The guitarist that changed how Pete Townshend viewed music
As a teenager, Pete Townshend held no ambitions to devote his life to music. His parents had been involved with the industry, and Townshend didn’t want to opt into the family trade, but whether he liked it or not, it was his trajectory.
If Townshend had had his way, he’d have been an artist rather than a musician. His passion led him to enrol in art college in 1961, but ultimately, this led to him joining a band, The Detours, and, in turn, his life taking a detour.
The Detours also included The Who’s Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle. They became involved in London’s thriving music scene, and by 1964, Townshend decided to quit art college to focus on the band, which was now called The Who.
Regarding music, the guitar was The Who’s Pete Townshend’s first love, and initially, he had little care for anything else. The thrash and push of playing the instrument was endlessly appealing to a young upstart like Townshend.
Townshend particularly came to life during The Who’s performances, when he’d help the band establish themselves as the most ferocious live act on the planet. However, Townshend is also The Who’s principal songwriter despite Daltrey being their vocalist. Initially, this was a part of the role in which he didn’t waste too much time contemplating, and it took until he began to appreciate Chuck Berry that Townshend changed his ways.
When Berry duckwalked into his life, his eyes were suddenly open, and his approach to creating music had transformed. Admittedly, Berry’s influence is less distinct in The Who compared to many of their 1960s contemporaries. The Rolling Stones, for example, wore their love of his records on their sleeve, and Keith Richards, in particular, idolised him. He once proclaimed, “Chuck is the granddaddy of us all.”
Richard added, “Even if you’re a rock guitarist who wouldn’t name him as your main influence, your main influence is probably still influenced by Chuck Berry. He is rock & roll in its pure essence.” Equally, John Lennon once remarked: “If you were to rename rock and roll you might call it Chuck Berry.”
While Townshend agrees with Richards and Lennon’s doting words about Berry, he takes something else from the late musician’s work. For him, it wasn’t Berry’s breathtaking guitar skills that appealed most, but his songwriting and the engaging delivery of his vocals.
It was a light-bulb moment for Townshend. Before listening to Berry, he thought that the music was all that mattered before his awakening occurred. “When I started in the rock business, my grounding in music was probably trad jazz rather than rock’n’roll,” Townshend reflected about his musical roots with NME in 1982.
The guitarist continued, “A little bit of classical music thrown in on the side, listening to my dad’s dance orchestra. And then, suddenly, the ‘miracle’ of rock’n’roll – in the shape of Bill Haley, and Cliff, and Elvis Presley, who I still don’t understand. And that was all.”
Townshend’s musical upbringing was eclectic, which provided him with a broad pallet at a young age, which helped Townshend operate outside of the box. This education helped create the groundbreaking work The Who became famed for, such as their rock opera, Tommy. However, Berry was one traditional rock ‘n’ roll star that infected his psyche.
“Yet rock’n’roll still got into my blood as a new form,” he continued. “I don’t think it was until I heard Chuck Berry that I realised what you could do with words – and how unimportant the music was, cos Chuck Berry always used the same song!”
When The Who released Tommy in 1969, they took a brave leap that showed Townshend was an imitable figure in the British musical sphere. While they’d already perfected their brand of brooding rock ‘n’ roll, Townshend proved himself to be an innovator with this release. It successfully blurred the lines between words and music by bringing concept records to a mainstream audience rock audience.
If it hadn’t been for Berry’s influence, perhaps Townshend would have neglected this element of his artistry and not pushed himself to be the pioneering songwriter he elegantly developed into. While Townshend never attempted to imitate Berry, his hero redefined his approach to songwriting, and for that reason, he will always remain grateful.
