![\"Pete](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Pete-Townshend-The-Who-1960s-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Thu 29 January 2026 12:14, UK <\/p>\n
The Who were, in many ways, the quintessential rock group. They sprang from the 1960s as one of the prominent groups of the British Invasion, known mainly for their early hit \u2018My Generation\u2019 and their explosively loud performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This all-out rock \u2018n\u2019 roll display would more often than not end in a scene of total destruction as guitarist Pete Townshend<\/a> smashed his relatively expensive six-string into smithereens on the stage floor. These destructive antics would eventually pervade the mind of guitar hero Jimi Hendrix, who grabbed his audience\u2019s attention with some destructive pyrotechnics of his own.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anarchy was upon us. And anarchy would also be a misnomer bestowed by those who didn\u2019t quite get it. This rage was borne from a hopeful desire to forcefully happen upon something \u2018else\u2019, to leave the woes of the stilted post-war generation behind and give youth a voice.<\/p>\n Under this tough exterior of rock and roll uproar, The Who were very serious about their craft as they drew on a healthy range of influences to create some of the most intriguing rock music of the 1970s. They were ferociously riffing one minute, and singing about Meher Baba the next. In many ways, that was a reflection of the various influences on that band and their enigmatic leader, Townshend.<\/p>\n The beginning of the \u201870s marked the peak of The Who\u2019s creativity as they became increasingly experimental in the studio. The music began to see the heavier involvement of synthesisers while they pioneered the rock-opera concept with 1969\u2019s Tommy and 1973\u2019s Quadrophenia<\/a>, which were both later adapted into films.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Townshend was the key driver behind the band\u2019s creative whim, and his passion for music was as broad as it was obsessive. Townshend\u2019s infatuation with rock and roll began when some friends at art school introduced him to the rhythm and blues craze in America, but before that, he had a keen interest in jazz, thanks to his parents\u2019 taste in music and his father\u2019s role in a dance band.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not long after gaining traction with The Who\u2019s first run of successful singles in the mid-60s, Townshend discovered the next stepping stone in his path of inspiration. The Beatles\u2019 intensely psychedelic 1967 album Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Deeply conceptual, this swirling mire, which he heard before it was even released at a party, was exactly what he had been searching for.<\/p>\n In his 2012 book Who I Am: A Memoir, Townshend remembered listening to Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/a>, while on tour with The Who. \u201cThe shock-wave it caused challenged all comers; no one believed The Beatles would ever top it, or would even bother to try,\u201d he passionately wrote.<\/p>\n![\"Pete](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Pete-Townshend-1966-The-Who-Bent-Rej-Far-Out-Magazine-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Pete Townshend in his younger years on stage. (Credits: Far Out \/ Bent Rej)<\/p>\n