Pete Townshend

There are certain books that are forever a comfort to us; certain books whose beauty touches us, and demands a reread or two - if not just to capture the feeling of the first read, than perhaps to discover a deeper truth within it. To me, Horse's Neck is that book.

Horse's Neck is, as Townshend states in the forward, a search for beauty. In truth, it is more a search for a kiss. Throughout the stories within it, one sees the different forms that beauty and love can take - not all of them show more beautiful by any stretch of the imagination, but all strangely valid if sometimes disturbing. The book is a spiritual quest, a study of questions, and a surprisingly insecure search for validation. Every story is tinged with Townshend's gift for songwriting, for character and atmosphere.

This book is not for everyone. It is disturbing at points, and troubling. It takes a certain kind of person to truly grasp some of the emotions it evokes and the points that it makes. I can say that this book is for me - and for anyone who has felt truly out of place and inadequate. Like Quadrophenia not all of the themes it explores are comfortable, but isn't art meant to put us out of our comfort zone on occasion? show less

Sometimes you shouldn’t read memoirs of people who you’ve met, or know in different circumstances. I have good memories of meeting Peter Townshend in London the late 1970's - early 1980's. Reading this was like meeting a stranger who resembles someone you once met. I'm saddened his life had so much turmoil, and hope he's found peace, or at least stability. I don't want to rate this, because I respect that he was being brutally honest here, and my not being comfortable reading it does not show more reflect my understanding of how hard it must have been to open himself up and write about the hard stuff as well as the good stuff. The afterward was my favorite part. show less

Hmmm, had some interesting stories (how could it not?), but I have to say it left me wondering, "Who are you, again?" I mean, Meher Baba is obviously extremely important to you, but...why, exactly? There was a distant feeling even in your most revelatory moments, defensiveness mixed in with your attempted soul-searching confessions of addiction, self-absorption, infidelities, obsessions, etc., and way too many descriptions of stunningly beautiful, extraordinarily gorgeous, etc. women in your show more life...again, with little fleshing out (so to speak) of their characters (only insomuch as what they could provide you). I deeply respect your work with The Who; I just think you could have let this memoir cook a little bit longer. show less

Long in coming, this is a rocker autobiography well worth waiting for. (And, waiting for me to get around to it.) In this audiobook, having Pete narrate it himself makes it more personal and adds dimension as he frequently chuckles or sighs in a way adding nuance to key passages.

So, this is not a Who memoir, but a Townshend memoir. Whole Who and even solo albums can be dispensed with by a sentence or two. There is none of the detailed session notes and track-by-track minutiae that often show more comes with such histories. Now, I like those too. This is about Townshend's career outside of the band; solo career, (book) publishing efforts and more, including his family life, life on the road, and battle with coke and the bottle.

Also in there is him grappling with the realities of his own remembered abuse as a child, being outed as a bisexual, and his child-porn arrest. There may be a lesson for anyone confronted with criminal charges here. While he claims to have been researching for his 2002 treatise, he also decided on admitting he used his credit card to gain access to a child-porn site. The guitarist was placed on the sex offenders register for five years while apparently no proof could be found that the credit card company took the money. (Maybe tht financial insitution was more circumspect than Townshend.)

Something that jumped out at me is while The Rolling Stones get mentioned about twenty times, Led Zeppelin is only-named dropped five times and seem to be a subject that is a present absence and there seems to be a dismissive tone to the few mentions. This made my Google:

"led zeppelin" "pete townshend"

Apparently, I am not the only one suspicious that Townshend harbors ill feelings for that group. One thing that does get mentioned much is his prescient vision for the internet as it would affect music distribution and creation. He seems so spot-on in hindsight on so much it makes me wonder if he could really have had the gift of so much accurate foresight.

This makes me feel a few aspects of the Townshend personality and story could be shaded differently with the perspectives of others close to his life.

Anyway, I had no idea of his deep adherence to Meher Baba, an Indian spiritual master who said he was God in human form, and how this affected the Tommy storyline. Also, Townshend is very forthcoming on his awkward attempts to participate in the changing sounds - punk included - while his hairline receded over his boiler suits and Doc Martens. He admits to a lot of unfortunate rage, fisticuffs, and destructive behavior if not to the lengths that eventually subsumed "John" and "Moonie". show less