The movie that changed Pete Townshend’s life forever
The importance of The Who in rock and popular music cannot be overstated. Formed in 1962, the London quartet became icons of the mod and pop art movements, pioneering the use of distorted guitar tones and wild on-stage performances. It was this approach that usually resulted in the group destroying their instruments, guitarist Pete Townshend attacking their amplifiers, and drummer Keith Moon famously blowing up his drum kit with a small amount of explosives.
Their legacy as a band is huge, and they undeniably influenced all those who came after them, particularly in the realm of punk music. In fact, it is said that Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols was the first choice to play the lead role in the 1979 film Quadrophenia, adapted from The Who album of the same name. As with all pioneers, though, there is always a lineage to be traced back to those who came before them and those who inspired them to greatness. For The Who guitarist Townshend, that inspiration came in the form of a 1950s rock ‘n’ roll film.
In their early sound and performance, you can clearly hear the likes of Little Richard and Buddy Holly represented. The popularisation of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s changed the face of popular music indefinitely, planting dreams of rock stardom in the young minds of musicians worldwide. One such ambitious young man was, of course, Pete Townshend.
In the guitarist’s autobiography, Who I Am: A Memoir, Townshend remembers being taken to the cinema by his father in 1957. Along with his childhood friend, ‘Jimpy’, the trio saw the rock ‘n’ roll musical film Rock Around the Clock. Starring Bill Haley and His Comets, famous for releasing the song which gives the film its title. Haley is often credited with exposing rock ‘n’ roll to a global audience, making beat music specifically targeted at teenage audiences. Although he would be quickly eclipsed by younger, more energetic stars like Jerry Lee Lewis and, of course, Elvis Presley, Haley played a crucial role in establishing the genre.
The film itself is a fairly standard musical B-movie, characterised by a paper-thin plot and acting ability so poor that even Tommy Wiseau would cringe. Rock ‘n’ roll films of this nature were essentially just vehicles used to advertise the music and, in that sense, Rock Around the Clock succeeded, not least in the case of Townshend.
In his book, the musician writes that after seeing the film, “nothing would ever be quite the same”. A keen fan of swing music at the time, the film woke Townshend up to a new world of music he never looked back on.
Without the influence of Rock Around the Clock, it is possible Townshend would have never even picked up a guitar, “I was still playing the harmonica, and getting good at it, but it was clear that the guitar was the instrument that mattered”, he wrote in Who I Am. It is fair to say, then, that Rock Around the Clock not only changed the life of Pete Townshend but altered the face of popular music forever by planting the seeds that later became The Who.
