The forgotten song Pete Townshend considered “one of my best”
From his early days immersed in youthful mod rock rebellion to the elder statesman of British rock that he is today, Pete Townshend has penned a wealth of rock’s most iconic and enduring anthems, elevating The Who to a position of unparalleled influence and adoration in the process.
Still, there are certain tracks which the songwriter wishes had more recognition.
One of the great tragedies of any artist is the fact that they cannot pick and choose which of their works are accepted into the popular consciousness – hence why you see so many bands growing to resent their most popular tracks.
To his credit, Pete Townshend has seemingly never fallen victim to that resentment, continuing to perform a medley of his greatest hits at the age of 80, with the sheer volume of material that The Who have released over the decades, though, it is inevitable that some have amassed a bigger reputation than others.
After all, The Who were never a band to stay in the same place for too long. They might have burst onto the musical mainstream with a uniquely raucous brand of modernist rebellion, penning era-defining anthems like ‘My Generation’ and ‘I Can’t Explain’, but those short, sharp efforts didn’t stick around for too long.
Before Townshend’s writing had the chance to go stale, he had already moved on to bigger climbs, penning postmodern masterpieces in The Who Sell Out, before moving into the ambitious maturity of rock operas like Tommy or, later, Quadrophenia.
Each and every Who album has its merits – with the only possible exceptions being Face Dances or It’s Hard, the band’s godawful post-Keith Moon efforts – but Quadrophenia is arguably Townshend’s ultimate masterpiece. A semi-autobiographical rock opera journey through adolescence and all of its trials and tribulations, the seminal album boasted some of the band’s most complex and ambitious compositions. Perhaps as a result of that, though, the album often goes woefully underrated.
Whether it lacks the punch of earlier ‘My Generation’-esque efforts, or certain audiences simply couldn’t engage with the tales of Jimmy the young mod, the album is rarely afforded the same degree of adoration as some of The Who’s other work. Despite that, Townshend has routinely cited the 1973 record and its various singles as being his greatest work.
“‘Love, Reign o’er Me’ is one of my best songs,” he declared during a 2015 chat with Barnes and Noble.
“This really shines in this context,” he added, highlighting how the song marks a pivotal moment in the narrative of the record. “But some of the most anarchic songs like ‘Dr Jimmy,’ and ‘I’ve Had Enough,’ also leap from the speakers.”
For all its compositional genius, along with one of Roger Daltrey’s all-time greatest vocal performances, though, ‘Love Reign o’er Me’ failed to reach the dizzying heights of the band’s previous hits. In fact, it was only released as a single in select countries, and peaked at a rather disappointing 76 in the US singles chart.
As Townshend decreed, though, the song is best enjoyed within the context of the entire album tracklisting, and it has certainly amassed a cult following over the decades, even if it isn’t quite the most popular Who track.
