The artist Pete Townshend said undersold themselves: “A lot more interesting”
Some artists are incredibly tunnel-visioned, and there’s nothing wrong with that. This means they only tend to focus on the instrument they’re famed for playing. Someone might be a great guitarist, but they don’t think of music outside of that instrument. Ringo Starr is a good example, as while he was a great drummer who helped the Beatles out a lot, he was rarely thinking of anything other than the drums.
On the flip side, you have artists who consider the whole picture. This means they’re a master with their instrument, but their knowledge of music extends beyond that, as they like to think about all of the different elements that make up a band and how they can bring the best out of those separate elements. If you need an example of a great musician who is good at taking in the bigger picture, look no further than Pete Townshend.
Pete Townshend makes up one-third of The Who, but his input into the band massively surpasses that of the others. While The Who initially made a name for themselves because of great singles such as ‘My Generation’, they are celebrated because of what they did for the concept album. With records like Tommy, they took the idea of a concept album and expanded upon it massively.
It was Townshend who contributed greatly to this. He focused not just on the guitar but on every instrument in the band, the songs they were writing, and how those songs would tell a story in the grand scheme of things. He refused to limit himself to just the six strings on his guitar and pushed to create something that many would have considered outside the realms of possibility.
As an innovative musician, it’s not hard for Townshend to find innovation in others. Like so many people, he saw it in Eric Clapton because he managed to merge multiple styles of music while creating something cohesive in the process. He was able to pull from the blues, R&B and psychedelic rock in a bid to develop a style of guitar playing that was familiar in its influence but unique in its overall sound.
Townshend was a big fan of Clapton because of the exciting developments he made within the world of guitar playing. Thanks to his work with Cream, he also helped to open the door to prog rock; as such, he’s certainly an artist who deserves plenty of praise. For this reason, Townshend was sad when he read Clapton’s biography, as he felt he diminished his achievements, which made his book boring to read.
“I don’t know that Eric does himself a great service,” Townshend concluded when discussing the appropriately titled autobiography, Clapton. “He’s such a good friend, and I think he makes himself look uncomplicated. I think he’s a lot deeper, a lot darker, a lot more interesting than he portrays himself.” Clapton is certainly someone who looks at the bigger picture when making music, but it appears he isn’t great at conveying as much onto the page.
