1974 was a rough year for me. I had graduated HS in 73 and all my friends were off to college, something I wasn't ready for. I saw the latest album "Quatrophenia" in a record store and I bought it. For some reason, the album spoke to me, as I was lost. Things changed for me and I didn't go off the deep end...
Awesome story. The Quadrophenia album is what I turned to in College in the early 80's when things got heavy. I would also put on Daltrey's song "It's a hard life" for strength.
Remains one of the best interviews with Townshend, after all these years. It exemplifies Dave Marsh's assertion that this is "thinking man's rock by rock's thinking man."
Plenty of them could “think”…. Getting that in á scheduled interview? Not always at their best. Rockstar & Interviewer or both easily mess up a ‘good thing’ This one ? A gem on both ends 🎸
I wrote to Pete in 1984. He wrote back a year later and apologized for taking so long, true story! He sent me a autographed pic, I keep the letter and the pic in my SCOOPS album. I should frame them!
@@MrUndersolo I knew he had a studio in the small village of Twickenham England. I figured if I just addressed it to "Pete Townshend, Twickenham England" he was probably the most famous person in town and he'd get it.........he did!
I asked him to sign my guitar in1969 , I'd just bought it for 30 Bob he sead OK but when i passed it to him he smashed it on the floor, I've still got it now.
I watched this, in it's entirety before bed last night. I could watch him speak about any subject, and be mesmerized by the mere sound of his voice. I love him.❤️
And I suppose you knew he got captured after paying to watch CHILD PORN ?? .. How could you love such a filthy monster ? .. But hey, the world has changed.. Men are demanding to be called Women .. humanity has gone totally perverse !
Same. Watched before bed and I could have watched forever. Pete seems like such a completely authentic man. No artifice. No ego. Grounded. Comfortably self-deprecating.
nothing like seeing them from 67---75, they were like a weapon, so much going on with John just on the left like a giant oak thundering along, stick flying in the air, microphones twirling with Pete like a Spitfire in a dog fight---singing like angels, no slow blues or ballads, then they smashed everything--it was unbelievable to witness
@@jdemarco I totally agree. No one could touch them live. Not even Zeppelin in my opinion. Zeppelin made great records in the studio and so did The Who but The Who live was like nothing else. I saw them in North Carolina in 1989. Although Keith Moon obviously wasn’t there it was still the greatest concert I’ve ever seen or heard. I’d been a rabid WHO fan since I was 10 years old in 1981 but when I saw them live it changed my feelings toward them. I remember walking back to our car when the concert was over and thinking to myself… I get it now. I totally get it now. I understand why they’re the greatest rock n roll band on earth. The songs Pete wrote were meant to be played live in front of an audience. When they did Baba O’Riley I swear to you I’m not exaggerating it was the greatest, ethereal, almost spiritual experience ever. 72,000 fans singing along with Pete in that little break.. “Don’t cry, don’t raise your eye, it’s only teenage wasteland.” My goosebumps had goosebumps. It was UNREAL
@@johndardi1334 I saw them 3 times. Unfortunately after Moon died. But especially when he was alive, it was like all four members were on fire at the same time through te entire show. They just had this explosive energy and presence that no one else came close too...I would like to suggest you check out the Isle of Wight concert 1970 if you can get it (probably on youtube) for a prime example...
He said he had no real musical inspiration, just hoped to be a guitarist to escape social exclusion. That's honest & explains why he never really made a mark except as a famous band member.
@@TimLondonGuitarist Never really made a mark? His songs are his marks and they have been around for 50 years inspiring and entertaining and touching our hearts. Being honest is a great achievement. Very few artists are that honest and his songs are more honest than he is.
@@dee_seejay There were & still are many of us who think a guitar (or something similar seen as attention grabbing in the media) might get them noticed & out of their feeling of social exclusion, its nothing to do with post-war as you suggest. From a biased pov: the who did not define anything new, despite doing lots & getting lots of opportunites / finance. They only produced about 5 very memorable songs (not counting those memorable for being awful) , nothing compared to Beatles & Stones who they should be compared with. Bit like Queen: lots of hype / investment but ultimately lots of mush, apart from a few good tracks Who's only significant musical innovation was using the sequencer on Baba O'reilly. The only member that I have interest in is Entwhistle, I like hearing his isolated basslines (which can't normally be heard clearly in the badly-produced who-clutter-sound dominated by an overactive drummer. This egocentric drummer nightmare is usually dealt with or sacked, but they just let him carry on.
Pete saying "You've gotta go on man, otherwise these kids, they'll be finished! They'll have nothing to live for! That's rock and roll" gives me chills every time I hear it. Just brilliant
Agreed, John. Pete summed up rock 'n roll perfectly. Pete is just the best...thoughtful, cerebral, introspective...and rock 'n' roll clearly means as much to him as it does to us fans...it's not just all about the money with him...
I can't help but be struck by how beautiful his eyes are. He is a gentle soul in this interview. He is very smart. He played it smart from the beginning when he spent most of two years in his room to learn the guitar. He understood the value in destroying guitars to support their image. He seems to understand how to read situations and come out ahead. What a guy.
Sex pistols broke TV shows, interview shows like this, much more impressive than breaking a guitar, which obviously shows complete disrespect for the craftsmen who lovingly create them. Keith moon trashed his drums 1st, off the cuff. This got a reaction from the crowd so PT copied & it got more laughs, publicity, success, nothing more, no philosophy. PT possibly gave it a pseudo-intellectual explanation later when pressed, rather than admitting the truth: it was no more meaningful than the bullingdon club smashing up restaurants, but more cynical than the latter.
@@TimLondonGuitarist How do you know that it was Moon, not PT, that was the first to trash his kit? I have seen the contrary unchallenged everywhere. The sex pistols reacted to a bad attitude from a presenter that The Who were not ever faced with, with PT's acid tongue and Daltrey's notoriously short fuse, I don't believe for a second that that they would have been much different to the Pistols, perhaps just more eloquent and funny with it. The most iconic image of someone smashing a guitar was Paul Simonon, I suppose you will denounce him as not being a real punk? The Pistols were not first to do anything, they were manufactured to shock because they had nothing else in their bag to make a name with. Their bassist couldn't even play his instrument and to me that is far more of an affront to musicianship and the instrument, some scumbag pretending to play the instrument, pretending to be a musician, pretending to be a rock star, posing in the mirror for 2 years instead of applying himself. He would have been better off smashing it in an iconic photo, rather that than killing someone too, there you go, there is the real Sex Pistols headline, there is the one original thing someone in that band ever did. Murder. Nothing impressive about the Sex Pistols and by the way, the semi-decent half of the band met PT and told him that they loved The Who, they covered Substitute for chrissakes, PT is your heroes' hero.
Very bright and articulate. As much of a hellraiser as he was capable of being, he was an erudite gentleman with a very winning curiosity of the world around him. Very likeable and charismatic. I understand his daughter went to Cambridge and it doesn’t surprise me.
Writer of lyrics, books, reviews, essays etc. In 1983, he even took a position as an acquisitions editor for London publisher Faber and Faber and had been doing that for a number of years.
Read his autobiography. Intelligent? Yes. A Gifted composer? Yes. But likeable? That's a stretch. A horrible husband to his wife Karen and the two daughters he completely ignored. And he was quite famous for not being a party animal. Actually, kind of socially awkward due to some childhood trauma. A very gifted but very flawed individual.
@@richardbullwood5941When you are sexually abused as a child your design of safety & trust become very heightened..hyper vigilance, it also, like it or not, expands your awareness, making you hyper sensitive to others behaviors, energies & especially their pheromones. Paranoia is a term for total awareness…kids who were abused are often Paranoid it will happen again. So I give Pete a PASS on all of his “bad behavior..
This interviewer is smart, he's asking probing questions, but letting pete talk without interjecting his own curiosity, that's hard to do I would imagine, it's enjoyable to watch two guys just chatting about what the who and that era. In first grade our teacher would play a beatles record for us and I thought, wow, this adult is kinda connecting with us through music, some of my earliest and best memories.
I think you can hear from his ambivalence about the "Revolution " of the 60s manifested itself in one of the greatest rock lyrics of all time. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
Acid was great, at the time for me, born in 1960, in "72" I started taking acid regularly, and Pete is right, it's a fine line between just going along with the effects or feeling nervous and anxiety which could take over, many friends didn't like it, they had a "bad trip", it was different for different people, I loved it, but coming down was awful, frustrating. I did it reg for I guess about 5 years and it took its course with me and I was on to harder drugs, those choices followed me til this day. It's not worth it, don't start and you won't have to try and stop. Good luck to all. 🙏
"It's not worth it" Thanks for saying it. It always needs to be said. "If they take drugs, then we'll take time and laugh like children in our Prime" - me
Been fascinated by the Who since late 60's and esp after Woodstock. Have heard Pete speak in interviews before, but not to the length and depth of what he offered here. Very engaging speaker!
Well Then there’s our PETE. Like any of us he’s had his troubles yet he always seems to bounce back. The music seems to center him. Nice to see him relaxed, forthright, peaceful, humorous, reflecting and gently revealing his thoughts at that moment in time. At this point he’d come through another valley, although there were more to come but the sense of wanderlust he’s always had remains (fortunately for us) channeled into his creativity. Many of us grew up with these amazing tunes at times almost liquid sugar and more often ferocious grenades. They were/are grand & glorious. I still remember vividly popping my nickels into our new cafeteria jukebox in High School during lunch to hear “Love Reign O’er Me”…. A 45 at full length (Fm radio cut) bonus: as the girls always came to ask about that one. Then trying to figure out Pete’s wildly percussive strumming and use of Suspended Chords ( what notes is he dropping???) and majestic solos. Tickets to The Who or Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden were darn near impossible to wrangle. A friend got front row in 1975 by luck in a lottery system. Meanwhile I saw Pete and Roger twice in NYC & Queens recently with Simon, Zak Starkey and the orchestra in the last 4 years. Still got it !!! Saw them at the Capitol in Jersey in the 70’s …. The volume, the power and the energy….for a young guy amazing and no one…. I mean no one sat down from the very first note….. “However much I booze….there ain’t no way out!” They played honestly and gave it all. Pete’s life nakedly banged out over 2 hours.
You are right. I've been revisiting Tommy recently, on and off for about a year, and its quite amazing actually. Imagine a young man of probably 20 something, writing this great album. I always adored quadraphina . Pete is brilliant.
@@seanparker7415oh I remember him doing the South Bank Show. Looking back that’s an incredibly parochial title to give it if you want people from e.g. Holyhead to watch the arts 😂
@@jameshurley4337 no google to look it up in 1974. Not even any exhaustive music discographies or biographies. You just had to know. And I'm The Face was not well known at all, until Odds and Sods came out, a few days or weeks after this interview.
Excellent. I've never seen this., but I could not have been more influenced by Pete's persona and The Who. I traveled with my young wife to several shows in the Midwest USA in that era and saw Pete aghast in a Denver hotel elevator when that young wife of mine grabbed and latched on to Pete without warning. I told him not to worry, that she (and I) just appreciated them that much. Pete was gracious enough to talk with us after he finished dinner at the hotel restaurant. He was always writing... with a little paper notepad. This interview captures this time, and the experience of oneness with the audience dynamic that stand as a unique experience in my life to this day.
Everyone these days wants to be successful and what not.. Pete locked himself in his room for 2 years learning and crafting his skill.. very inspirational
Dam. Townshend is always a good interview and this one does not disappoint. I saw them in 1976 and they played zero from Quadrophenia, my absolute fav of theirs, so I was pissed at them. Until 2013. Then they toured doing the entirety of Quadrophenia with the most amazing sound equipment. Even though John and Keith were gone their replacements were amazing. Zak Starkey practically stole the show. Anyway, they redeemed themselves and I was angry at The Who no longer.
John and Paul had each other, Keith and Mick, Page & Plant. Pete was all that that who had. Amazing number of quality songs created. Creative Fucking genius.
@@67Parsifal Yes but only a handful of songs through their whole career. Pete wrote 90% of the songs including all the big hits. Entwistle did write some of my favorites though (Whiskey Man, Trick of the Light)
This is why I also have the utmost respect for Ray Davies. When all the other big bands of the 60’s-70’s had a partnership leading them, the Kinks and The Who had to solely rely on Ray and Pete respectively.
@@allbottledup9513 Refreshing to see praise for both The Kinks and The Who, so often people feel the need to like one at the expense of the other. There are many parallels, yet they are so different, room for both PT and RD at the very top, for me
Absolutely incredible interview. Pete is so enigmatic to listen to its addictive. I find in all interviews from yesteryear to present day he is a considered individual who takes a pause to consider his answer and statements and then offer them with intention. It's a beautiful way to talk and no doubt part of the quality that lends itself to such incredible songwriting. Excellent stuff
Awesome. Seen clips of this interview in multiple views of the Kids Are Alright, thanks for posting the whole (or most) of it. Just saw these guys last week in Denver. Just Roger and Pete, but still they bang it out with all their hearts. Definitely not as loud, I could hear walking out of the arena where other concerts in long past my ears hissed for a week. Cheers Long Live Rock
My guitar teacher in the 90s used to be offended by guitar smashers. He grew up in extreme poverty and for him getting a basic guitar was an ordeal and he treated all his guitars like his babies. I guess it's personal.
I love listening to Pete interviews. Listening to Pete is almost like story time. His interviews flow so nicely. He's great at articulating his words which makes his conversation even more interesting. Long Live Rock!
There is this honest sense of purpose and humility when you listen to the interviews from the stones, the who, and the beatiles. You know that they know that they are the luckiest people in the world because they found their purpose and built their world around their purpose. That is why they keep making music and tour. They will die if they don't.
Drove to Anaheim to see the WHO at the Big A(where the angels play) on Sunday march 21 1976. Serious pushing and shoving going on throughout the entire show. Very uncomfortable and dangerous.. I had tickets for the next Saturday march 27 Winterland show and decided I was going to do whatever I had to do to avoid getting caught in that situation again.. I wanted to assure my safety and comfort so I could really enjoy what I knew was going to be another incredible event. So I drove back to the bay area that night and when I got home early Monday morning, I started packing up everything I was going to need to survive a few nights sleeping on the corner of Post and Steiner and in the very early morning hours of Wednesday march 24 1976 I drove by myself to Winterland arena for the Saturday night March 27th show. When I got there no one was there yet and so I set up camp and for the next 4 days and 3 nights that was home.. By the time Saturday rolled around there was very long line behind me. Sometime around noon while doing his last minute rounds Bill Graham came over and asked me how long id been in line, when I told him I'd been there since Wednesday morning 1:00 am he immediately waved over to Willy his main man and instructed him to let me in a full hour before scheduled door opening and sure to his word I was allowed to enter the arena an hour before anyone else. No one was inside but a few stage hands and concessions.. I took a piss and plopped myself down dead center against the stage and didn't leave till the show was over and dust had cleared. It was like seeing them in my living room just me and them. EXTREMELY PROFOUND AND LIFE CHANGING.. Flash forward 34 yrs. to summer 2010 while randomly surfing concert shots on line i stumbled onto several pics from that show and BINGO!!!! There I was looking directly into someones camera Lense some now famous rock and roll photographers who were sitting upper balcony behind the stage pointing their cameras at the back side of the band on stage they could not miss capturing the peoples faces who were standing against the stage watching them and since i was dead center there i was crystal clear. I FOUND ALMOST A DOZEN VERY CLEAR PICS OF ME AND THE BAND IN CLOSE PROXIMITY . I figured id look for more pics in other shows i had attended and stood against the stage and I FOUND THEM! Jeff Beck and John McLaughlin blow by blow, Montrose with a teenage Sammy Hagar , Johnny Winter, Traffic, Grateful Dead (i'm in the GD Movie) ect. Found some 35 years after the event! What are the odds?
Townshend is sui generis. There is no one else like him. He had his own way. "Tommy", is his most visionary work. I'm quite willing to argue this point.
I definitely think Quadrophenia is his superior work, though Tommy is also great! Edit: Also, thank you for teaching me “sui generis”, I love learning new stuff!
@@allbottledup9513 I'm not sure if it is Quad or Who's Next for me, especially as I can't help thinking that Lifehouse, done properly as he had envisaged it, would have been a huge sensation, a masterpiece that dwarfed everything else of the time
When I was 14 my big brother who was living in London asked me if I wanted to see a live band I said yes, We went to a " milk bar " cellar in Soho , and this there was this guy playing guitar in windmill fashion .. Only about twenty people in there but I enjoyed the vibe very much ,,
At first he says he thought Mick Jagger was horrible in the Ealing pub, then he says he was amazing and had a huge impact on him when he saw him a bit later. I guess the Stones improved a lot pretty quickly. Either that or Pete’s tastes changed.
I'd say it was definitely the former, that's how I heard it and I think it tallies with the book and various other interviews. He saw them very, very early on and even someone as natural as Jagger would have taken a little while before really learning how to turn it on. They were all fast learners though, that's why they swam when so many others sank without trace. That's Pete all over though, you're never going to get a compliment without an insult either before and / or after it. But if he liked you, he'd move heaven and earth for you, he never gets credit for his benevolence. While on tour in the US he took the time to write a letter, to Rolling Stone mag. raving about The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society, how they must find it and listen, because it is incredible - everyone in the US had forgotten about The Kinks (3+ year tour ban), but they were generous to The Who at the very start, so Townshend would heap on the praise for them to anyone who would listen. Then of course Jagger and Richards got arrested and it was The Who that started the fund raising for the legal case. Who else would have bothered? My dad was at Acton County grammar in the year above Roger, so say 3 years above Pete and John, but he was the same, they were very tough kids, they really had to be, it's a shame when people don't see past Pete's acidic tongue, they just grew up in radically different times
I've seen parts of this in "The Kids Are Alright" so it's great to see more of the full interview (still seems like it starts in the middle a bit and there might be more after).
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend (19 de mayo de 1945) es un guitarrista, productor musical, cantante, multiinstrumentista y compositor británico de rock, reconocido principalmente por su trabajo con el grupo de rock The Who. Su carrera con The Who abarca más de cuarenta años, durante los cuales el grupo pasó a ser considerado una de las bandas más influyentes de la década de 1960 y de 1970. Según declaró Eddie Vedder, líder de Pearl Jam: «The Who es posiblemente el mejor grupo en directo».
There are very few people in the world that from such a young age can show such a focus to learn something that alters their lives👍👍 Big up for not seeing Elvis as any good
@@KyTaundry Elvis was mentioned in the same vein as Townshend,as in he never wrote any songs and was basically just famous for his looks and hip swinging.....he must have been brain dead the way he allowed his life to go
Notice at the end, the roadie nailing Keith’s drum kit to the stage. Moon would knock it over if he didn’t. Notice a young Bob Pridden also at the end. He’s an old man now.
I drew a perception of PT more from Pete when he's older, and he seemed bitter, and disgruntled. I had no idea he was eloquent, and articulate when he was young.
He’s articulate still today, he’s just old and doesn’t beat around the bush. As I was telling my girl the other night, I’d be disgruntled too if I was Pete. He was robbed of so much that he wanted to do.
3:02 "They were always taller". Pete is 6'. So his friends were all 7' ? 5:25 He's talking about Blackboard Jungle which had the soundtrack of Rock Around the Clock. John Lennon also saw that in the theater. 7:20 The Beatles also had an older drummer before Best and Ringo: Norman Chapman, who left for a "steady" factory job. 8:00 Art College. Lot's of synchroncity.
THEY were "always Superior" (to you, Pete???) .. OMG... I can guarantee you "they" were in no way "superior" to you*, my love. You are a Genius in every way and I've known that since I was 12. I'm 62 now ... and counting ..as you are too... LOVE you! xoxoxo!!
Who.... may I ask authorised "the star filter" on the John Entwistles iso? What is this? Darts.... Snooker.... Was that a nail through the kick into the steel deck drum to stop it moving.
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1974 was a rough year for me. I had graduated HS in 73 and all my friends were off to college, something I wasn't ready for. I saw the latest album "Quatrophenia" in a record store and I bought it. For some reason, the album spoke to me, as I was lost. Things changed for me and I didn't go off the deep end...
Awesome story. The Quadrophenia album is what I turned to in College in the early 80's when things got heavy. I would also put on Daltrey's song "It's a hard life" for strength.
Gay
@@promark5317 What is "gay"?
@@scurfie2343 Don't worry about it.
Remains one of the best interviews with Townshend, after all these years. It exemplifies Dave Marsh's assertion that this is "thinking man's rock by rock's thinking man."
I like that
Plenty of them could “think”…. Getting that in á scheduled interview? Not always at their best.
Rockstar & Interviewer or both easily mess up a ‘good thing’
This one ? A gem on both ends 🎸
Good observation. In a similar vein, someone (I forget who) once said that John Lennon was "the thinking man's Beatle".
I wrote to Pete in 1984.
He wrote back a year later and apologized for taking so long, true story! He sent me a autographed pic, I keep the letter and the pic in my SCOOPS album. I should frame them!
"Dear Mr. Townshend..."
@@MrUndersolo
I asked him about the theory of "The Lost Chord"
@@motorcitymanman7711 Wow. Where did you write to him?
@@MrUndersolo
I knew he had a studio in the small village of Twickenham England.
I figured if I just addressed it to "Pete Townshend, Twickenham England" he was probably the most famous person in town and he'd get it.........he did!
I asked him to sign my guitar in1969 , I'd just bought it for 30 Bob he sead OK but when i passed it to him he smashed it on the floor, I've still got it now.
I watched this, in it's entirety before bed last night.
I could watch him speak about any subject, and be mesmerized by the mere sound of his voice.
I love him.❤️
And I suppose you knew he got captured after paying to watch CHILD PORN ?? .. How could you love such a filthy monster ? .. But hey, the world has changed.. Men are demanding to be called Women .. humanity has gone totally perverse !
Same. Watched before bed and I could have watched forever. Pete seems like such a completely authentic man. No artifice. No ego. Grounded. Comfortably self-deprecating.
It's typically English, from West London.
As am I.
Salutations, from Kensington and Chelsea; in London.
🇬🇧 🤝 🇺🇸
My god, what a beautiful man!
Amen sir!
Great 🎨 artist
Pete is my all-time favorite guitar player and one of the best rock and roll musicians of all time
nothing like seeing them from 67---75, they were like a weapon, so much going on with John just on the left like a giant oak thundering along, stick flying in the air, microphones twirling with Pete like a Spitfire in a dog fight---singing like angels, no slow blues or ballads, then they smashed everything--it was unbelievable to witness
Ppllllll
The Who in that era was an unmatched force...
@@jdemarco I totally agree. No one could touch them live. Not even Zeppelin in my opinion. Zeppelin made great records in the studio and so did The Who but The Who live was like nothing else. I saw them in North Carolina in 1989. Although Keith Moon obviously wasn’t there it was still the greatest concert I’ve ever seen or heard. I’d been a rabid WHO fan since I was 10 years old in 1981 but when I saw them live it changed my feelings toward them. I remember walking back to our car when the concert was over and thinking to myself… I get it now. I totally get it now. I understand why they’re the greatest rock n roll band on earth. The songs Pete wrote were meant to be played live in front of an audience. When they did Baba O’Riley I swear to you I’m not exaggerating it was the greatest, ethereal, almost spiritual experience ever. 72,000 fans singing along with Pete in that little break.. “Don’t cry, don’t raise your eye, it’s only teenage wasteland.” My goosebumps had goosebumps. It was UNREAL
@@johndardi1334 I saw them 3 times. Unfortunately after Moon died. But especially when he was alive, it was like all four members were on fire at the same time through te entire show. They just had this explosive energy and presence that no one else came close too...I would like to suggest you check out the Isle of Wight concert 1970 if you can get it (probably on youtube) for a prime example...
Rock in it's most primitive and awesome form!
A brilliant and very insightful interview of a living legend. Thank you Pete, for being such an inspiration, as an artist and a human being.
Creep on human legs, on your way son we have murders to solve.
@@martinallen6170 Let me guess. The Black Dalia Murders?
@@gr.vo.3058 Sorry old chap red delia murders, thanks for the compliment though.
Yea, thanks for being a human! If you were a toad it would have been difficult!
@@bluesque9687 Actually, Pete is a Rock GOD!!! lmfao! Who's music will outlast the lives of most humans.
What a brilliant, deeply feeling fellow Pete Townshend has always been. Deep, honest, spiritually uplifting fellow.
Pete is spiritually uplifting? Deeply feeling? Dude is as cynical as it gets.
He said he had no real musical inspiration, just hoped to be a guitarist to escape social exclusion. That's honest & explains why he never really made a mark except as a famous band member.
@@TimLondonGuitarist Never really made a mark? His songs are his marks and they have been around for 50 years inspiring and entertaining and touching our hearts. Being honest is a great achievement. Very few artists are that honest and his songs are more honest than he is.
@@dee_seejay True. I was in a bad mood. You're right about Pete.
@@dee_seejay There were & still are many of us who think a guitar (or something similar seen as attention grabbing in the media) might get them noticed & out of their feeling of social exclusion, its nothing to do with post-war as you suggest.
From a biased pov: the who did not define anything new, despite doing lots & getting lots of opportunites / finance.
They only produced about 5 very memorable songs (not counting those memorable for being awful) , nothing compared to Beatles & Stones who they should be compared with.
Bit like Queen: lots of hype / investment but ultimately lots of mush, apart from a few good tracks
Who's only significant musical innovation was using the sequencer on Baba O'reilly.
The only member that I have interest in is Entwhistle, I like hearing his isolated basslines (which can't normally be heard clearly in the badly-produced who-clutter-sound dominated by an overactive drummer.
This egocentric drummer nightmare is usually dealt with or sacked, but they just let him carry on.
Pete saying "You've gotta go on man, otherwise these kids, they'll be finished! They'll have nothing to live for! That's rock and roll" gives me chills every time I hear it. Just brilliant
Always my brother's favorite part of The Kids Are Alright.
Agreed, John. Pete summed up rock 'n roll perfectly. Pete is just the best...thoughtful, cerebral, introspective...and rock 'n' roll clearly means as much to him as it does to us fans...it's not just all about the money with him...
Morrisey’s go to line….
I can't help but be struck by how beautiful his eyes are. He is a gentle soul in this interview. He is very smart. He played it smart from the beginning when he spent most of two years in his room to learn the guitar. He understood the value in destroying guitars to support their image. He seems to understand how to read situations and come out ahead. What a guy.
Honest eyes...no deceit whatsoever
Sex pistols broke TV shows, interview shows like this, much more impressive than breaking a guitar, which obviously shows complete disrespect for the craftsmen who lovingly create them.
Keith moon trashed his drums 1st, off the cuff.
This got a reaction from the crowd so PT copied & it got more laughs, publicity, success,
nothing more, no philosophy.
PT possibly gave it a pseudo-intellectual explanation later when pressed, rather than admitting the truth: it was no more meaningful than the bullingdon club smashing up restaurants, but more cynical than the latter.
@@TimLondonGuitarist How do you know that it was Moon, not PT, that was the first to trash his kit? I have seen the contrary unchallenged everywhere. The sex pistols reacted to a bad attitude from a presenter that The Who were not ever faced with, with PT's acid tongue and Daltrey's notoriously short fuse, I don't believe for a second that that they would have been much different to the Pistols, perhaps just more eloquent and funny with it.
The most iconic image of someone smashing a guitar was Paul Simonon, I suppose you will denounce him as not being a real punk? The Pistols were not first to do anything, they were manufactured to shock because they had nothing else in their bag to make a name with. Their bassist couldn't even play his instrument and to me that is far more of an affront to musicianship and the instrument, some scumbag pretending to play the instrument, pretending to be a musician, pretending to be a rock star, posing in the mirror for 2 years instead of applying himself. He would have been better off smashing it in an iconic photo, rather that than killing someone too, there you go, there is the real Sex Pistols headline, there is the one original thing someone in that band ever did. Murder. Nothing impressive about the Sex Pistols and by the way, the semi-decent half of the band met PT and told him that they loved The Who, they covered Substitute for chrissakes, PT is your heroes' hero.
When I was young. many years ago, I thought Pete's eyes were beautiful too. I thought he was hot -- still is. :)
but he sure loves the young ones
Pete is the ultimate rock and roll spokesperson.
Insiduous
Also the ultimate GENIOUS of Rock n Roll
He's always been a very eloquent rocker!
Very bright and articulate. As much of a hellraiser as he was capable of being, he was an erudite gentleman with a very winning curiosity of the world around him. Very likeable and charismatic.
I understand his daughter went to Cambridge and it doesn’t surprise me.
They didn't make araldite in those days, you must be mistaken.
Likeable and christmaslike , that's a new one!
Writer of lyrics, books, reviews, essays etc. In 1983, he even took a position as an acquisitions editor for London publisher Faber and Faber and had been doing that for a number of years.
Read his autobiography. Intelligent? Yes. A Gifted composer? Yes. But likeable? That's a stretch. A horrible husband to his wife Karen and the two daughters he completely ignored. And he was quite famous for not being a party animal. Actually, kind of socially awkward due to some childhood trauma. A very gifted but very flawed individual.
@@richardbullwood5941When you are sexually abused as a child your design of safety & trust become very heightened..hyper vigilance, it also, like it or not, expands your awareness, making you hyper sensitive to others behaviors, energies & especially their pheromones. Paranoia is a term for total awareness…kids who were abused are often Paranoid it will happen again. So I give Pete a PASS on all of his “bad behavior..
This interviewer is smart, he's asking probing questions, but letting pete talk without interjecting his own curiosity, that's hard to do I would imagine, it's enjoyable to watch two guys just chatting about what the who and that era. In first grade our teacher would play a beatles record for us and I thought, wow, this adult is kinda connecting with us through music, some of my earliest and best memories.
Melvyn was always a superb interviewer.
Funny, it was my fourth grade teacher who let one of my fellow classmtes bring in a Beatles record for show and tell. That would have been 1965.
I think you can hear from his ambivalence about the "Revolution " of the 60s manifested itself in one of the greatest rock lyrics of all time. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
Acid was great, at the time for me, born in 1960, in "72" I started taking acid regularly, and Pete is right, it's a fine line between just going along with the effects or feeling nervous and anxiety which could take over, many friends didn't like it, they had a "bad trip", it was different for different people, I loved it, but coming down was awful, frustrating. I did it reg for I guess about 5 years and it took its course with me and I was on to harder drugs, those choices followed me til this day. It's not worth it, don't start and you won't have to try and stop. Good luck to all. 🙏
My friend its nice to hear your honesty hope you are doing OK.
"It's not worth it"
Thanks for saying it. It always needs to be said.
"If they take drugs, then we'll take time and laugh like children in our Prime" - me
@@bellinghammond Bellinghammond, that’s pretty cool. May any young ones who see your comment take its wisdom to heart.
An interview full of history. One of the great songwriters of the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Been fascinated by the Who since late 60's and esp after Woodstock. Have heard Pete speak in interviews before, but not to the length and depth of what he offered here. Very engaging speaker!
Well Then there’s our PETE. Like any of us he’s had his troubles yet he always seems to bounce back.
The music seems to center him. Nice to see him relaxed, forthright, peaceful, humorous, reflecting and gently revealing his thoughts at that moment in time.
At this point he’d come through another valley, although there were more to come but the sense of wanderlust he’s always had remains (fortunately for us) channeled into his creativity.
Many of us grew up with these amazing tunes at times almost liquid sugar and more often ferocious grenades. They were/are grand & glorious. I still remember vividly popping my nickels into our new cafeteria jukebox in High School during lunch to hear “Love Reign O’er Me”…. A 45 at full length (Fm radio cut) bonus: as the girls always came to ask about that one. Then trying to figure out Pete’s wildly percussive strumming and use of Suspended Chords ( what notes is he dropping???) and majestic solos.
Tickets to The Who or Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden were darn near impossible to wrangle. A friend got front row in 1975 by luck in a lottery system.
Meanwhile I saw Pete and Roger twice in NYC & Queens recently with Simon, Zak Starkey and the orchestra in the last 4 years. Still got it !!!
Saw them at the Capitol in Jersey in the 70’s …. The volume, the power and the energy….for a young guy amazing and no one…. I mean no one sat down from the very first note…..
“However much I booze….there ain’t no way out!”
They played honestly and gave it all. Pete’s life nakedly banged out over 2 hours.
Dreaming From the Waist. From Who By Numbers-IMO-the BEST Who album. EVER.
"The instrument smashing kept us in debt until 1972."
-- Roger Daltrey
A very honest and open interview with an intelligent and insightful man.
Humorous little moment at the end watching the roadie nailing down Moonie’s drum kit 😆
It's so insightful listening to him express and tell about the things he's experienced
Heya Nakedeye515, thanks for posting this. Obviously saw snippets of this in the film....great to see the whole thing. Glad I found it
Musical genius
Correct!
Yep…. Pete is one of the greatest song writers of all time.
@@tonydardi332 100% Self taught!
You are right. I've been revisiting Tommy recently, on and off for about a year, and its quite amazing actually. Imagine a young man of probably 20 something, writing this great album. I always adored quadraphina . Pete is brilliant.
He wanted to be a journalist which is why he such a great lyricist/songwriter.
First time I've seen this entire interview. Even better than I could have hoped.
Back in the days when interviewers did their homework, and let the interviewee TALK.
4 years later almost to the day, Keith was gone.
The interviewer, Melvyn Bragg, still has a BBC podcast.
Not many as good as Melvyn at interviewing.
@@seanparker7415oh I remember him doing the South Bank Show. Looking back that’s an incredibly parochial title to give it if you want people from e.g. Holyhead to watch the arts 😂
He still called it ‘In The Face’ 🤦♂️
@@jameshurley4337 no google to look it up in 1974. Not even any exhaustive music discographies or biographies. You just had to know. And I'm The Face was not well known at all, until Odds and Sods came out, a few days or weeks after this interview.
i experienced what pete townshend's talking about at the hull abc 29th october 1971, talk about being lost in the music, never to be forgotten
They played Manchester 28/10/71 and Newcastle 30/10/71. Where did you see them Bob?
Excellent. I've never seen this., but I could not have been more influenced by Pete's persona and The Who. I traveled with my young wife to several shows in the Midwest USA in that era and saw Pete aghast in a Denver hotel elevator when that young wife of mine grabbed and latched on to Pete without warning. I told him not to worry, that she (and I) just appreciated them that much. Pete was gracious enough to talk with us after he finished dinner at the hotel restaurant. He was always writing... with a little paper notepad. This interview captures this time, and the experience of oneness with the audience dynamic that stand as a unique experience in my life to this day.
One of the best rock interviews I’ve ever seen.
I remember it first time round.
Everyone these days wants to be successful and what not.. Pete locked himself in his room for 2 years learning and crafting his skill.. very inspirational
Love Pete!!! He is a genius
and he has a beautiful soul. 💜💜💜
Pete is one of the all time great British song smiths. His arrangments were amazing !
Dam. Townshend is always a good interview and this one does not disappoint. I saw them in 1976 and they played zero from Quadrophenia, my absolute fav of theirs, so I was pissed at them. Until 2013. Then they toured doing the entirety of Quadrophenia with the most amazing sound equipment. Even though John and Keith were gone their replacements were amazing. Zak Starkey practically stole the show. Anyway, they redeemed themselves and I was angry at The Who no longer.
Away with ye
He has beautiful eyes
Incredible. Love Pete!✌️🤟🌸🌺💐
In The Face 😂
Owsley made that STP. Both Jimi and Mitch Mitchell left their bodies on Owsleys STP at the Miami Pop Festival while playing on stage.
what a pleasure to listen to that (this) in November 2022.
John and Paul had each other, Keith and Mick, Page & Plant. Pete was all that that who had. Amazing number of quality songs created. Creative Fucking genius.
Entwistle also wrote songs.
@@67Parsifal Yes but only a handful of songs through their whole career. Pete wrote 90% of the songs including all the big hits. Entwistle did write some of my favorites though (Whiskey Man, Trick of the Light)
This is why I also have the utmost respect for Ray Davies. When all the other big bands of the 60’s-70’s had a partnership leading them, the Kinks and The Who had to solely rely on Ray and Pete respectively.
Dave wrote some as well but yes, Ray wrote the hits and most of the songs.
@@allbottledup9513 Refreshing to see praise for both The Kinks and The Who, so often people feel the need to like one at the expense of the other. There are many parallels, yet they are so different, room for both PT and RD at the very top, for me
Absolutely incredible interview. Pete is so enigmatic to listen to its addictive. I find in all interviews from yesteryear to present day he is a considered individual who takes a pause to consider his answer and statements and then offer them with intention. It's a beautiful way to talk and no doubt part of the quality that lends itself to such incredible songwriting. Excellent stuff
Keith's drum tech nailing the bass drum to the stage.35:34😆
Great interview, thanks for posting this.
What an absolutely fascinating insight
Awesome. Seen clips of this interview in multiple views of the Kids Are Alright, thanks for posting the whole (or most) of it. Just saw these guys last week in Denver. Just Roger and Pete, but still they bang it out with all their hearts. Definitely not as loud, I could hear walking out of the arena where other concerts in long past my ears hissed for a week. Cheers Long Live Rock
Fantastic interview with a thoughtful Pete T. giving lots of insights into rock and himself as a person.
"It's just wood... I'm what counts" To non-players that may sound pretentious, but man... He couldn't be more right about that.
No. Pete said he destroyed some GOOD guitars--and they are hard to find.
@RampantMackerelAshtray Your guitar should be set up well. Fighting a crappy instrument will never help you.
My guitar teacher in the 90s used to be offended by guitar smashers. He grew up in extreme poverty and for him getting a basic guitar was an ordeal and he treated all his guitars like his babies.
I guess it's personal.
This might be the best Pete Towshend interview I've ever listened to. Just my opinion. I love his very British self-deprecating charm.
Pete said Fenders were built sturdier than Gibsons because he glued them all back together after the show in Wood Working With Pete.
So much of this incredible interview was left out of the movie!
A great, intelligent, insightful interview.
32:00 Cool shot of Entwistle. Never get tired of listening to his playing.
I love listening to Pete interviews. Listening to Pete is almost like story time. His interviews flow so nicely. He's great at articulating his words which makes his conversation even more interesting. Long Live Rock!
There is this honest sense of purpose and humility when you listen to the interviews from the stones, the who, and the beatiles. You know that they know that they are the luckiest people in the world because they found their purpose and built their world around their purpose. That is why they keep making music and tour. They will die if they don't.
Awesome interview
Really nice that Pete was quite close to his parents, that they were supportive, and that he had nice things to say about them.
Woof! He is beautiful!
thank you for posting this!
i'd only seen the clips they included in TKAA film......
"trying to reduce the size of my nose...." totally got me. Pete is God!.
Wow, what a band... Woodstock.... Live at Leeds.... Iconic forever!!!!
Drove to Anaheim to see the WHO at the Big A(where the angels play) on Sunday march 21 1976.
Serious pushing and shoving going on throughout the entire show.
Very uncomfortable and dangerous..
I had tickets for the next Saturday march 27 Winterland show and decided I was going to do whatever I had to do to avoid getting caught in that situation again..
I wanted to assure my safety and comfort so I could really enjoy what I knew was going to be another incredible event.
So I drove back to the bay area that night and when I got home early Monday morning, I started packing up everything I was going to need to survive a few nights sleeping on the corner of Post and Steiner and in the very early morning hours of Wednesday march 24 1976 I drove by myself to Winterland arena for the Saturday night March 27th show.
When I got there no one was there yet and so I set up camp and for the next 4 days and 3 nights that was home..
By the time Saturday rolled around there was very long line behind me.
Sometime around noon while doing his last minute rounds Bill Graham came over and asked me how long id been in line, when I told him I'd been there since Wednesday morning 1:00 am he immediately waved over to Willy his main man and instructed him to let me in a full hour before scheduled door opening and sure to his word I was allowed to enter the arena an hour before anyone else.
No one was inside but a few stage hands and concessions..
I took a piss and plopped myself down dead center against the stage and didn't leave till the show was over and dust had cleared.
It was like seeing them in my living room just me and them. EXTREMELY PROFOUND AND LIFE CHANGING..
Flash forward 34 yrs. to summer 2010 while randomly surfing concert shots on line i stumbled onto several pics from that show and BINGO!!!!
There I was looking directly into someones camera Lense some now famous rock and roll photographers who were sitting upper balcony behind the stage pointing their cameras at the back side of the band on stage they could not miss capturing the peoples faces who were standing against the stage watching them and since i was dead center there i was crystal clear.
I FOUND ALMOST A DOZEN VERY CLEAR PICS OF ME AND THE BAND IN CLOSE PROXIMITY . I figured id look for more pics in other shows i had attended and stood against the stage and I FOUND THEM! Jeff Beck and John McLaughlin blow by blow, Montrose with a teenage Sammy Hagar , Johnny Winter, Traffic, Grateful Dead (i'm in the GD Movie) ect.
Found some 35 years after the event! What are the odds?
Townshend is sui generis. There is no one else like him. He had his own way. "Tommy", is his most visionary work. I'm quite willing to argue this point.
I definitely think Quadrophenia is his superior work, though Tommy is also great!
Edit: Also, thank you for teaching me “sui generis”, I love learning new stuff!
@@allbottledup9513 I'm not sure if it is Quad or Who's Next for me, especially as I can't help thinking that Lifehouse, done properly as he had envisaged it, would have been a huge sensation, a masterpiece that dwarfed everything else of the time
WOW. This is real treat. In HD too. THANK YOU !!
When I was 14 my big brother who was living in London asked me if I wanted to see a live band I said yes, We went to a " milk bar " cellar in Soho , and this there was this guy playing guitar in windmill fashion .. Only about twenty people in there but I enjoyed the vibe very much ,,
Jai Baba Pete. Great interview.
Good stuff...on and off stage!
Articulate, thoughtful, genuine..
At first he says he thought Mick Jagger was horrible in the Ealing pub, then he says he was amazing and had a huge impact on him when he saw him a bit later. I guess the Stones improved a lot pretty quickly. Either that or Pete’s tastes changed.
I'd say it was definitely the former, that's how I heard it and I think it tallies with the book and various other interviews. He saw them very, very early on and even someone as natural as Jagger would have taken a little while before really learning how to turn it on. They were all fast learners though, that's why they swam when so many others sank without trace. That's Pete all over though, you're never going to get a compliment without an insult either before and / or after it. But if he liked you, he'd move heaven and earth for you, he never gets credit for his benevolence. While on tour in the US he took the time to write a letter, to Rolling Stone mag. raving about The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society, how they must find it and listen, because it is incredible - everyone in the US had forgotten about The Kinks (3+ year tour ban), but they were generous to The Who at the very start, so Townshend would heap on the praise for them to anyone who would listen. Then of course Jagger and Richards got arrested and it was The Who that started the fund raising for the legal case. Who else would have bothered?
My dad was at Acton County grammar in the year above Roger, so say 3 years above Pete and John, but he was the same, they were very tough kids, they really had to be, it's a shame when people don't see past Pete's acidic tongue, they just grew up in radically different times
I’ve never seen a musician more eloquent and interesting, in my life.
I've seen parts of this in "The Kids Are Alright" so it's great to see more of the full interview (still seems like it starts in the middle a bit and there might be more after).
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend (19 de mayo de 1945) es un guitarrista, productor musical, cantante, multiinstrumentista y compositor británico de rock, reconocido principalmente por su trabajo con el grupo de rock The Who. Su carrera con The Who abarca más de cuarenta años, durante los cuales el grupo pasó a ser considerado una de las bandas más influyentes de la década de 1960 y de 1970. Según declaró Eddie Vedder, líder de Pearl Jam: «The Who es posiblemente el mejor grupo en directo».
I think I heard him say, one of his earliest memories is being at the lovely sand dune beach at Ayr (Butlins). I never knew this about Pete.
It makes sense. We know the beach and the water is a very important thing to Pete. Maybe this is where his love/attachment to water began?
@@allbottledup9513 He said he was trying to climb out of the place!
one of our best guitar players, love that raw sound.
There are very few people in the world that from such a young age can show such a focus to learn something that alters their lives👍👍
Big up for not seeing Elvis as any good
You literally just described Elvis though.
@@KyTaundry
Elvis was mentioned in the same vein as Townshend,as in he never wrote any songs and was basically just famous for his looks and hip swinging.....he must have been brain dead the way he allowed his life to go
Notice at the end, the roadie nailing Keith’s drum kit to the stage. Moon would knock it over if he didn’t. Notice a young Bob Pridden also at the end. He’s an old man now.
This interview was done on my 9th birthday
This is the most laid back interviewer I’ve seen.
Good sense of humor
😃😋
Pete he is a really good person And He is my favourite person ❤🎉🥂🍻💝💜💚💗🖤❤️🔥
Never seen this in full before, thank you so much...
This is a longer version of one I was already familiar with.
愛しのピート様✨
Industry, proud, I love that, Television used tobe like that.
Wonderful interview!
And oh by the way the drummer they kicked out was Mitch Mitchell .. he did ok... hooked up with Jimi Hendrix
I’ve always enjoyed the muse of Chairman Townshend- he is a seeker and we’re richer for it. ⚡️
One of the greats.
Love seeing these old interviews with Pete where he's drunk on Brandy (and possibly stoned)!
His STP experience is harrowing!
It really is and yet I guess, because trapped on a plane, could have been far worse
Love reign oer us bless you Pete
I love Pete❤
The Who's second album was like mono. KIt may not have been a great producer, but he was a great influence on Pete.
I drew a perception of PT more from Pete when he's older, and he seemed bitter, and disgruntled. I had no idea he was eloquent, and articulate when he was young.
He’s articulate still today, he’s just old and doesn’t beat around the bush. As I was telling my girl the other night, I’d be disgruntled too if I was Pete. He was robbed of so much that he wanted to do.
Lovely eyes 👁👁
3:02 "They were always taller". Pete is 6'. So his friends were all 7' ? 5:25 He's talking about Blackboard Jungle which had the soundtrack of Rock Around the Clock. John Lennon also saw that in the theater. 7:20 The Beatles also had an older drummer before Best and Ringo: Norman Chapman, who left for a "steady" factory job. 8:00 Art College. Lot's of synchroncity.
THEY were "always Superior" (to you, Pete???) .. OMG... I can guarantee you "they" were in no way "superior" to you*, my love. You are a Genius in every way and I've known that since I was 12. I'm 62 now ... and counting ..as you are too... LOVE you! xoxoxo!!
Who.... may I ask authorised "the star filter" on the John Entwistles iso? What is this? Darts.... Snooker.... Was that a nail through the kick into the steel deck drum to stop it moving.
😄Great Interview
He is such a bad-assothfucking genius
gotta love melvyn
First record, "In The Face"!?!?! ... Fuck yeah!