Word: townshend
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...launch into their wail ing finale, My Generation ("I hope I die before I get old"), strange things do begin to happen. Clunk! Lead Singer Roger Daltrey flings the microphone to the floor, wheels around and begins flailing at the drums played by Keith Moon. Crack! Peter Townshend breaks his guitar against the stage, jumps on it, then splinters it against a speaker cabinet. Crash! John Entwistle heaves his bass away and joins the others in a savage orgy of kicking and pushing at the loudspeakers, the drums and the mike stand...
Thanks to this sort of showmanship, The Who's recent 30-city U.S. tour was-well, a smashing success. But the display, as Peter Townshend admits, "is an act, and it really is meaningless." It is also troublesome, since it requires them constantly to prowl the pawnshops in search of cheap replacements for broken instruments. "We started using it," says Townshend, "as a lever to get the audiences to come, and then, we hoped, dig the rest of the music." Now the audiences are coming. The Who rank close behind the Beatles and the Rolling Stones...
Breaking Up. From the beginning of their career, The Who have been known more for their nonmusical put-ons than their musical output. They were formed in 1964 when Townshend, the son of a dance-band saxophonist in suburban London, met the other three in school. Their early local successes were based on imitations of U.S. blues and rock 'n' roll performers (John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley). Later, they pioneered in pop-art costumes, such as jackets made from Union Jacks. Then they began literally breaking things up-and probably inspired the guitar-burning antics of Singer Jimi...
...worry that people may think you breaking instruments is just a gimmick? Daltrey replies, "No, I'm not worried if they think that. It is a gimmick." Townshend--"I get frustrated. I don't have as much talent as Clapton or Hendrix but I can conceive of things that I can't play that they could play but would never be able to think of. So I break my guitar." There is more to their destruction than even this. Sit through one of these acts...
...Townshend is wonderful to talk to. A gentle man of long slim build he talks effortlessly and meaningfully. Q. How do you account for the fact that pop music is so fine and yet appeals to such a large audience. Townshend--" Well its because pop music can take many developments, lyricism, poetry, aggression, and it can be appreciated at many levels. Our music is pop music only in the sense...