Quote of the Day (Pete Townshend, on the ‘Hard Ride’ of The Who)

“Prior to Quadrophenia and [manager] Bill Curbishley's arrival, there was such chaos. The price that we all paid was incredibly high, and for me, when I look at touring now, whether it's with the Who or on my own — we had a hard ride. That's why I left the band in '82. When [drummer] Keith [Moon] died, I tried to continue for a while. If you look at images and film of me onstage in 1978 and 1979, I'm f-g angry all the time. I'm stomping about, I'm sneering. I'm playing guitar solos in which I only play one note for 15 minutes. It's punky and it's cynical and it's tough to see.

“I'm in a better place now.”— Pete Townshend, guitarist and songwriter for The Who, quoted in Andy Greene, “Who's Done? Pete Townshend's Ambivalent Farewell,” Rolling Stone, Apr. 23, 2015

Happy 70^th birthday to Pete Townshend, who, by this time, is probably sick of people throwing up to him what must have seemed at the time a throwaway line from “My Generation”: “Hope I die before I get old.”  It’s just the type of stupid thing that one would say or write at age 20. 

Surely, nobody would want to miss, even at a comparatively advanced age, an opportunity to experience love, to make sure children are well-launched in life—and to give lifelong fans one more chance to witness stellar musicianship, as Townshend and Roger Daltrey are doing now in what is being billed as the last major tour of The Who.