Pete Townshend

Pete Townshend, songwriter, guitarist and co-founder of The Who, talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences.

The Who first stormed the pop charts in 1965 with teenage anthems including I Can’t Explain and My Generation. Broader songwriting ambitions led Townshend to create the rock opera Tommy in 1969 and the concept album Quadrophenia four years later. Both projects were adapted as films, and Quadrophenia has been staged as a ballet by Sadlers Wells. Throughout the 1970s, The Who were regarded as the biggest and loudest live act in the world. They played at Woodstock, Live Aid, Live 8 and the 2012 Olympic closing ceremony. Despite the deaths of drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwhistle, Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey continue to perform as The Who.

Pete Townshend talks to John Wilson about the influence of his parents, who were both musicians. His father, the saxophonist Cliff Townshend, played in the popular dance band The Squadronaires, but it was his mother Betty, a singer, who was most supportive of his early musical talent. Seeing Bill Haley and the Comets at Edgware Road Odeon in 1956 was another formative moment that introduced the teenage Townshend to the possibilities of a rock 'n' roll performance.

Townshend also reveals how his art school tutor Roy Ascott, who developed the radical 'Groundcourse' at Ealing Art College, shaped his approach to his future band The Who. And he recounts how reading Labyrinths, a book of short stories by Jorge Luis Borges, on the first US Who tour in 1967 opened his imagination and helped him expand his musical storytelling.