POWER CHORD KING: PETE TOWNSHEND

It’s hard to write objectively about Pete Townshend these days without grappling with all sorts of ambivalent feelings. On the one hand there are the memories of how good the Who could be at their best—from the churning excitement of their early singles, through a series of albums that helped define a whole new style and sound in rock music, even up through their overblown yet monumentally impressive concept works Tommy and Quadrophenia. On the other hand, would-be fans like myself have to contend with the fact that the Who’s last really great work was recorded over eight years ago (and I’m being generous here), and that since then they’ve done precious little except institutionalize their legend and trot out the greatest hits show every time another tour came around.

My initial reaction, of course, is to give Townshend every benefit of the doubt. After all, early Who music was such a powerful package of energy, wit, insight, style, anarchy, and imaginative ambition that one couldn’t help being profoundly affected. I can remember listening to “I Can See For Miles”—one of the all time classic rock singles—and thinking THIS IS THE WAY ROCK MUSIC SHOULD SOUND. While other bands had various

strengths and attractions, the Who at their best could put all of the elements together into a sound as explosive as one could hope for. This wasn’t the blues, this wasn’t amped-up country or jazz or sitars or what have you. This was rock—pure and wonderful, captured in a rare instance of elemental splendor. (I obviously wasn’t the only one who thought so—just look at Paul Weller.)

Then there was the legendary live act, which elevated the mere rock ’n’ roll show into a form of conceptual or performance art in its own right. The Who gathered up all of the aggression and violence that had been implicit in rock for years and made it explicit, yet never came across as malicious in the process. Rather, the whole effect was one of catharsis, as the band could build the feedback levels higher and higher until something had to give (usually Keith’s drums and Townshend’s guitar). Compared to the mock macho of later acts such as Judas Priest or the comic book ghoulishness of Iron Maiden and Ozzy Osbourne, this stuff was positively wholesome!

So how do we get from there to “You Better You Bet”? Well, Tommy was probably the start, as it carried the hidden implication that what the Who had done before was just kid’s stuff, a warm-up for more serious things. Little by little the sheer joy of transmuting spirit into sound was pushed aside in favor of weighty themes and messages, and is often the case, more often equaled less in terms of actual content.

Even so, it’s hard to fault Townshend for trying. One of the man’s greatest qualities is his questioning nature, and when this sort of spirit was applied to short singles, the effect was often sublime. More and more, however, the questions became centered around the paradoxes and absurdities of playing rock ’n’ roll after 30 (or of being old in the first place), and what few answers Townshend found, he had difficulties translating into interesting rock music.

Then, too, the Who had evolved into such an institution that productive change and growth seemed increasingly difficult. All of the band’s albums since Who’s Next sound like Townshend’s interpretation of what people expect the Who to sound like in the 70’s, although after exorcising the spectre of Mod on Quadrophenia, Townshend seems unsure of just who his audience is. So, every three years or so the band comes up with an album they fall over themselves trying to justify, when it seems obvious that the motions they are going through are as unconvincing to them as they are to us. (The surprisingly good Townshend solo LP Empty Glass—when compared to recent Who efforts—makes a good case of the idea that the band should have gone on to other thiftgs after Keith Moon’s death.)

What with the movies Quadrophenia and The Kids Are Alright, their soundtracks, and the greatest hits packages (of which Hooligans is only the most recent), the Who have found themselves lately in much the same position as the Doors, in that both groups are currently popular for music that was written a decade or more ago. The difference is that the Doors aren’t still around trying to compete with themselves.

Still, however one might feel about his recent output, I for one am not ready to write Pete Townshend off yet. 1 have no doubt that he is capable of once more producing something powerful and moving, I just think he might have to shake off the albatross of the Who to do it.