Pete Townshend (who he?) – Prologue

Well, it has been a while, hasn't it! But Pete's back to sharing his writing with us and, as he has nowhere to post comments, I thought I'd volunteer. After all, with the autobiography, we get to delve into actual history and not literary criticism as was the case with "The Boy Who Heard Music."

I hope this blog can turn into a meeting place for those of us who've studied the history of this author and spent many a day trying to untangle The Story of The Who from all the mistakes, press agency, and long-lost information. So let's begin!

Pete starts with a memory that forms a key image in the last story in Pete's book Horse's Neck (1985), "Laguna, Valentine's Day, 1982." Here as there the memory relates to his parent's abandonment of Pete to the not-so-tender care of his grandmother that follows in the next paragraph. So this is, at long last, a non-fictionalized version of the "suppressed memory" he recovered when he first began researching this autobio after his Sept. 1991 bicycle accident. An incident much like this occurs in "The Boy Who Heard Music," somewhat sexualized. Wonder if that part was created for the novella or actually occurred? Pete has long spoken of the "abuse" he suffered at the hands of his grandmother and I've wondered whether he meant straight-up physical hurting or something that involved molestation.

The first thing I think most armchair psychologists would say is, "no wonder he had problems with the older generation!" That may be a bit too pat a conclusion but what about the connection to water that runs through Pete's work, from "Water" to "Drowned" to "The Sea Refuses No River"? Most might see a connection to Tommy but there's also a strong link to Quadrophenia, both with the incipient madness and the submersion in liquid. This is really where the need for a scholarly journal on Townshendania would be of use.

And what must he, a supporter of the Iraq invasion, thought when he heard about the use of waterboarding?

We then leap to the early evening of May 1, 1969 as Pete grabs his guitar and walks to Ronnie Scott's to premiere Tommy. Pete spoke a long time ago about the meaning of his "boiler suit" attire, about feeling like a worker putting on his work clothes and heading off to his job. Also hinted at here is the "tour armour" of his infamous 1980 Rolling Stone interview as he cloaks himself in it during his walk. Preparation for going through his "Dr. Jimmy and Mr. Jim" transformation from "this rational person sitting here talking to you" to the windmilling Yippie-basher.

And who might the bombastic music journalist be? Charles Shaar Murray, Chris Welch? Hmmmm.