PETE TOWNSHEND: WHO I AM PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Pete Townshend | 544 pages | 11 Oct 2012 | HarperCollins Publishers | 9780007466047 | English | London, United Kingdom Review: Pete Townshend memoir 'Who I Am' gloomy yet addictive Tags: George Harrison , Pete Townshend. Now he wants to keep his beliefs, about Jesus at least, to himself. This, of course, contradicts the bible. He used to talk about some guru called Meher Baba. Meher Baba was a Sufi mystic. It is a religion more related to Islam and Zoroastrianism than Hinduism. I had a seven hour conversation with a woman who was an Iranian Muslim mystic. It is very different than other forms of Islam. Townshend turned to this after a several day long bad trip on STP — in which he had hellish outer body experiences. He sad that after this he went looking for answers. I think there is something to it in mind training because his music changed a lot after this and The Who became successful — when they were bankrupt following their first three albums. It may have caused him to become demon possessed too. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Brent L. If Tommy was a positive interpretation of a negative memory, in , negative turned nightmare when Townshend was linked to an FBI investigation into online child pornography. He says he was doing research: "My plan was to run a story on my website illustrating that online banks, browser companies and big-time pornographers were all complicit in taking money for indecent imagery of children. Instead, I have relied on my friends and the general public to speak for me — until now. It's a horrible way to cap a legendary life, and yet if anyone was prepared for a depressing denouement, it's Townshend. After all, at the funeral of the destructive Moon, who died in at the age of 32, Daltrey was a mess; Stones drummer Charlie Watts was, too. As for Townshend: "My eyes were hard and dry. Townshend, it should be noted, never cries for himself either. Not through personal or professional pain, not through the muddying of his name. In the end, he reasons, he has been saved time and again by that windmilling arm, by that smashed guitar, by the songwriting demons in his head. In the end, Pete Townshend both takes, and offers, good advice: "If in doubt, just play. Subscribe Manage my subscription Activate my subscription Log in Log out. Much of what I read was much the same as the tales of my other pop heroes. I did learn about his great love for and understanding of the technical chores and challanges of recording. Also to be discovered is Pete's need to use 'big words' that chased me to seek the assistance of Webster sometimes three times on one page. Yes, I do feel mixed. I am both annoyed and challenged to better my own vocabulary It seems somehow appropriate to draw Much of what I read was much the same as the tales of my other pop heroes. It seems somehow appropriate to draw parallels of Pete and me. I am a generation younger than the bands of the British Invasion, but yet, I wanted the life that I believed they enjoyed. I had many joyful experiences in the garage band days. At some point, before it got to be too late, I came to understand that I wanted a settled family life, not the gypsy life of a touring band. And, I also admitted that I was 'pretty good' It is my belief that Pete and his peers were captives of the success they achieved. They coped by whatever means necessary I've got a head full of hair I think Pete is going to be okay Jun 18, Deborah Stevenson rated it it was ok. Painful read. Thought I would never get thru it! Was very highly reviewed which led me to choosing it for my book club. Not a Who fan and found he went on endlessly about recording each and every album with details I am sure even fans would find too much. In one breath he talked of no money, in the next bought a new house or a new boat. Would not recommend! Mar 11, Kirk rated it liked it Recommends it for: my generation. Shelves: nonfiction , music , memoir. Every year is the same And I feel it again I'm a loser, no chance to win Leaves start falling Comedown is calling Loneliness starts sinking in But I'm one I remember reading a Rolling Stone interview in the student bookstore of my university some eons ago, trying not to laugh too conspicuously while Pete held forth on various peers. The internets kindly allowed me to track it down and read it again. Kurt Loder was the interviewer, he seemed to suss out that Pete was in an unguarded, expansive mood, and dangled enough bait until Pete took it and went to town. It may be the best thing he's done in a while — it sounds real nice. KL: Well. PT: No, he never did. He's got a couple of years on me, but it could be ten years, we're so different. Whereas I don't think Little Richard mattered, you know? But one of the reasons I'm excited about Paul's latest project is because it's him and George Martin working together again; because he's making a conscious effort to really get into serious record-making, rather than pissin' about in home studios — which I, for one, think he's terrible at. When "Ebony and Ivory" came out, everybody was saying, "Christ, have you heard it? It's terrible. I thought, "That's it, that's McCartney! It's wonderful! It's gauche! It's Paul McCartney! I've always said that I've never been a big fan of the Beatles: to me rock was the Stones, and before that Chuck Berry, and before that, maybe a few people who lived in fields in Louisiana. But I can't really include the Beatles in that. The Beatles were over with Herman's Hermits. Because they were such a big pop phenomenon. I've always enjoyed some of their stuff as light music, with occasional masterpieces thrown in. But with a lot of their things, you can't dig very deep. Either you come up against Lennon's deliberately evading what it is that he's trying to say, so it's inscrutable, or Paul McCartney's self-imposed shallowness, because he sees music as being. I mean, he's a great believer in pop music, I think. But I wonder whether McCartney, perhaps, rests a little bit on the laurels of the Beatles. PT: Absolutely. I remember hearing "S. But it was too late, because I was already transported by it. I just thought it was such a great sound, you know — great bass drum and the whole thing. They make great records. Also, what's quite interesting is that Abba was one of the first big, international bands to actually deal with sort of middle-aged problems in their songwriting. And it was quite obviously what was going on among them — that song, "Knowing Me, Knowing You. Anyway, reading the entire interview there in the student bookstore was hilarious and exhilarating. Partly because I got the joke. I intuited that this was not all to be taken at face value various other interviews thru the years would confirm that Pete isn't actually so contemptuous of the Beatles as he was letting on , but it was even funnier knowing it would be taken that way by many and inspire a plethora of angry letters from readers in the next Rolling Stone. Which it did. The Abba bit was just icing on the cake, as I have always unapologetically liked and defended Abba. So the short version of my 3-star rating for Who I Am is that the above isn't the Pete we get in this book. But he eases up a bit when he surveys the musical landscape, very much in elder statesman mode. Pete mentions this with a completely straight face, offers no comment whatsoever. I mean, can you imagine the Pete referenced above being served such a factoid and not grabbing it with both hands? The interview would have expanded three more pages on that alone. Or, if instead of Moon it had been Roger Daltry who had an untimely demise and had been replaced with, say, Billy Joel. One problem is there seems to be too much effort to be comprehensive, to cover everything. Answer: a whole lot less than this. There are various boats Pete bought that get more ink than his all-too-brief comments on The Who By Numbers , an underrated album I would have loved to read much more about. Which, yeah ok, but…really? However, there is a lot to like. The material on the inner workings of The Who, how these four personalities meshed, and often clashed, is generous and fascinating. Here, there is no sense of papering over past conflict. Each of them at different times comes off as petty or spiteful or selfish, except possibly John Entwistle, who at worst is sometimes misguided but appears to have been as true and steadfast a friend as Pete ever had, and he says as much.