Re: The Who Mailing List Digest V6 #116

["Joe Lewinski" <lewinski@icanon.com>]

>> I agree but have to add something here.  About this issue of
>> popularity/sales/attendance, Gigi asks, "Who cares?"  Pete Townshend
>> cares, that's who.  He's never been shy about saying that he goes for
>> hits, and that he cares how popular he is.

Mark responded to the above:
>You're right, but he shouldn't be. How much money does he have to have
>before he stops pursuing the almighty pound? He should relax more.

I would normally have agreed with you before I read "Horse's Neck".
Pete is still pursuing 
a feeling of acceptance and belonging that he will never fully receive.
Money is the only thing he can use as a measurement.  Personally, his last
album (which included deep digs about the press and record industry) hurt his
ego big-time.  To his die-hard fans, Pete can tell everyone to piss off and 
we still dig him for his honesty.   The press doesn't see it the same way.
They
will not put up with crap unless the artist is white-hot and they can sell
copy.

Pete has a serious passive-aggressive personality (I know cause I am
accused of this
behavior by my wife).  He is without question a genius, but he still has
had to work
hard to produce his work, and harder still to gain respect and acclaim for it.
Because he is so aware of how hard he has had to work, he constantly discounts
people that worship him.  On several occasions when an interviewer is
sucking up
to him and throwing him softball-sucking-up questions, he tells them to
piss off.
Then he'll demand attention with stage antics, or bold statements.  It's a
cry for
attention, that when he get's it he rejects it if it is not on terms with
his mood.

I think this quality is what makes Pete so appealing to me.  He is so real,
and I
can relate to the struggles he expresses in his songs, and his interviews.

This is all IMVVHO of course.

Joe Lewinski
ICANON Associates, Inc.
215.653.0754 x 115
Fax:  215.653.0829