If you’ve ever enjoyed The Who’s music you’ll find this book fascinating. Townshend has obviously kept diaries and the dense detail is amazing. The stories of his comfortless childhood and art college experiences explain some of the peculiar lyrics he wrote. The book tells why “My Generation” was (resentfully) dedicated to the Queen Mother, and acknowledges his spiritual inspiration.
I tend to eschew male authors, but couldn’t resist reading about the music that was so much a part of my early adulthood. This saga of the sixties and seventies, by a brilliant artist is egotistical but enthralling and exciting, and sent me to my LP collection to pull out “Tommy” and “Quadrophenia”. Reading it recreates the trance-like feeling of listening to hard rock. However, the more than 500 pages were too much for me and I gave up just over half way through. Checking out the later photos I found The Who were the final act of the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics – wish I’d seen that!
“Amazing music from The Who
amazing bio graphics too.”
I too, have been seeing info about music in the 60s and 70s. I inadvertently watched a doco about the Rolling Stones which brought back many memories. It is amazing how music can evoke remembrances.
I cannot believe that today’s pop songs will still be popular in 50 years time, but who knows?