“The Hub”: Pete Townshend on the two best human beings in rock
When you consider who the true icons of British music are, Pete Townshend has to rank highly as an individual who managed to perfectly capture the essence of a quintessentially British musical movement. As one of the most prominent figures in the Mod subculture, Townshend, alongside his bandmates in The Who, managed to stretch their appeal far beyond the scene they originated from through an adventurous approach to songwriting, which the guitarist is predominantly responsible for.
Like many other legends from the nation, he’s always been quick to sing the praises of other performers from the British Isles who have successfully curated a similar identity for themselves through their music. As a nation, we can often be wary of those who express national pride, but when it comes to celebrating the creative endeavours of fellow countrymen, it’s a far cry from the brand of patriotism that seeks to persecute others.
Towards the end of the 1970s, the popularity that The Who had amassed for themselves began to dwindle, and with the passing of drummer Keith Moon in 1978, they wouldn’t be able to survive as a group for much longer in their original incarnation. That being said, they’d already established themselves as a hugely influential group by this point, and a number of acts that were heavily inspired by their work had already begun to emerge as part of a new wave of British excellence.
The 1980s were a turbulent decade for the country, with the austerity of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government causing unrest on home soil, and the war in the Falkland Islands raging on, being a major issue that people were quick to protest against. There has never been a shortage of political music that has protested against the actions of the UK government, but it became rife during this period due to the many shortcomings of those in power.
Despite this, Townshend wasn’t always a fan of the protest music that he was hearing, and in an interview with NME in 1982, he would critique those who weren’t taking direct enough action in their protest against the atrocities being committed in the overseas territory. “Whatever you or I or anyone else in the British music business says about the state of the world, it’s not gonna make that much difference,” the guitarist claimed. “For fuck’s sake, what difference would it make if we all asked for those all those ants in the Falklands who are being shot at to be brought home? Nobody would take any notice. But we do have a responsibility of some sort.”
Continuing on his rant against empty protest music, he claimed that there were two songwriters in particular who handled the matter far better than any others. “The bits of British music that excite me the most have always been the areas were people take on that responsibility and deal with it – Paul Weller, Joe Strummer. I still think they’re the best human beings. Whether or not they make the best music, whether or not they’ve got the best bands, it doesn’t bother me. I prefer to look at them as being the hub.”
While there have been many artists who have expertly conveyed their anger and frustration at the state of the world in the years since, he’s right in his observations that there were very few doing it to great effect in the early 1980s, and as far as politicised music went in the British Isles at this time, Weller and Strummer were certainly at the forefront.
