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Pete Townshend

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Pete Townshend is an English guitarist and songwriter, the founder and main writer of The Who. He was born in 1945 in Chiswick, in west London. His father played saxophone in an air force dance orchestra, his mother was a singer. In 1956 he saw the film Rock Around the Clock and then Bill Haley in concert. That year he got his first guitar and taught himself to play, without ever learning to read music. With his school friend John Entwistle he joined Roger Daltrey's Detours. After the arrival of the drummer Keith Moon, from 1964 that band was called The Who.

Music and breakthrough

Townshend wrote the first hits, such as I Can't Explain and, in 1965, My Generation, an angry song for a generation of young people. He was one of the first to experiment with feedback from his amplifier. On stage he swung his arm like a windmill across the strings, and after he accidentally broke his guitar against the ceiling in 1964, smashing instruments became a regular part of the shows. With I Can See for Miles (1967), The Who had their biggest hit in America.

Influence

Townshend wanted more than separate singles. He wrote the rock operas Tommy (1969) and Quadrophenia (1973) and the album Who's Next (1971). He also made solo records such as Empty Glass (1980). He also plays keyboards, synthesizer, mandolin and many other instruments, all self-taught. His hard playing and his ambition to tell big stories with rock made him one of the most influential figures of the 1960s and 1970s.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to My Generation by The Who. Notice the stuttering vocals, Townshend's fierce guitar chords and the ending in which the band gets ever louder and wilder.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: Artists