Pete Townshend: Who I Am [Hardcover]

Here's the problem with most of the reviews that you'll read here on Amazon: most people writing them are, unsurprisingly, Who fans. This means they're measuring this book (an Pete's behaviour and stories) against their own projected image and thoughts on him. He is, after all, just another bloke and the result is the sound of hundreds of Pete projections crashing from their respective pedestals.

Objectively, this appears to be a clear, well written book. It's honest and surprisingly self-deprecating. Pete is clearly a man who has battled and continues to battle his demons. Demons from his childhood. Demons in the form of mental illness and compulsive behaviour. Demons in trying to find order in the chaos of his life and the excess and premature deaths of those in his circle. Demons in searching for that 'ultimate' project that would somehow, somewhere capture the visions, sounds and ideas he has in his head. All the major events of his life from a troubled childhood, through the formation of The Who, their rise to greatness and eventual self-destruct are all described in satisfying detail. If I had to level a criticism I would say I wanted to know more about the inter-band dynamics and characters. What were John, Keith and Roger like? I felt by the end of the book that I knew Pete reasonably well - or as well as you can from a book - but that the other band members felt like shadows, cardboard cut-outs and distant from the action. But it may just have been me. The writing is direct and very factual. Sometimes slightly too much so and some more humour would be welcome. Overall, I would say it was a solid, honest and interesting ride with a man not ashamed to open himself up and let everyone see him, warts n' all. Thanks Pete.

From a personal point of view, as a Who fan, Pete fell slightly from the pedestal I'd put him on. That's neither a good or bad thing. It's just the truth and often a consequence of reading an autobiography. A bit like watching the behind-the-scenes extras on a DVD. Once you know how the magic is done it can often make you appreciate something more - even if some of the mystical magic is taken off. Pete comes over as troubled most of time, spinning the plates of his various projects, band commitments and family life often at the expense of his health. Usually it ends with Pete falling off the wagon and into drugs of some description and/or emotionally 'lashing out'. This cyclical process that despite being now in his mid-60's he has yet to break. Maybe he never will. That's not a criticism of the man, more of an observation. It also seemed odd to me that someone who is clearly so intelligent can (still) be a follower of Meher Baba and be so superstitious in his outlook in some respects. Deciding things on the flip of a coin, assigning meaning to random events, buying placebos, seeing 'signs' in the nothingness etc - A child-like belief in destiny and the after-life or spirit at odds with his clear intellect (labelling it 'spiritual'). I can only suppose that this child-like longing may be related to his unconventional and sometimes harrowing childhood - it may be responsible for some of his wonderful and moving music. He comes over as a man in combat with the various aspects of his personality; on the one hand with high morals and prepared to go to extraordinary lengths in loyalty to friends, then on the other happy to cheat on his wife, feeding the self-loathing aspect of his pysche. But, most of all, he comes over as someone very honest, searching for something that I hope he finds one day.

I'm now off to listen to Quadrophenia extremely loud!....:)

I had been looking forward to reading this book since it was first announced. It's entertaining, but also strangely disappointing in terms of not living up to high expectations - those expectations having been raised simply by the highly intelligent and articulate nature of the author. The tone of the text is rather academic and sedate and it rather lacks the passion and wit that has typically been present in the author's interviews, articles and letters. It is as if it is the product of a therapist coaxing the facts of a story out of a patient for a clinical document. Much of the story has been documented elsewhere in detail, drawing upon interviews and texts, but there are a number of personal insights and revelations that do expand upon it. I do think that the book suffers from being too condensed and edited. Many key milestones in the author's career and development flash by in only a few lines when they warrant far more detail and exploration. In fact, the book could well have been twice the length and split into two volumes to do its subject greater justice. The style of the narrative is to a degree confessional in its accounts of the largely self-destructive lifestyle that the author has frequently led and of the strain that he subjected his wife, family and friends too. However, the emphasis is on documenting that lifestyle and not really clarifying or exploring the motivation or reasons for it. The portrait the author paints of himself is at times quite uncomfortable. Whilst his audience eagerly awaited his and The Who's recordings and performances, the flipside of producing and maintaining those triumphs seems to have taken a very heavy toll on his relationships with those closest to him and the question that is left hanging is really one of whether the artistic and commercial successes have truly been worth the cost of the damage that he has inflicted on himself and others. Given the author's tendency to recycle and revisit his work, I hope that this work will one day be revisited and expanded in such a way as to give more of an insight into what makes him tick and what motivated him to do his best work. Until then this is the book to read.

As I listened to the 'Live at Leeds' album (still, in my opinion, the finest live album ever recorded) when I was 17 I used to imagine that I was Pete Townshend, a guitar god up on the stage, capable of summoning great waves of exuberance from a simple instrument. I longed to be able to express myself with such power, to conjure up emotional depths and link them to a tsunami of sound lifting a pleb like myself up and away from the turgid and mundane world. But it turns out being Pete Townshend wasn't much fun. According to this book, it took him a long time to grow up. He was a hero of mine, but no longer.
I think, in many ways with this book he destroys the myth that fans like me had of him, and perhaps that's the function of a good autobiography. My conclusion on reading it though is that the book is passable. Ironically, it's not as rewarding a read as the book he refused to be interviewed for: 'Dear Boy: The Keith Moon Story', which captures the spirit of the band without treating them too reverently. The trap that Townshend falls into is that he appears to be in awe of his own legend. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, many old rockers (I'm thinking of George Harrison) totter into their dotage thinking the world owes them a huge debt of gratitude. And I suppose I do - when I was just beginning to appreciate music he was there to help me realise what sounds could be truly life changing. Maybe there was still a part of that 17 year old still in me, longing to recapture the feeling of hearing those last few crashing cathartic seconds of 'Magic Bus' - what the book gave me was a straight retelling of a story I already mostly knew.
I'd heard that he'd delayed writing his autobiography when he read Dylan's 'Chronicles' so I guess I was expecting something a little similar to Dylan's when I read this - I was hoping for something that would push the envelope a little more, perhaps a little more eccentric, tinkering about with the chronology and fizzing with ideas. I found much of it a plod. And he clearly can't tell a joke to save his life. So many times whilst I was reading I had to stop and think: "Er...did I read an amusing anecdote just then?". It's difficult to tell as these jocular incidents he recounts don't seem to have a punchline. Disappointingly there's not much space for my favourite Pete album 'Chinese Eyes' despite a page count of over 500.
Despite what other reviewers have said here he doesn't try to brush his online escapade under the carpet, and devotes a chapter to his encounter with the police, although to be honest he does over-sell the 'injured party' line a little - I was bemused by his annoyance that he was put on the offenders register. Probably he was lucky not to be given a prison sentence. But that's heroes for you. They can't help letting you down. Thanks for the music Pete. The book: to be honest I'd rather just have the songs.