Who I Am

Book excerpt: Long acknowledged as one of rock music’s most intelligent and literary performers, Pete Townshend—guitarist, songwriter, singer and founding member of The Who—at last tells his wild story in this candid and immersive autobiography. Raised in west London by an eccentric grandmother, while his parents were off living the early post-war, rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, Townshend describes a frenetic childhood of displacement and abuse. Then, in high school, everything changed when he met Roger Daltrey and formed a band that would travel the world, earning fame, fortune and critical acclaim. In Who I Am, Townshend brings us from the inner sanctum of Eric Clapton’s drug-ridden hotel rooms to the feet of Jimi Hendrix and his electric kool-aid guitar; from the first trial performance of Townshend’s rock opera, Tommy, in a London bar to his infamous arrest (and acquittal) on child pornography charges. With his trademark eloquence, fierce intelligence and brutal honesty, Pete Townshend has created a work of literature that stands as a primary source for popular music’s greatest epoch. Readers will be confronted by a man laying bare who he is, an artist who has asked for nearly sixty years: who are you?