nicky Hopkins, John Bundrick, or Chris Stainton.

Townshend is one of the key figures in the development of feedback in rock guitar. When asked who first used feedback, Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore said:

Pete Townshend was definitely the first. But not being that good a guitarist, he used to just sort of crash chords and let the guitar feedback. He didn't get into twiddling with the dials on the amplifier until much later. He's overrated in England, but at the same time you find a lot of people like Jeff Beck and Hendrix getting credit for things he started. Townshend was the first to break his guitar, and he was the first to do a lot of things. He's very good at his chord scene, too.

Similarly, when Jimmy Page was asked about the development of guitar feedback, he said:

I don't know who really did feedback first; it just sort of happened. I don't think anybody consciously nicked it from anybody else. It was just going on. But Pete Townshend obviously was the one, through the music of his group, who made the use of feedback more his style, and so it's related to him. Whereas the other players like Jeff Beck and myself were playing more single note things than chords.

Many rock guitarists have cited Townshend as an influence, among them Slash, Alex Lifeson, and Steve Jones.

1972–present: solo career

In addition to his work with the Who, Townshend has been sporadically active as a solo recording artist. Between 1969 and 1971 Townshend, along with other devotees to Meher Baba, recorded a trio of albums devoted to his teachings: Happy Birthday, I Am, and With Love. In response to bootlegging of these, he compiled his personal highlights (and "Evolution", a collaboration with Ronnie Lane), and released his first major-label solo title, 1972's Who Came First. It was a moderate success and featured demos of Who songs as well as a showcase of his acoustic guitar talents. He collaborated with the Faces' bassist and fellow Meher Baba devotee Ronnie Lane on a duet album (1977's Rough Mix). In 1979 Townshend produced and performed guitar on the novelty single "Peppermint Lump" by Angie on Stiff Records, featuring 11-year-old Angela Porter on lead vocals.

Townshend made several solo appearances during the 1970s, two of which were captured on record: Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert in January 1973 (which Townshend organized to revive Clapton's career after the latter's heroin addiction), and the Paul McCartney-sponsored Concerts for the People of Kampuchea in December 1979. The commercially available video of the Kampuchea concert shows the two rock icons duelling and clowning through Rockestra mega-band versions of "Lucille", "Let It Be", and "Rockestra Theme"; Townshend closes the proceedings with a characteristic split-legged leap.

Townshend's solo breakthrough, following the death of Who drummer Keith Moon, was the 1980 release Empty Glass, which included the top-10 single "Let My Love Open the Door", and lesser singles "A Little Is Enough" and "Rough Boys". This release was followed in 1982 by All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, which included the popular radio track "Slit Skirts". While not a huge commercial success, music critic Timothy Duggan listed it as "Townshend's most honest and introspective work since Quadrophenia." Through the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s Townshend would again experiment with the rock opera and related formats, releasing several story-based albums including White City: A Novel (1985), The Iron Man: A Musical (1989), and Psychoderelict (1993). Townshend also got the chance to play with his hero Hank Marvin for Paul McCartney's "Rockestra" sessions, along with other rock musicians such as David Gilmour, John Bonham, and Ronnie Lane.

Townshend in concert, 2008

Townshend recorded several concert albums, including one featuring a supergroup he assembled called Deep End, with David Gilmour on guitar, who performed just three concerts and a television show session for The Tube, to raise money for his Double-O charity, supporting drug addicts. In 1993, he and Des McAnuff wrote and directed the Broadway adaptation of the Who album Tommy, as well as a less successful stage musical based on his solo album The Iron Man, based upon the book by Ted Hughes. McAnuff and Townshend later co-produced the animated film The Iron Giant, also based on the Hughes story.

A production described as a Townshend rock opera and titled The Boy Who Heard Music debuted as part of Vassar College's Powerhouse Summer Theater program in July 2007.

On 2 September 2017 at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts, Townshend embarked with fellow singer and musician Billy Idol, tenor Alfie Boe, and an orchestra on a short (5-date) "Classic Quadrophenia" US tour that ended on 16 September 2017 in Los Angeles, California.

1996–present: latest Who work

From the mid-1990s through the present, Townshend has participated in a series of tours with the surviving members of the Who, including a 2002 tour that continued despite Entwistle's death.

In February 2006, a major world tour by the Who was announced to promote their first new album since 1982. Townshend published a semi-autobiographical story The Boy Who Heard Music as a serial on a blog beginning in September 2005. The blog closed in October 2006, as noted on Townshend's website. It is now owned by a different user and does not relate to Townshend's work in any way. On 25 February 2006, he announced the issue of a mini-opera inspired by the novella for June 2006. In October 2006 the Who released their first album in 24 years, Endless Wire.

The Who performed at the Super Bowl XLIV half-time show on 7 February 2010, playing a medley of songs that included "Pinball Wizard", "Who Are You", "Baba O'Riley", "See Me, Feel Me", and "Won't Get Fooled Again". In 2012, the Who announced they would tour the rock opera Quadrophenia.

The Who were the final performers at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London, performing a medley of "Baba O'Riley", "See Me, Feel Me", and "My Generation".

On 22 March 2018, Townshend stated that a new Who album should feature original songs by Roger Daltrey as well as him. That album, simply titled Who, was released on 6 December 2019. It was the band's second album as a duo, and their first in thirteen years.

Unfinished work

The Age of Anxiety, formerly Floss the Musical, is the name given to a work-in-progress by Townshend. The musical has been a work in progress at least since 2009 with an original estimated release of 2011. On 24 January 2012 Townshend sold the rights to all of his back catalog and much of his future work including Floss The Musical if it is ever completed. He summarized the work in an interview with Sirius Satellite Radio published February 2010. In a 2015 interview Townshend stated that the work was intended to be an art installation. In March 2019 it was announced that a work entitled The Age of Anxiety would be published as a novel, with an opera to follow.

Musical influences

Townshend was born ten days after Nazi Germany surrendered in the Second World War and grew up in the shadow of reconstruction in and around London. According to Townshend, postwar trauma was the driving force behind the rock music revolution in the UK. "Trauma is passed from generation to generation", he said, "I've unwittingly inherited what my father experienced." Townshend notes that growing up in this period produced the narrative that runs through his music of a boy lost in the stresses and pressures of postwar life. In his autobiography, he wrote:

I wasn't trying to play beautiful music. I was confronting my audience with the awful, visceral sound of what we all knew was the single absolute of our frail existence—one day an aeroplane would carry the bomb that would destroy us all in a flash. It could happen at any time.

Although he grew up in a household with jazz musicians, Townshend absorbed many of his ideas about performance and rock music themes during art school. Townshend's roommate at Ealing Art College, Tom Wright, had a large record collection, and Townshend listened to and became influenced by R&B and rock & roll artists like Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, Booker T. & the MGs, Little Walter, and Chuck Berry. He was also strongly influenced by cellist Malcolm Cecil, who often damaged his cello during performances, along with Gustav Metzger, pioneer of auto-destructive art. In light of these influences, guitar smashing became not just an expression of youthful angst, but also a means of conveying ideas through musical performance. "We advanced a new concept", he writes. "Destruction is art when set to music." Townshend also cited Robbie Basho as a significant influence, saying "I've totally been influenced by him. You can hear it in my work."

Equipment

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See also: The Who's musical equipment

Guitars

Townshend leaping into air in concert

Throughout his solo career and his career with the Who, Townshend has played a large variety of guitars—mostly various Fender, Gibson, and Rickenbacker models. He has also used Guild, Takamine and Gibson J-200 acoustic models, with the J-200 providing his signature recorded acoustic sound in such songs as "Pinball Wizard".

In the early days with the Who, Townshend played an Emile Grimshaw SS De Luxe and 6-string and 12-string Rickenbacker semi-hollow electric guitars primarily (particularly the Rose-Morris UK-imported models with special f-holes). When the excited audience responded enthusiastically after he accidentally broke the head off his guitar on a low ceiling during a concert at the Railway Hotel pub in Wealdstone, west London, he incorporated the eventual smashing of his instrument into the band's performances. However, as instrument-smashing became increasingly integrated into the Who's concert sets, he switched to more durable and resilient (and, importantly, cheaper) guitars for smashing, such as the Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster and various Danelectro models. On the Who's The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour appearance in 1967, Townshend used a Vox Cheetah guitar, which he only used for that performance; the guitar was destroyed by Townshend and Moon's drum explosion. In the late 1960s, Townshend began playing Gibson SG Special models almost exclusively. He used this guitar at the Woodstock and Isle of Wight shows in 1969 and 1970, as well as the Live at Leeds performance in 1970.

By 1970 Gibson changed the design of the SG Special that Townshend had been using previously, and he began using other guitars. For much of the 1970s, he used a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, some with only two mini-humbucker pick-ups and others modified with a third pick-up in the "middle position" (a DiMarzio Superdistortion / Dual Sound). He can be seen using several of these guitars in the documentary The Kids Are Alright, although in the studio he often played a '59 Gretsch 6120 guitar (given to him by Joe Walsh), most notably on the albums Who's Next and Quadrophenia.

During the 1980s, Townshend mainly used Fenders, Rickenbackers and Telecaster-style models built for him by Schecter and various other luthiers. Since the late-1980s, Townshend has used the Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster, with Lace Sensor pick-ups, both in the studio and on tour. Some of his Stratocaster guitars feature a Fishman PowerBridge piezo pick-up system to simulate acoustic guitar tones. This piezo system is controlled by an extra volume control behind the guitar's bridge.

During the Who's 1989 Tour Townshend played a Rickenbacker guitar that was ironically smashed accidentally when he tripped over it. Instead of throwing the smashed parts away, Townshend reassembled the pieces as a sculpture. The sculpture was featured at the Rock Stars, Cars And Guitars 2 exhibit during the summer of 2009 at The Henry Ford museum.

Townshend playing a Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster

There are several Gibson Pete Townshend signature guitars, such as the Pete Townshend SG, the Pete Townshend J-200, and three different Pete Townshend Les Paul Deluxes. The SG was clearly marked as a Pete Townshend limited edition model and came with a special case and certificate of authenticity, signed by Townshend himself. There was a Pete Townshend signature Rickenbacker limited edition guitar of the model 1998, which was his main 6-string guitar in the Who's early days. The run featured 250 guitars that were made between July 1987–March 1988, and according to Rickenbacker CEO John Hall, the entire run sold out before serious advertising could be done.

He also used the Gibson ES-335, one of which he donated to the Hard Rock Cafe. Townshend also used a Gibson EDS-1275 double-neck very briefly circa late 1967, and both a Harmony Sovereign H1270 and a Fender Electric XII for the studio sessions for Tommy for the 12-string guitar parts. He also occasionally used Fender Jazzmasters on stage in 1967 and 1968 and in the studio for Tommy.

Amps

Over the years, Townshend has used many types of amplifier, including Vox, Selmer, Fender, Marshall, and Hiwatt, sticking to using Hiwatt amps for most of four decades. Around the time of Who's Next, he used a tweed Fender Bandmaster amp (also given to him by Joe Walsh in 1970), which he also used for Quadrophenia and The Who by Numbers. While recording Face Dances and the collaborative album Rough Mix, Townshend made use of a Peavey Vintage 4×10 amplifier in the studio. Since 1989, his rig consisted of four Fender Vibro-King stacks and a Hiwatt head driving two custom made 2×12" Hiwatt/Mesa Boogie speaker cabinets. However, since 2006, he has only three Vibro-King stacks, one of which is a backup.

Townshend figured prominently in the development of what is widely known in rock circles as the "Marshall stack". He ordered several speaker cabinets that contained eight 12" speakers in a housing standing nearly six feet in height with the top half of the cabinet slanted slightly upward. These were too heavy to move easily, so Jim Marshall cut the massive speaker cabinet in half, at the suggestion of Townshend, with each cabinet containing four 12-inch speakers. One of the cabinets had half of the speaker baffle slanted upwards and Marshall made these two cabinets stackable. The Marshall stack was born, and Townshend used these as well as Hiwatt stacks.

He has always regarded his instruments as being merely tools of the trade and has, in latter years, kept his most prized instruments well away from the concert stage. These instruments include a few vintage and reissue Rickenbackers, the Gretsch 6120, an original 1952 Fender Telecaster, Gibson Custom Shop's artist limited edition reissues of Townshend's Les Paul DeLuxe models 1, 3 and 9 as well his signature SG Special reissue.

Keyboards

Townshend played keyboards on several Who songs. On Who's Next, he began to work with analogue synthesizers, using the ARP 2600 model that he first encountered at Cambridge University. He had this to say about the instrument: "I like synthesizers because they bring into my hands things that aren't in my hands: the sound of an orchestra, French horns, strings. There are gadgets on synthesizers that enable one to become a virtuoso on the keyboard. You can play something slowly and you press a switch and it plays it back at double speed. Whereas on the guitar you're stuck with as fast as you can play and I don't play fast, I just play hard. So when it goes to playing something fast I go to the synth."

The synths Townshend was referring to included the EMS VCS3 and ARP 2600, some of which modified a Lowrey TBO Berkshire organ. Current photos of his home studio also show an ARP 2500. Townshend was featured in ARP promotional materials in the early 1970s.

Since the late 1980s Townshend has predominantly used Synclavier Digital Audio systems for keyboard composition, particularly solo albums and projects.

Literary work

Although known for his musical compositions and musicianship, Townshend has been extensively involved in the literary world for more than three decades, writing newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts.

An early example of Townshend's writing came in August 1970 with the first of nine installments of "The Pete Townshend Page", a monthly column written by Townshend for the British music paper Melody Maker. The column provided Townshend's perspective on an array of subjects, such as the media and the state of US concert halls and public address systems, as well as providing valuable insight into Townshend's mindset during the evolution of his Lifehouse project.

Townshend also wrote three sizeable essays for Rolling Stone magazine, the first of which appeared in November 1970. "In Love With Meher Baba" described Townshend's spiritual leanings. "Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy", a blow-by-blow account of the Who compilation album of the same name, followed in December 1971. The third article, "The Punk Meets the Godmother", appeared in November 1977.

Also in 1977, Townshend founded Eel Pie Publishing, which specialised in children's titles, music books, and several Meher Baba-related publications. He also opened a bookstore named Magic Bus (after the popular Who song) in London. The Story of Tommy, a book written by Townshend and his art school friend Richard Barnes (now the Who's official biographer) about the writing of Townshend's 1969 rock opera and the making of the 1975 Ken Russell-directed film, was published by Eel Pie the same year.

In July 1983, Townshend took a position as an acquisitions editor for London publisher Faber and Faber. Notable projects included editing Animals frontman Eric Burdon's autobiography, Charles Shaar Murray's award-winning Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix and Post-War Pop, Brian Eno and Russell Mills's More Dark Than Shark, and working with Prince Charles on a volume of his collected speeches. Townshend commissioned Dave Rimmer's Like Punk Never Happened, and was commissioning editor for radical playwright Steven Berkoff.

Two years after joining Faber and Faber, Townshend decided to publish a book of his own. Horse's Neck, issued in May 1985, was a collection of short stories he'd written between 1979 and 1984, tackling subjects such as childhood, stardom and spirituality. As a result of his position with Faber and Faber, Townshend developed friendships with both Nobel prize-winning author of Lord of the Flies Sir William Golding and British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. His friendship with Hughes led to Townshend's musical interpretation of Hughes's children's story The Iron Man, six years later, as The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend, released in 1989.

Townshend has written several scripts spanning the breadth of his career, including numerous drafts of his elusive Lifehouse project, the last of which, co-written with radio playwright Jeff Young, was published in 1999. In 1978, Townshend wrote a script for Fish Shop, a play commissioned but not completed by London Weekend Television, and in mid-1984 he wrote a script for White City: A Novel which led to a short film.

In 1989 Townshend began work on a novel titled Ray High & The Glass Household, a draft of which was later submitted to his editor. While the original novel remains unpublished, elements from this story were used in Townshend's 1993 solo album Psychoderelict. In 1993, Townshend authored another book, The Who's Tommy, a chronicle of the development of the award-winning Broadway version of his rock opera.

The opening of his personal website and his commerce site Eelpie.com, both in 2000, gave Townshend another outlet for literary work. (Eelpie.com was closed down in 2010.) Several of Townshend's essays have been posted online, including "Meher Baba—The Silent Master: My Own Silence" in 2001, and "A Different Bomb", an indictment of the child pornography industry, the following year.

In September 2005, Townshend began posting a novella online entitled The Boy Who Heard Music as background for a musical of the same name. He posted a chapter each week until it was completed, and novella was available to read at his website for several months. Like Psychoderelict, it was yet another extrapolation of Lifehouse and Ray High & The Glass Household.

In 1997 Townshend signed a deal with Little, Brown and Company publishing to write his autobiography, reportedly titled Pete Townshend: Who He? Townshend's creative vagaries and conceptual machinations have been chronicled by Larry David Smith in his book The Minstrel's Dilemma (Praeger 1999). After a lengthy delay, Townshend's autobiography, now titled Who I Am, was released 8 October 2012. The book ranked in the top 5 of The New York Times best seller list in October 2012.

On 5 March 2019, Townshend announced that his debut novel, titled The Age of Anxiety, would be published on 5 November 2019 by Hodder & Stoughton imprint Coronet. Townshend called the work an "extended meditation on manic genius and the dark art of creativity." The novel will be accompanied by an opera, which is currently in development, with an art installation to follow.

Spirituality

In 1967 Townshend had begun to explore spirituality. Townshend swiftly absorbed all of Meher Baba's writings that he could find; by April 1968, he announced himself Baba's disciple. At about this time, Townshend, who had been searching the past two years for a basis for a rock opera, created a story inspired by the teachings of Baba and other writings and expressing the enlightenment he believed that he had received from them, which ultimately became Tommy.

In interviews Townshend was more open about his beliefs, penning an article on Baba for Rolling Stone magazine in 1970 and stating that following Baba's teachings, he was opposed to the use of all psychedelic drugs, making him one of the first rock stars with counterculture credibility to turn against their use. This did not prevent him from later indulging in substance abuse. He wrote in Who I Am of becoming addicted to cocaine in 1980-1981, to the point of overdosing and needing resuscitation. He also wrote that by January 1982, "I needed help to break my dependence on prescription drugs and heroin."

Personal life

Relationships

Townshend met Karen Astley, daughter of film composer Edwin Astley, while in art school. They married on 20 May 1968 and moved into a three-bedroom townhouse in Twickenham in outer south-west London that overlooked the Thames. They have three children: Emma (born 1969), who is a gardening columnist, Aminta (born 1971), who works in film production, and Joseph (born 1989), who studied graphic design at Central St. Martins.

Townshend and his wife separated in 1994. He has since been in a romantic relationship with arranger and musician Rachel Fuller, whom he secretly married in 2016. Townshend lived at The Wick, Richmond, London, England, but sold the house in August 2021 for more than £15 million. He also owns a house in Churt, Surrey, and in 2010 purchased a lease of part of the National Trust property Ashdown House in Oxfordshire. According to The Sunday Times Rich List his assets were worth £40 million as of 2009.

Sexuality

In a 1989 interview with radio host Timothy White, Townshend apparently acknowledged his bisexuality, referencing the song "Rough Boys" on his 1980 studio album Empty Glass. He called the song a "coming out, an acknowledgment of the fact that I'd had a gay life, and that I understood what gay sex was about." In a 1994 interview for Playboy, he said, "I did an interview about it, saying that 'Rough Boys' was about being gay, and in the interview I also talked about my 'gay life', which—I meant—was actually about the friends I've had who are gay. So the interviewer kind of dotted the t's and crossed the i's and assumed that this was a coming out, which it wasn't at all." Townshend later wrote in his 2012 autobiography Who I Am that he is "probably bisexual". Townshend also stated that he once felt sexually attracted to the Rolling Stones' lead vocalist, Mick Jagger.

Legal issues

Main article: Operation Ore

Townshend accepted a caution from the Metropolitan Police (the Met) as part of Operation Ore, a major investigation on child sexual abuse images conducted in 2002–2003. The Met stated that "it was established that Mr Townshend was not in possession of any downloaded child abuse images". Townshend was on a sex offenders register for five years, beginning in 2003, after admitting he had used his credit card to access a child sexual abuse images website. Townshend said he accessed the images as research in a campaign against child sexual abuse—specifically, to prove that British banks were complicit in channelling the profits from paedophile rings. Authorities could not prove that the website accessed by Townshend involved children, and no incriminating evidence was found on his personal computer.

Hearing loss

Townshend suffers from partial deafness and tinnitus, likely the result of noise-induced hearing loss from long-term exposure to loud music. The Who were known as a very loud band in their live performances; for example, a Who concert at the Charlton Athletic Football Club on 31 May 1976—where the volume level 32 metres from the stage was measured at 126 decibels—was listed as the "Loudest Concert Ever" by the Guinness Book of Records. Townshend has also attributed his hearing loss to the explosion of Keith Moon's drum set during a 1967 Who appearance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

In 1989, Townshend gave the initial funding to allow the formation of the non-profit hearing advocacy group H.E.A.R. (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers). After the Who performed at half-time at Super Bowl XLIV in 2010, Townshend stated that he is concerned that his tinnitus has grown to such a point that he might be forced to discontinue performing with the band altogether. He told Rolling Stone, "If my hearing is going to be a problem, we're not delaying shows. We're finished. I can't really see any way around the issue." Neil Young introduced him to an audiologist who suggested he use an in-ear monitor, and although they cancelled their spring 2010 touring schedule, Townshend used the device at their one remaining London concert on 30 March 2010, to ascertain the feasibility of Townshend continuing to perform with the Who.

In March 2011, Roger Daltrey said in an interview with the BBC that Townshend had recently experienced gradual but severe hearing loss and was trying to save what remained of his hearing: "Pete's having terrible trouble with his hearing. He's got really, really bad problems with it...not tinnitus, it's deterioration and he's seriously now worried about actually losing his hearing".

Referring to that, in July 2011, Townshend wrote at his blog: "My hearing is actually better than ever because after a feedback scare at the indigO2 in December 2008 I am taking good care of it. I have computer systems in my studio that have helped me do my engineering work on the forthcoming Quadrophenia release. I have had assistance from younger forensic engineers and mastering engineers to help me clean up the high frequencies that are out of my range. The same computer systems work wonderfully well on stage, proving to be perfect for me when the Who performed at the Super Bowl and doing Quadrophenia for TCT at the Royal Albert Hall in 2010. I'm 66, I don't have perfect hearing, and if I listen to loud music or go to gigs I do tend to get tinnitus".

Political views

In 1998, Townshend was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the UK Labour Party. He refused to let Michael Moore use "Won't Get Fooled Again" in Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), saying that he watched Bowling for Columbine (2002) and was not convinced. In 1961 while in art school, Townshend joined the Young Communist League and was a prominent figure in their 1966 "Trend" recruitment campaign. In a 1974 Penthouse interview he stated that he recognised in practice he was a capitalist who was rewarded well for his work, but that his ideals were communist.

In a widely reported 2012 interview with ABC, Townshend described himself jokingly as being "a bit of a neocon" stating that, "I like the idea of America as the world's police force. Then we don't have to do it. You guys sort it out."

In a 2019 interview with The Times, Townshend revealed he was in favour of the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union, stating, "I'm a Remainer, he is a Brexiteer. I believe in God, he doesn't."

Charity work

Townshend performing in Austin, Texas, as a supporting guest of friend and former Small Faces/Faces musician, Ian McLagan in 2007

Townshend has woven a long history of involvement with various charities and other philanthropic efforts throughout his career, both as a solo artist and with the Who. His first solo concert, for example, was a 1974 benefit show which was organised to raise funds for the Camden Square Community Play Centre.

The earliest public example of Townshend's involvement with charitable causes was in 1968, when Townshend donated the use of his former Wardour Street apartment to the Meher Baba Association. The following year, the association was moved to another Townshend-owned apartment, the Eccleston Square former residence of his wife Karen. Townshend sat on a committee that oversaw the operation and finances of the centre. "The committee sees to it that it is open a couple of days a week, and keeps the bills paid and the library full", he wrote in a 1970 Rolling Stone article.

In 1969 and 1972, Townshend produced two limited-release albums, Happy Birthday and I Am, for the London-based Baba association. This led to 1972's Who Came First, a more widespread release, 15 per cent of the revenue of which went to the Baba association. A further limited release, With Love, was released in 1976. A limited-edition boxed set of all three limited releases on CD, Avatar, was released in 2000, with all profits going to the Avatar Meher Baba Trust in India, which provided funds to a dispensary, school, hospital and pilgrimage centre.

In July 1976, Townshend opened Meher Baba Oceanic, a London activity centre for Baba followers, which featured film dubbing and editing facilities, a cinema and a recording studio. In addition, the centre served as a regular meeting place for Baba followers. Townshend offered very economical (reportedly £1 per night) lodging for American followers who needed an overnight stay on their pilgrimages to India. Townshend wrote in a 1977 Rolling Stone article:

For a few years, I had toyed with the idea of opening a London house dedicated to Meher Baba. In the eight years I had followed him, I had donated only coppers to foundations set up around the world to carry out the Master's wishes and decided it was about time I put myself on the line. The Who had set up a strong charitable trust of its own which appeased, to an extent, the feeling I had that Meher Baba would rather have seen me give to the poor than to the establishment of yet another so-called 'spiritual center'.

Townshend also embarked on a project dedicated to the collection, restoration and maintenance of Meher Baba-related films. The project was known as MEFA, or Meher Baba European Film Archive.

Children's charities

Townshend has been an active champion of children's charities. The debut of Townshend's stage version of Tommy took place at San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse in July 1992. The show was earmarked as a benefit for the London-based Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundation, an organisation that helps children with autism and intellectual disability.

Townshend performed at a 1995 benefit organised by Paul Simon at Madison Square Garden's Paramount Theatre for the Children's Health Fund. The following year, Townshend performed at a benefit for the annual Bridge School Benefit, a California facility for children with severe speech and physical impairments, with concerts organised by Neil and Pegi Young. In 1997, Townshend established a relationship with Maryville Academy, a Chicago area children's charity. Between 1997 and 2002, Townshend played five benefit shows for Maryville Academy, raising at least $1,600,000. His 1998 album A Benefit for Maryville Academy was made to support their activities and proceeds from the sales of his release were donated to them.

As a member of the Who, Townshend has also performed a series of concerts, beginning in 2000 to benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust in the UK, which raised several million pounds. In 2005, Townshend performed at New York's Gotham Hall for Samsung's Four Seasons of Hope, an annual children's charity fundraiser. In the same year, he donated a smashed guitar to the Pediatric Epilepsy Project.

On 4 November 2011, Roger Daltrey and Townshend launched the Daltrey/Townshend Teen and Young Adult Cancer Program at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, to be funded by the Who's charity Who Cares. The launch, followed on 5 November by a fund-raising event, was also attended by Robert Plant and Dave Grohl.

In 2024, Townshend contributed guitar to a re-release of Mark Knopfler's "Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero" in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Drug rehabilitation

Townshend has also advocated for drug rehabilitation. In a 1985 radio interview, he said:

What I'm most active in doing is raising money to provide beds in clinics to help people that have become victims of drug abuse. In Britain, the facilities are very, very, very lean indeed ... although we have a national health service, a free medical system, it does nothing particularly for class A drug addicts – cocaine abusers, heroin abusers ... we're making a lot of progress ... the British government embarked on an anti-heroin campaign with advertising, and I was co-opted by them as a kind of figurehead, and then the various other people co-opted me into their own campaigns, but my main work is raising money to try and open a large clinic.

The "large clinic" Townshend was referring to was a drug treatment facility in London that he and drug rehabilitation experimenter Meg Patterson had devised, but the plan failed to come to fruition. Two early 1979 concerts by the Who raised £20,000 for Patterson's Pharmakon Clinic in Sussex.

Further examples of Townshend's drug rehabilitation activism took place in the form of a 1984 benefit concert (incidentally the first live performance of Manchester band the Stone Roses), an article he wrote a few days later for Britain's Mail on Sunday urging better care for the nation's growing number of drug addicts, and the formation of a charitable organisation, Double-O Charities, to raise funds for the causes he'd recently championed. Townshend also personally sold fund-raising anti-heroin T-shirts at a series of UK Bruce Springsteen concerts and reportedly financed a trip for former Clash drummer Topper Headon to undergo drug rehabilitation treatment. Townshend's 1985–86 band, Deep End, played two benefits at Brixton Academy in 1985 for Double-O Charities.

Amnesty International

In 1979 Townshend donated his services to the human rights organisation Amnesty International when he performed three songs for its benefit show The Secret Policeman's Ball—performances that were released on record and seen in the film of the show. Townshend's acoustic performances of three of his songs ("Pinball Wizard", "Drowned", and "Won't Get Fooled Again") were subsequently cited as forerunners and inspiration for the "unplugged" phenomenon in the 1990s.

Townshend had been invited to perform for Amnesty by Martin Lewis, the producer of The Secret Policeman's Ball, who stated later that Townshend's participation had been the key to his securing the subsequent participation for Amnesty (in the 1981 sequel show) of Sting, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Phil Collins and Bob Geldof. Other performers inspired to support Amnesty International in future Secret Policeman's Ball shows and other benefits because of Townshend's early commitment to the organisation include Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, David Gilmour and U2's lead singer Bono who in 1986 told Rolling Stone magazine: "I saw The Secret Policeman's Ball and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed...."

Discography

Main article: Pete Townshend discography See also: The Who discography

Solo albums

Townshend also released several albums dedicated to his spiritual mentor Meher Baba, listed on the discography page.

Guest appearances

In 1968 Townshend helped assemble a band called Thunderclap Newman consisting of three musicians he knew: pianist Andy Newman (an old art school friend), drummer John "Speedy" Keen (who had written "Armenia City in the Sky" for the Who to record for their 1967 studio album The Who Sell Out) and teenage guitarist Jimmy McCulloch (later to join Wings). Townshend produced the band and played bass on their recordings under the tongue-in-cheek pseudonym "Bijou Drains". Their first recording was the single "Something in the Air", which became a number one hit in the UK and a substantial hit elsewhere in the world. Following this success, Townshend produced their sole album, Hollywood Dream.

In 1971 Townshend, along with Keith Moon and Ronnie Lane, backed Mike Heron (of the Incredible String Band) on one song "Warm Heart Pastry" from Heron's first solo LP, Smiling Men with Bad Reputations. On the album notes, they are listed as "Tommy and the Bijoux".

In 1984 Townshend contributed lyrics to the track "I'm the Answer" on his brother Simon's debut solo album, Sweet Sound.

Townshend shares songwriting credit on two songs ("Love on the Air" and "All Lovers Are Deranged") on Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's 1984 solo album About Face.

Townshend often recorded and performed alongside his girlfriend Rachel Fuller, a classically trained pianist and singer-songwriter.

In 2006 Townshend opened a website for implementation of The Lifehouse Method based on his 1971 Lifehouse concept. This website was in collaboration with composer Lawrence Ball and software developer David Snowden, with instrumentation by Steve Hills. Applicants at the website could input data to compose a musical "portrait" that the musical team could then develop into larger compositions for a planned concert or series of concerts.

Other appearances include:

Bibliography

Awards

Other lifetime honours

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  176. "Pete Townshend". Myguitarsolo.com. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  177. Townshend, Pete (31 October 2011). Can John Peelism Survive The Internet? (Speech). BBC Radio 6 Inaugural John Peel Lecture. Radio Academy Radio Festival, Salford's Lowry Theatre, Manchester.
  178. Gardner, Elysa; Gundersen, Edna (27 January 2013). "Pete Townshend receives Les Paul Award". USA Today. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  179. Blistein, Joan (23 April 2015). "Bruce Springsteen to Honor Pete Townshend for Addiction Charity Work". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 23 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  180. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  181. "2019 International Achievement Summit". American Academy of Achievement.

Cited references

Further reading

  • Horses Neck by Pete Townshend, Mariner Books 1987, new edition, (21 May 1998) ISBN 978-0-395-90559-3
  • The Who: Maximum R&B by Pete Townshend and Richard Barnes, Plexus Publishing; 5th edition (27 September 2004) ISBN 978-0-85965-351-0
  • Pete Townshend: A Minstrel's Dilemma by Larry David Smith, Praeger Publishers (30 March 1999) ISBN 978-0-275-96472-6
  • Who Are You: The Life of Pete Townshend by Mark Ian Wilkerson, Omnibus Press; 1st edition (30 November 2008) ISBN 978-1-84772-243-0

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