Quotes from Pete Townshend

Many were starting to use computerized synthesizers & drum machines to produce an entirely new style of music. It was being punted by the critics that the guitar was old hat; I was reminded of the way my father & his clarinets were written off in the late Fifties.

For the first time, a whole generation had the economic & educational opportunity to turn their backs on the dead end factory jobs of their parents, who, traumatized by two world wars, had responded by creating a safety blanket of conformity.

People say, "You've gotta go on, man, otherwise all those kids, they'll be finished, they'll have nothing to live for." That's rock and roll!

The people on the hill, they say I'm lazy, but when they sleep, I sing and dance.

I heard that Harry Nilsson had died. The secret to being a successful hellraiser, it seemed, was to stop raising hell before hell razed you.

I was regarded by my parents as having little musical talent other than a thin, nasal soprano voice. I was forbidden to touch my father's clarinets or saxophones, just my harmonica.

Meet the new boss, Same as the old boss.

I slept badly that night, my vivid dreams populated by ghosts. As much as it revived ailing spirits in day light, the fizzy energy of NY seemed to feed on human frailty at night.

Wiggy & I were drug buddies. There is no tighter compact for friendship. There is no greater potential for deceit.

Judging by the faces of those around me, just the fact of Roger speaking to me meant that my life could very well change.

In 1945 music had a serious purpose; to defy post war depression & revitalize the romantic & hopeful aspirations of an exhausted ppl.

So remember when you're looking for trouble That trouble is already busy with weaker men

Some kid writes in to me and says, 'I've got all your records and I listen to your music all day long and I look at your pictures all the time and I write to you and all I get is a bleedin' autographed picture. You don't know how much time I spend thinkin' about you lot.' I write him back and say, 'You don't know how much time I spend looking at and thinking about teenagers.

if you don't like my trumpet go try blowing one of your own.

The Artist's Way