Pete Townshend

So, it was 1981 or so and I remember hearing a song in a style I never had before. I had been playing guitar for a couple of years-the Monkees had actually been the reason I picked up a guitar.Their TV show used to play on reruns and I was fascinated by Mike Nesmith. I had just gotten a job, since I had dropped out of high school. This was the end of Disco and the days when bands like AC/DC and other hard rock bands were the buzz,the beginning of the hair band crap that ruled for most of the decade, but here was this song playing on WMMR out of Philly called Don't Let Go The Coat. Not the usual introduction into the Who, but with them I guess there isn't a usual. Entranced and mesmerized by the clear guitar and the words that even today I am not totally sure what they mean, I believe Don't Let Go... is a British term, but the rest of the words were and still are words I began to live by. Who the hell was this genius that had written a song to describe the confusion of life as a late teen trying to find myself? Well, enter Pete Townshend, the Who had already lost Keith by then but the rumble of John Entwistle's unrelenting bass lines shook my soul as I discovered Who's Next, and still the ultimate live album Live at Leeds. Not a lot have ever done better and as I listened and learned of his style and became aware that his passions and life seemingly intersected my life when I needed it. The countless hours of trying to figure out how anyone could use synths like he did in Baba O' Reilly and the end that still gives me goosebumps as Keith Moon gets to the finale of that song-true musical greatness and I discovered it was Pete that wrote nearly all the music, not merely a genius, but a God. I have tempered that opinion somewhat, but only as I have learned that he is a man-Not God, but a man with a huge amount of talent and a need for people to listen. And thus I did and do. Pete Townshend- Long Live Rock! More of Pete and life later.....