I HOPE I DIE BEFORE I GET OLD

I HOPE I DIE BEFORE I GET OLD

I hope I die before I get caught, more like

Hey Pete, how are all those kids you molested doing?

FIDDLE ABOUT
FIDDLE ABOUT

He got off because probably some twat judge was all like "Ah, Tommy was my bloody favourite album when I was 13! No way would I lock up my childhood hero!"

The Who By Numbers [MCA, 1975]

This record is a lot worse than my dispassionate grade would indicate, because really, don't we all expect better? From The Who no less? Pete Townshend has more to say about star doubt than David Crosby or John Lennon, but the apercus, namely "Dreaming From The Waist" and "Wherever I May Booze", merely circles the drain. I don't expect the seeker to have the answers, but I do at least expect him to enjoy the question. B

Who Are You [MCA, 1978]

Every time I listen closely, I can make out some new detail in Roger's singing or Pete's guitar or John Entwistle's bass guitar. Not in Keith Moon's drumming though, and I still don't relate to the synthesizer. But I never learn anything new, and this is not my idea of fun rock-and-roll. It should be one or the other, if not both. B

Face Dances [Warner Bros., 1981]

Keith Moon's death seems to have relieved Pete Townshend of his obsession with mortality and the band he created. His new sex songs are stylish and passionate, the strongest he's written in a decade. Trouble is, they sound forced coming from the aging pretty boy who mouths them. All of which is a reminder that mortality catches up to pretty boys faster than the rest of us. B-

It's Hard [Warner Bros., 1982]

For years, Pete Townshend's operatic pretensions were so transparent that I wagered his musical ideas would never catch up to his lyrical ones. And I was right--both became more prolix at the same rate. This isn't quite as revolting as "All The Blind Chinamen Have Western Eyes", but between the synths, winding song structures, and book club poetry, it's the nearest thing to classic awful English art rock since Genesis discovered funk. Best track--"Eminence Front", in which Pete Townshend discovers funk. Just in time. Bye. C-

Endless Wire [Polydor, 2006]

This record is unlistenable for a simple reason--Roger Daltrey. Now 62, he is no longer capable in body as well as mind of navigating through The Who's first album of all-new studio material since 1982's dreadful "It's Hard". Trying futilely to remember his acting lessons, he squeaks, squawks, clicks, creaks, and bollockses his way through lessons he's sure are profound. Seven songs in, the leader spells him, and the sharp uptick in modesty comes as a relief. But it's also the leader who decided that prog was a peachy keen idea, and then proceeded to designate an 11-song "cycle". And since it's the leader who gives the orders around here, the album is also unlistenable for a complicated reason--Pete Townshend. C+

PETE A GOOD BOI, HE DINDU NUTHIN'

Fuck off with the Robert Christgau meme

He never even went to court
He "got off" because he was only cautioned because he proved he never entered the site, the site was just a regular porn site anyway and because he claimed he was trying to expose that banks were allowing those sorts of transactions to take place, which various child abuse charities that he was in contact with backed him up on as being the truth. Still a bloody stupid thing to do though.

These reviews (specifically his comments about Daltrey's vocals on FD and EW) expose one of Christgau's more blatant flaws as a reviewer, which is that he likes to insert himself into the band members' heads and assumes what they're thinking.

I've read a lot of theories about Face Dances, for example:

>Daltrey sounds forced because he's starting to wonder if he isn't getting too old for this kind of material (so basically what Christgau said)
>Pete's sex songs required intimacy and delicacy to pull off and Roger couldn't do that, he instead fell back on his arena stud muffin schtick

In any case, the songs were probably too personal to Pete for Roger to handle, and they probably would have been better served on a solo album of his.

He meant it to be about wealth, you materialist turd.

IF I WANTED TO DIE BEFORE I GOT OLD
I SHOULDVE STARTED SOME YEARS AGO DIGGING THAT HOLE

>He "got off" because he was only cautioned because he proved he never entered the site, the site was just a regular porn site anyway

Since when do regular 18+ porn sites have CP links?

might have just been a sketchy banner ad

It was back in the early 2000s, you'd run into CP a lot more readily than you do now that the Internet is better policed.

This. It's easy to demonize Townshend now, but think about how much trouble old people have navigating the Internet even today with all its maliciousness and confusion, and realize that it was WAY more malicious and confusing 10 years ago.

What is it about late-night Who threads that make them so comfy? Is it the Christgau reviews?

>What is it about late-night Who threads
It's 10:35 AM.

why don't you all fffffade away

Sure, in whatever third-world timezone you use. The thread started 4 hours ago.