The classic rock and roll song that blew Pete Townshend away
Alongside The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, The Who were one of the most important rock ‘n’ roll groups to stagger from the 1960s. In the mid-’60s, they established themselves as a prominent cog in the British invasion machine, known for their explosive performances that would often end in a scene of total mayhem, with guitarist Pete Townshend smashing seven bells out of his pricey guitars.
Under the stony surface of rock ‘n’ roll chaos, however, the band were very serious about their craft. As the ’70s dawned, The Who became increasingly experimental and widened their creative scope. The music began to see the heavier involvement of synthesised elements, and concurrently, they pioneered the rock-opera idea with concept albums, such as 1969’s Tommy and 1973’s Quadrophenia, which were both later adapted into films.
As key creative lead, Townshend brought his eclectic taste to The Who’s output over the years. Oddly enough, his first experience of music as a child was in realms of jazz; his father, Cliff Townshend, was a professional alto saxophonist who performed in the Royal Air Force’s dance band The Squadronaires and his mother, Betty, was a singer with the Sydney Torch and Les Douglass Orchestras.
At art school, Townshend took an immediate interest in rock and roll, but when he and his classmate John Entwistle first paired up, they formed a traditional jazz group, the Confederates. Townshend would play the banjo while Entwistle tooted on a horn.
Townshend’s love of jazz stuck with him through the years, and he has shown himself to be quite the connoisseur of avant-jazz, picking out The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One as one of his favourite albums of all time in a 2018 interview with NME.
While The Who were responsible for progressing rock into a heavier medium, experimenting with opera narratives and tinkering with synthesisers, classic rock ‘n’ roll of the 1950s and early ’60s, to which the band owe their fortune, seems to remain closest to Townshend’s heart.
During a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone, Townshend was asked to describe the rock music he likes best. “The rock ‘n’ roll songs I like, of course, are songs like ‘Summertime Blues,’ man that’s beautiful,” he answered, ostensibly referring to Eddie Cochran’s popular version of the classic. “It says everything: don’t have the blues, it’s summertime; summertime, you don’t get the blues in summertime! There is no such thing. That’s why there’s no cure for them.”
Townshend later opined that rock ‘n’ roll should have a certain energy to it, but it doesn’t have to be “physical,” referencing The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as an example of “non-physical” rock music. In contrast, Townshend said The Electric Flag’s A Long Time Comin’ was the sort of rock music that made him want to get up and boogie. He explained that ‘Summertime Blues’ combines the best elements of these two classic albums.
“But when I hear something like ‘Summertime Blues,’ then I do both, then I’m into rock ‘n’ roll, then I’m into a way of life. Into that thing about being that age and being this age and grooving to that thing that he’s talking about, which is summertime and not being able to get off work early and not being able to get out in the sunshine and not being able to borrow the car because dad’s in a foul mood,” Townshend added. “All those frustrations of summer so wonderfully and so simply, so poetically, put in this incredible package, the package being rock ‘n’ roll.”
Listen to Eddie Cochran’s ‘Summertime Blues’ below.
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