Who I Am(book)
 First hardback edition cover | |
| Author | Pete Townshend |
|---|---|
| Genre | Memoir |
| Published | 2012 (HarperCollins) |
| Media type | Book, e-book, audio CD |
| Pages | 544 |
| ISBN | 978-0062127242 |
Who I Amis a memoir by rock guitarist and composerPete Townshendofthe Who.It was published byHarperCollinsin October 2012 in both book and e-book format, plus an unabridged 15-CDaudiobookread by Townshend. The book chronicles Townshend's upbringing in London, the formation and evolution of the Who, and his struggles with rock stardom and drugs and alcohol. The title is a play on words, referring to the Who's hit single, "Who Are You"as well asthe album of the same name.
Who I AmenteredThe New York Timesbest seller list at No. 3 in October 2012.[1]It received mixed reviews from critics, with some admiring its frankness and intimacy, and others complaining about its editing and being too dull.
Background
[edit]Pete Townshend signed a contract withLittle, Brown and Companyin May 1996 to write his autobiography, but abandoned it two years later, when, according to Townshend, "I found it too hard".[2][3]He published small extracts of what he had written on a blog. He later signed a deal withHarperCollins,and the memoir, originally entitledPeter Townshend: Who He?,was published in October 2012 asWho I Am.[4][5]Townshend said he preferred the originalWho Hetitle: "Who I Amseems so final, so grandiose, so....Pete Townshend. It's just too perfect. "[6]The original manuscript Townshend presented to HarperCollins was 1,000 pages long, but the publisher cut it back to 500 pages.[7]
Synopsis
[edit]Pete Townshend's memoir begins with his upbringing in London after World War II (he was born in May 1945, the month the war in Europe ended). Included is the period he lived with his unstable grandmother, during which time he reports fragmentary memories of sexual abuse at the hands of her suitors.[8][9]Townshend discusses theMod sceneof the 1960s, the effect the war had on his generation, and the development of rock music. He also discusses the effect his childhood had on his music, particularly the rock operaTommy.[10]
The book traces the formation and evolution ofthe Who,and includes details of their appearance atWoodstockin 1969 and their storied trashing of hotels.[11][12]Townshend callsRoger Daltrey"the unquestionable leader" of the band.[12]He says he started smashing his guitars at the end of performances after he accidentally pushed one through a club ceiling in 1964 and damaged it.[13]His "windmill" style of striking guitar chords was adopted fromKeith Richards,whom Townshend says he once saw swinging his arm to warm-up before going on stage.[14]
The book also includes the many encounters Townshend had with other rock musicians, includingJimi Hendrix,whom he called ashamanbecause of the way he played his guitar.[10]Townshend says that in a way Hendrix's "performances did borrow from mine – the feedback, the distortion, the guitar theatrics," but he added that Hendrix's "artistic genius lay in how he created a sound all his own".[10][15]Townshend recalls that at the 1967Monterey Pop Festivalthe Who and Hendrix argued backstage as to who would play first, and Townshend won after acoin flip.[11]
Townshend describes himself in the book as "probably bisexual" because of a brief affair he had with journalistDanny Fieldsand his interest inMick Jagger,saying "Mick is the only man I've ever seriously wanted to fuck".[9][12][16]Keith MoonandJohn Entwistlefelt that Townshend was too prudish aroundgroupiesand once paid one $100 to infect him withgonorrhea.[17]Townshend says he tried to distance himself from rock stardom as much as possible. He studied the works of Indian spiritual master and mysticMeher Baba,and while he was able to avoid drugs and extramarital sex most of the time, Townshend says he periodically lapsed and indulged in cocaine and alcohol.[9][12]
The book details Townshend's work as an editor at London publisherFaber and Faber,some of the literary personalities he worked with, and some the books he commissioned.[18]It also covers his charity work in rehabilitation programs and establishing a shelter for battered wives.[19]In 2003 Townshend was arrested for allegedly downloadingchild pornography.In the book he claims that he accessed the images as research for a campaign against the presence of such images, and was helping to set up "a research program for a new support system for survivors of childhood abuse".[10][20]He was later given a formalpolice caution.[21][22]Townshend wrote that he had accepted the caution only because "I was in no frame of mind to live through another eternity – this time in court",[23]although he later wished he had gone to trial to prove his innocence.[24]
Reception
[edit]Music journalistRob Sheffieldwriting inRolling StonecalledWho I Am"intensely intimate" and "candid to the point of self-lacerating".[12]He said Townshend seems to want to deflate his rock-star image by exposing his "defects and contradictions: the 'Angry Yobbo' guitar hooligan he plays onstage versus the introspective composer, the spiritual seeker versus the hedonistic drug addict".[12]The Guardiansaid that while many rock memoirs "run out of gas once the classic songs dry up and the major crises have been overcome", Townshend's life "was never dull".[9]It said Townshend's prose is "crisp, clear and unflinching", and called the book "unusually frank and moving".[9]
Literary criticMichiko Kakutaniwriting inThe New York TimessaidWho I Am"is an earnest, tortured, searching book", and was impressed with the way Townshend documented how the Who "articulate[d] the joy and rage" of post-World War II Britain's "teenage wasteland" generation.[10]But Kakutani felt that the book's editing was uneven, resulting in too much detail in some sections, and "jump cuts" in other areas that "chop the narrative into herky-jerky pieces and slow the book's momentum".[10]The A.V. Clubsaid Townshend's accounts of the making of albums likeWho's NextandQuadropheniaare "breathtaking", but complained that "there are glaring gaps and dead ends in his story. Daltrey, Moon, and Entwistle are shunted to the background, leaving the alchemy of their unique collaboration mostly in the dark".[25]It felt that "Townshend's intellectual tone sucks up too much of the emotional oxygen".[25]
British journalistSimon Garfieldin a review inThe Observercomplained that the book is too "well-behaved and ordered" and lacks the exuberance of Keith Richards's "indulgent memoir",Life.[26]He saidWho I Amis "insightful about the creative process", and is "a worthwhile, comprehensive and culturally valuable account of a life", but "it didn't leave me with the sense of elation I normally feel after brushes with the Who".[26]Rock music criticRobert Christgausaid inThe New York Timesthat while he was impressed by Townshend's literary career, he tries to cram too much into the book, leaving little room to make the text "come alive".[19]American authorLouis Bayardsaid inThe Washington Postthat he expected more out ofWho I Amfrom such an "articulate" person as Townshend. He said that the "pretentiousness" and the "endless [...] therapy" that pervades the book "makes you long for the angryyobbowho clobberedAbbie Hoffmanat Woodstock, [and] got kicked out of everyHoliday Innin the world ".[13]
References
[edit]- ^"Best Sellers".The New York Times.28 October 2012.Retrieved7 January2013.
- ^Townshend 2012,p. 449.
- ^Townshend 2012,p. 509.
- ^Lewis, Andy (17 May 2011)."Pete Townshend Memoir to Be Published by Harper Collins".The Hollywood Reporter.Retrieved10 January2013.
- ^Greene, Andy (17 May 2011)."Pete Townshend Will Finally Deliver His Memoir Next Year".Rolling Stone.Retrieved10 January2013.
- ^Cruz, John (4 September 2012)."Pete Townshend: Who He?".Sputnikmusic.Retrieved10 January2013.
- ^Townshend 2012,p. 510.
- ^Flint, Joe (15 October 2012)."Book review: Pete Townshend's memoir 'Who I Am'".Los Angeles Times.Retrieved4 January2013.
- ^abcdeLynskey, Dorian (9 October 2012)."Who I Am: A Memoir by Pete Townshend".The Guardian.Retrieved4 January2013.
- ^abcdefKakutani, Michiko(8 October 2012)."Smashed Guitars and Other Damage".The New York Times.Retrieved4 January2013.
- ^ab"Pete Townshend Dishes on Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix in New Memoir".Rolling Stone.28 September 2012.Retrieved4 January2013.
- ^abcdefSheffield, Rob(28 September 2012)."Book Review: Pete Townshend's 'Who I Am' Could Be the Most Conflicted Rock Memoir of All Time".Rolling Stone.Retrieved4 January2013.
- ^abBayard, Louis(11 November 2012)."Book review:" Who I Am "by rock star Pete Townshend of The Who".The Washington Post.Retrieved7 January2013.
- ^Daly, Sean (4 November 2012)."Review: Pete Townshend memoir 'Who I Am' gloomy yet addictive".Tampa Bay Times.Retrieved7 January2013.
- ^Townshend 2012,p. 111.
- ^Townshend 2012,p. 88.
- ^Taylor, D. J.(13 October 2012)."Who I Am, By Pete Townshend".The Independent.Retrieved7 January2013.
- ^"Book Review: Pete Townshend, Who I Am: A Memoir".American Songwriter.9 November 2012.Retrieved4 January2013.
- ^abChristgau, Robert(26 October 2012)."Rock Opera".The New York Times.Retrieved4 January2013.
- ^Townshend 2012,p. 484.
- ^Barkham, Patrick (8 May 2003)."Pete Townshend on sex register over child porn".The Times.London. Archived fromthe originalon 4 June 2011.Retrieved22 May2010.
- ^"Who star cautioned over child porn".CNN. 7 May 2003.Retrieved22 May2010.
- ^Townshend 2012,pp. 492–493.
- ^Townshend 2012,p. 494.
- ^abHeller, Jason (5 November 2012)."Who I Am".The A.V. Club.Retrieved4 January2013.
- ^abGarfield, Simon(4 November 2012)."Who I Am by Pete Townshend".The Observer.Retrieved4 January2013.
Works cited
[edit]- Townshend, Pete(2012).Who I Am.HarperCollins.ISBN978-0-00-746604-7.