Recommendations of the Editorial team
The best songwriters of all time (30): Pete Townshend
The Who had an unbeatable drummer, an excellent bassist, an outstanding singer – and were anything but underexposed on the guitar front. And yet they would probably never have gotten out of the starting blocks if they hadn’t had a songwriter in Pete Townshend who constantly outgrew himself.
While “I Can’t Explain” (her debut single) and the epochal “My Generation” were still fueled by the hormonal Sturm & Drang, Townshend reached for even more distant stars with each passing year.
The Who – “My Generation”:
From a loose concept album to a pirate radio (“The Who Sell Out” from 1967), the journey went through an opera (“Tommy” from 1969) to a double album that dealt with the personality disorders of a young mod in 1973 (“Quadrophenia”).
By the mid-’80s, Pete Townshend’s productivity was noticeably declining (and he released only a few albums over the last three decades). But his first years with the Who were to radically push the boundaries of rock music.
“If I were to really release another solo album,” he recently told ROLLING STONE, “it would really have to address the issues that are currently affecting the world. I’m old enough, sophisticated enough, stupid enough and have played with fire long enough to not shy away from anything or anyone.”
Praise from Brian May
Brian May recently paid tribute to The Who’s Pete Townshend, saying he “basically invented” the rock guitar. The Queen guitarist owes the musician his own guitar playing and expresses his gratitude to him for it.
“Pete Townshend is a guitar god”
In an Instagram post on Monday, May 20th Brian May expressed his admiration for Townshend by posting a picture of the two guitarists together with a quote from himself. In it, the musician says: “Pete Townshend is a guitar god and always will be! I saw him stand there and let the guitar come to life on its own.” Townshend celebrated his 79th birthday on May 19th.
In the description, May continues his praise: “I can’t imagine rock guitar without Pete Townshend. Looking back, it seems to me that he basically invented it! I was lucky enough to be there and watch. My playing owes so much to him. I’m not talking about the blues-influenced style of playing that also underpinned the development of rock music in the ’70s and ’80s – Townshend brought to the stage a crashing jangle of super-amplified but not over-saturated chords – razor-sharp monoliths that pierced angrily through our brains, biting rhythmic hammer blows that would change me forever.”