Guitarist, songwriter, and heartbeat of one of the most legendary bands ever, The Who. Townshend is unique among all the contenders in that he wasn't the lead singer of his act. Because of this, I'm going to put a limiting coefficient of .7825 on his scores. Ha, no, not really, there are limits to my nerdiness, but I will unscientifically factor it into his grades. He isn't going to get one of the highest scores, but in the wake of their Super Bowl halftime performance, I thought it would be prudent to include him in the discussion.
ENTERTAINER
The Who have sold an estimated 100 million albums in their career. They emerged in the Brit Invasion of the mid-60's with great singles like "I Can't Explain" and "My Generation". They never saw much success on the singles charts in America, but their albums were consistently in the Top 10. Among the most notable are Who's Next, Live at Leeds, and the rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia. Their contributions have been numerous, their influence widespread. If there was a Mt. Rushmore of classic rock bands, they'd be on it.
Townshend, foundation of The Who from the onset, is one of the most iconic figures in rock and roll. A first-generation rock guitar hero who set himself apart by being the anti-virtuoso (more on that in the instrumental section).
His live presence is spectacular. He rarely takes lead singing duties, but is visual epicenter of the show anyway. He's always doing something, whether it's walking, jumping, dancing, posing, or rocking out. He's got his trademark gimmicks: the pacing and jumping, the epic windmill chords, the jedi strumming (phrase coined by Andy Luten), and the guitar and amp smashing chaos. He also is pretty funny and engaging with his between-songs banter, the cheeky bloke that he is. He's an intelligent dude and his cleverness manifests itself in most everything he does.
Nothing summarizes his live aura better than this: at the bottom of his Wikipedia page, there is a related link to "Guitar Showmanship (redirected from Guitar Moves)". Townshend's name appears in the second sentence of the initial summary. People often use the phrase, "look up blahblah in the dictionary and you'll see fill-in-the-blank's picture", but look up "guitar showmanship" and you literally see Pete Townshend's picture. And not only does he have a section dedicated to him, but it is by far the largest section on the page. Here is a quote from that section: "At a show in Tacoma, Washington in 1989, he struck the guitar with such force he drove the guitar's tremolo bar through his hand and needed hospital treatment." He also has permanent hearing loss, due to a band performance on The Smothers Brothers when Keith Moon set off a bomb in the kick drum about 3 feet from Townshend's face (see video below). Watch all the way to the end. Notice what he does after the bomb goes off, instead of running backstage for medical help. This guy is hardcore. He makes Kurt Cobain and Jack White look like Hall and Oates.
The Who originally disbanded a few years after Keith Moon died. Townshend went on to have a solo career that isn't that noteworthy, except for the Top 10 hit "Let My Love Open the Door", and the fact that he once released an album called All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes.
His cultural impact has mostly been limited to his musical output. His wiki page says he's been "extensively involved in the literary world for over three decades", but I don't remember ever seeing on the Times Bestseller list, so I'll treat this as mostly arbirtrary. Politically, he's probably done a few things but there's only one that I care about. From Wikipedia again: "He refused to let Michael Moore use 'Won't Get Fooled Again' in Fahrenheit 9/11, saying that he watched Bowling for Columbine and wasn't convinced." This is the one instance in which something kinda political will cause me to add points.
There was that creepy incident in 2003 where he was cautioned by British police for a one-time visit to a website that contained child pornography. The police didn't arrest or charge him for anything, and Townshend admitted that he had been to the website for research purposes. Prior to that incident, he had done various charity projects for children and had vocally campaigned against child porn. The guy even used his own credit card to access the site, and I have to think he's not stupid enough to do that with perverse felonious intentions, so, reluctantly, I believe him. Unlike other unconvicted music stars of questionable decision making around children that may have previously been profiled in this blog, this incident was isolated and hasn't really affected his career at all. So I won't penalize him for it, but it was worth mentioning.
8.0
SINGER
It's ironic that he possesses a voice that's drastically soft compared to his explosive persona. He sounds like any normal guy who can kinda hold a tune. His voice has no power or depth to it, but he has a good ear and makes it work best as he can. (I feel like I just described myself, minus the explosive persona.) With The Who, he frequently performed backup vocal duties, and occasionally took the lead, usually for a short bridge section but sometimes a whole song.
I'll take this moment to recognize
Daltrey, who for some reason has become vastly underrated for his contribution. He brought the power that Townshend envisioned when he wrote, but couldn't express with his own voice. His epic macho screams are probably the best in rock ever (see end of "Won't Get Fooled Again", all of "Love, Reign O'er Me"). And the unsung thing about him is that he regularly buried his ego for the sake of the band. It is rare that a lead singer would defer songwriting duties (and publishing credits) to another member and not get tired of that arrangement. The guy knew his role and knew the band was best that way. He performed his friend's songs with very believable conviction. And all the while, taking a backseat to at least two (and maybe all) of the other guys in spite of owning the role that is traditionally the "frontman".
The rhythm section was amazing as well. Entwistle was musical glue. He regularly dropped the sickest, coolest, blazingly fastest bass runs all in your face. He's regarded as one of the most technically proficient and influential bassists ever.
Moon was excess and certifiable insanity, professionally and personally. His favorite hobby, besides drinking, was blowing up toilets in five-star hotels. And his drumming style is...exactly what you'd expect from a guy who regularly blows up hotel toilets. He's basically Animal from the Muppets. Also one of the best ever.
But yeah, Townshend...serviceable backup singer.
3.0
SONGWRITER
Most bands co-write their songs as a group or split the duties evenly amongst each other. Townshend was by far the main contributor to The Who's catalog. Entwistle was the next-most frequent writer, but most of his stuff is forgettable (I'd call "My Wife" his best). There are a few cases of a Daltrey or Moon addition, a few where band members share credit, and a few that were written by an outsider. But you won't find but one or two of those songs on a Who greatest hits package, and you probably weren't even aware of the songs' existence. So pretty much everything meaningful, recognizable, and (most importantly) extraordinary comes from Townshend.
He's a big fan of big narrative, as evidenced by the rock opera obsession. It's pretty ambitious and probably reaching a bit too far. The next rock star to submit a great movie script or work of literary prominence will be the first, as far as I know. (Apologies to astrophysicist Brian May and missile defense expert Skunk Baxter.) And with that in mind, I don't look at Townshend's stories through my most critical lenses. Tommy is very intriguing yet has some pretty wayward sidesteps, but that's enough for me. I'm not really interested in sitting through the whole thing, anyway. I'd rather just hit the highlights. Like how I only tune in for the battles when Lord of the Rings is on TV.
Townshend's writing is strong all over
. His 60's three-minute pop ditties are among the best from the Brit invasion. His 70's stuff's among the best of classic rock. "Eminence Front" from the post-Keith Moon era is unlike standard Who fare: instead of all grit it's all groove, and a supercool one. Even "Let My Love Open the Door" from his solo career is cream of the 80's cheesy hits crop (as testament to the strength of the writing, cover versions without the cornball original production are usually awesome. see Audio Adrenaline's version). Yet, in all of it, t
here is a quality that is uniquely Pete, like he's subtly embedded his fingerprint.
Lastly, I appreciate his knack for delivering the knockout lyric. Some of my favorites:
"I hope I die before I get old"
- "My Generation"
"Listening to you, I get the music"
- "Go to the Mirror"
"To win you, I'd stand naked, stoned, and stabbed
I'd call that a bargain, the best I ever had"
- "Bargain"
"Only love can make it rain/The way the beach is kissed by the sea"
- "Love, Reign O'er Me"
"Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss"
(This whole song is just about the most dead-on political statement ever, to me. Who writes conservative libertarian rock songs!? Awesome.)
- "Won't Get Fooled Again"
7.5
INSTRUMENTALIST
He probably has the least talent of all the great lead guitarists of classic rock. In his prime, he could not do anything more with his fingers than most anybody who ever stuck with learning guitar for 2 or 3 years. He's surprisingly much better now, in his late 60's, than he ever was in his 20's or 30's. But I've probably seen 25+ players in bands around downtown Austin that can effortlessly play a more difficult solo than Townshend ever laid down.
His magic is in the rhythm guitar. It's much more animated than most of his peers. I think often, rhythm guitar is played like it's a chore, with no element of surprise or distinction. Townshend used it as an opportunity to color his songs, differentiate, and express himself.
His two main techniques are pronounced, aggressive picking and machine gun strum attacks. He has some very identifiable tendencies. He's extra-fond of suspending 2nd and 4th notes ("good notes" not found in the basic chord) and maybe or maybe not resolving them (the main verse riff of "Pinball Wizard" is one example, with resolutions). And he likes maintaining the same high notes throughout a chord progression, even though they won't naturally belong in some of the chords. It kind of creates an effect of stacking two different chords on top of each other. The most common way to do this is with open chords, a technique frequently found in country, folk, and worship music among other genres. Usually it's done for practical purposes: it's makes guitar playing much easier for novice players and it sounds pretty good. Townshend, though, employs it out of taste rather than necessity. He also was doing it years before it really became hackneyed.
He is also unique amongst his peers for downplaying the importance of lead guitar. He focused instead on thriving at rhythm, with decent bluesy leads interspersed. Even the solos he did play are typically rhythmic in nature: full-forced strumming and simultaneously using multiple strings, often doing chord-play fills instead of speedy singular picking. The Edge of U2 would also take these ideas and run with them in the 80's, influencing generations of Christian guitarists, but Townshend was the original rhythm lead player.
This thing is getting dangerously long, so I'll shortly add here that he also did some really cool stuff in the recording studio. Broke new ground with synths for sure. Almost 40 years later and still nobody has done it better.
8.0
WEIGHTED MUSICAL OUTPUT
Early on, in the Brit invasion years, The Who hadn't quite found their niche yet. They sound too much like the other bands of that era, but are still a cut above thanks to the ever-present Townshend songwriting. They did put out some tremendous tracks back then (like debut single "I Can't Explain"). Then they hit their stride, breaking off a pretty amazing run of albums (all the aforementioned ones). By the way, on the playlist made for One-Disc judgement, I include almost all of Who's Next, even some outtake bonus tracks from the sessions. In their final years, the albums get a little weaker, but there are still standout tracks. "Who Are You", "You Better You Bet", and "Eminence Front" being some noteworthy ones.
Top 2%ers
"A Quick One, While He's Away" (Live at Leeds version) - The precursor to the rock opera, it's an 9 minute epic that's really six little songs telling one cohesive story. It's about a lonely girl who cheats on her boyfriend (maybe husband) while he is on extended leave. When he comes home, she confesses, and in the climax he forgives her to the tune of classic Townshend chord ripping. I think the song is incredible in its own right, but its stature with me is boosted even further due to association with the movie Rushmore (the montage of Max Fischer and Herman Blume's vengeance war). This song is historically significant because it laid the conceptual groundwork for their three best albums (all conceived from the rock opera idea). The studio version is alright but the preserved live recordings are much more fierce and inspired performances. Live at Leeds and The Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus versions are the two I prefer.
"Baba O'Reilly" - Here, Pete did something that the following 30 years of music history would have you believe is impossible: built a hard rock song around a synthesizer without castrating it. Then, for icing on the cake, he decided to conclude it with an Irish fiddle jig. As if to say, "That's right, I start with synth and end with fiddle, and this is still gonna be one of the most badass rock songs ever. Now go get your shine box."
Worst Offenses
I'm going to say here, because I have to say it somewhere, that Limp Bizkit's cover of "Behind Blue Eyes" is one of the greatest atrocities in recorded history. I don't mean that like "history of recorded music", I mean it like "all of history that has been kept by man". That's not Townshend's fault, unless he greenlit their efforts to record it. If I find out that he pulled a Jimmy Page/Puff Daddy with this, I'm going to come back to this post and do some grade-doctoring. Like Ferris Bueller, but the exact opposite. So I got that off my chest.
One-Disc Wonder?
No. I clocked the setlist at 22 songs, 1.8 hours. A disc and change. I was being ridiculously stingy about song selections, too.
In actuality, The Who deserve at least an 8.0 from me in this category. But this is the most subjective area, and here is where I will deduct some points from Pete. Because in this area, the rest of the band's impact is incalculably huge. All three other members are too integral, and present throughout his career (unlike, say, Quincy Jones for MJ). I can hold Pete solely accountable for how he sings, how he plays, how he writes, but I have to factor in the other guys here. So that explains the lowered score.
5.0
DGI SCORE: 6.3
0 comments:
Post a Comment