Review “Intensely intimate…candid to the point of self-laceration…[Townshend’s] tone is less lofty than anyone would have expected, just as this book is more honest than any fan would have hoped.” (Rolling Stone (Four 1/2 Stars!))“Mr. Townshend’s self-portrait is raw and unsparing...as intimate and as painful as a therapy session, while chronicling the history of the band as it took shape in the Mod scene in 1960s London and became the very embodiment of adolescent rebellion and loud, anarchic rock ‘n’ roll.” (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times)“Unusually frank and moving…[Who I Am] isn’t one of those rock memoirs that puts the what before the why. His past is a puzzle Mr. Townshend is sweating to decipher.” (The Guardian (UK)) Read more From the Back Cover From the voice of a generation:...smashed his first guitar onstage, in 1964, by accident....heard the voice of God on a vibrating bed in rural Illinois....invented the Marshall stack, feedback, and the concept album....stole his windmill guitar-playing from Keith Richards....detached from his body in an airplane, on LSD, and nearly died....has some explaining to do....is the most literary and literate musician of the last fifty years....planned to write his memoir when he was 21....published this book at 67.One of rock music's most intelligent and literary performers, Pete Townshend—guitarist, songwriter, editor—tells his closest-held stories about the origins of the preeminent twentieth-century band The Who, his own career as an artist and performer, and his restless life in and out of the public eye in this candid autobiography, Who I Am.With eloquence, fierce intelligence, and brutal honesty, Pete Townshend has written a deeply personal book that also stands as a primary source for popular music's greatest epoch. Readers will be confronted by a man laying bare who he is, an artist who has asked for nearly sixty years: Who are you? Read more About the Author Pete Townshend is the legendary lead guitarist and principal songwriter for The Who, one of the most influential rock-and-roll bands of all time. He's also the author of The Age of Anxiety as well as one of Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and resides in West London, where he was raised. Read more
S**N
Honest and Compelling
I really enjoyed this book and had trouble getting it out of my head after reading it. Being a big Who and Townshend music fan for decades, I never spent time researching much about Pete's life. It was honest and revealing. He admits his failures as a father while his children were young and he was off living the life of a rock star while his wife Karen had to do everything at home. He included a heartbreaking letter from his then young daughter asking him to please move back home so she could have a daddy like her friends. How many guys would say in retrospect that an ex deserved her generous divorce settlement? He was very open about his addictions (mostly alcohol), sexuality, tough upbringing, relationships, failures, and how all of this affected his life and the band. He pisses away money on houses, boats, and rock star life to the point of being nearly broke until well past when he should have been a wealthy man. As a detached observer, not having lived through what he did (good and bad), it would be easy to not like the guy. But give him credit for being willing to lay it out there. Of course, while his personal life was messy like many artists, his contribution to rock history is epic. It is stunning to think through everything he wrote and recorded from the late 60's to the early 80's. Who's Next and Quadrophenia are both top 10 all time rock albums in my book. His solo work, particularly Empty Glass, was excellent. He wrote books, plays, worked as an editor at a major London publishing company, brought Tommy to Broadway and won a Tony, etc. etc. The book could have spent more time on the creative process he went through to write and create the songs for those major albums -- it is a little breezy in that respect. There is a lot of name dropping, and it is hard at times to keep track of everyone he's talking about. But as a true fan it touched me with its breadth and honesty. I wish him well and hope he never stops producing whatever interests him. Then I broke out several Who albums that I hadn't listened to in a long while and enjoyed that thoroughly.
S**A
More Personal Than Musical - A Good Biography
Well written and fairly detailed memoir. Townshend comes clean and shares more details about his personal hardships and flaws than of his musical genius (in my opinion). Is he too humble? Does he seek forgiveness? Perhaps this book is a cathartic exercise. Still, as a big fan, I enjoyed reading every word. This book is a page turner.Good descriptions of behind-the-scenes managerial and financial transactions. It is fun when 1960s/1970s rock stars peel back the curtain and reveal what was really happening among the star making machinery. Even the band relationships had various levels of complexity.I would have found this book a little more rewarding if Townshend shared song inception and studio recording minutiae with the same detailed candor he writes about his mistakes and regrets.For me, it is disappointing that Quadrophenia earned so little ink. A reader can only assume he forgot details from the summer of 1973, which was when the Who recorded that epic album. I did smile, however, when I read Townshend's description of the band's attitude while recording Quadrophenia: "The rule we established during recording was that energetic musical rage would be used throughout."Quadrophenia's rage is audible. In that respect it is a masterpiece.No doubt that Townshend is a complex and creative force who has inspired many. This book is among the best rock memoirs.
C**N
Who we are
Reading this biography set me off on a couple months immersion in the WHO music.It adds depth and enjoyment now as I listen to TOMMY and the WHO's NEXT CD'sdriving around. Pete Townshend was born gifted with fantastic musical sensibility and from theevidence– substantial athletic ability. Youtube has an trove of great WHO videos like Eminence Frontand the entire Tommy rock opera to name a few. Townshend moves and dances with his music,his pick hand windmilling with a mad energy that propels the rest of the band forward.Born gifted and with talent surging through his body, the biography in well written prose, describes hischildhood alienation, abuse, and musical parents who struggled with alcoholism while they troopedacross the stage. What about the boy ? Townshend grew like a weed in a rank garden of earthly delights while his absentee parents demonstrated and amazing lack of empathy and self-awareness.See me, feel me touch me, heal me.Townshend's struggles with drugs and alcohol and his inability to stay connected withhis wife and home run parallel with an international career in rock music and writing. Itsadmirable that Townshend read books and educated himself in a circumstance where most would havesimply drunk and drugged themselves silly. Instead, Townshend used his musical genius to buildiconic culture changing songs and then stomped them into our memories and hearts.This is an essential and helpful read to understand this period of rock music that opened the wayinto a rebellious counter culture, questioning authority, exploring other realms of the mind.Maybe we did get fooled again . . . and again . . . but a lot of minds were opened.
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