Pete on David Lister on Pete

[Brian Cady]

David Lister comments on a Townshend quote in the Independent today:
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/david_lister/article2129986.ece
 
Out of the ashes ...
In an interview, Pete Townshend of The Who gives an intriguing explanation for his generation of rock stars' engagement with loud, aggressive music.
 
He says: "I understand now where the power of this music comes from. It's the aftermath of a great world war and how our generation dealt with that. When I was four I lived in a house where 12 people had died. We played in bomb sites, we'd find bits of bodies, skeletons and watches every day. We grew up in the shadow of this horrible bomb that had brought the war to an end. So it was never going to be about making beautiful music with an electric guitar, it was about trying to evoke the sound of trouble, the sound of anguish."
 
I've never seen it put quite like this before. Usually, the rise of the rock generation is credited to art schools, not to playing on bomb sites and finding dead bodies. Pete may have hit on something. At the very least, there must be a thesis in it for a music or sociology student somewhere.

And Pete, in turn, amplifies on this in a new diary entry:
Open Letter to David Lister:
http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=475&zone=diary
 
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com

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