Happy 80th Birthday Pete Townshend!
Celebrating the legendary guitarist and co-founder of the Who… Thank You Pete!
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend was born on May 19, 1945 in Chiswick, England.
Iconic.
Pete Townshend leaping. The Who (Live) in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S.A.) circa 1975.
Source: britannica.com
My earliest memories of Pete Townshend and the Who were merely tangential; hearing their song “Who Are You” on the radio, seeing their video to the song “Eminence Front” on MTV. While I now revere much of their catalog, I initially didn’t connect with their music, as much of it was before my time. This all changed around forty years ago, although I didn’t realize it at the time. Some of my fondest childhood memories were of attending dozens of professional indoor soccer (Kansas City Comets) games with my family and friends. The Comets were one of the first sports franchises to realize the power and draw of pre-game entertainment. The action on the field was preceded by a cutting-edge laser-light show, filled with fog machines, swirling spotlights, huge mirror balls, overhead pyrotechnics, and memorable song selections. One such song was especially memorable due to its opening keyboard ostinato and shouts of “Teenage Wasteland”; the Who’s “Baba O’ Riley”. Like many others, I originally thought the oft-repeated refrain was the song's title. Interestingly, “Teenage Wasteland” was in fact a working title for the song in its early incarnations. Since 2003, "Baba O' Riley" has also been a part of the player introductions for Los Angeles Lakers home games.