Smashing guitars may have defined The Who‘s Pete Townshend, but he believes it’s “embarrassing” to break the instrument.
While he would continue to smash his way through stage shows, the Let My Love Open the Door songwriter would admit he’s “not angry all the time” and sometimes does it for sure. Townshend would admit it was cathartic to hit his guitar on the floor of a stage, but it’s “also embarrassing” as it feels more like an expectation than a surprise at this point in his career. In an interview with David Sheff of Playboy magazine, Townshend would say that he would “want to smash” some guitars due to tech issues, but it was ultimately an embarrassing decision to break the instruments on stage. He said: “Well you have to remember I’m not angry all the time.
“Even now I occasionally get frustrated on the stage with guitars and want to smash them. I tend not to do it, but the opportunity’s always there. I smashed a guitar on the Psycho Derelict tour and it was great fun.”
“It’s also embarrassing, is what it is. It’s like comedians’ being forced to use their catchphrase after they’ve become serious actors.” Townshend would also confirm he is sometimes asked to smash the guitars, rather than letting it be a natural part of the performance. An appearance on the David Letterman talk show would be one such moment.
Townshend explained: “Yeah. I smashed the one on the Letterman show even though I didn’t really want to. They asked me to do it, and I told them I would if they sold the guitar for charity. They gave me a fabulous guitar–a Gibson J-200 blond, an Elvis Presley-type guitar.”
It would not be the only embarrassing moment from Townshend, who would admit to not caring for The Beatles’ masterclass, Rubber Soul, when it was first released.
While the Fab Four were responsible for some of the best albums in history, the Empty Glass songwriter was left unmoved by one of The Beatles’ biggest releases. A trick in the studio, where the vocals were coming out of one side of the stereo and the backing track from the other, would define The Beatles’ sound.
It would feature on some of their biggest tracks, but it did little for Townshend, who called it “flippin’ lousy.” He and The Who bass guitarist John Entwistle had been listening to an album by The Beatles shortly before Townshend gave an interview.
An interviewer asked The Who guitarist: “But wouldn’t you say The Beatles and people like that have a certain musical quality?” Townshend replied: “Ooh, that’s a tough question. Actually, this afternoon, John [Entwistle] and I were listening to a stereo LP of The Beatles — in which the voices come out of the one side and the backing track comes out of the other.
“When you actually hear the backing tracks of The Beatles without their voices, they’re flippin’ lousy.” The Beatles’ album has been praised by fans in the decades to follow this interview, with alternate takes and re-releases consistently hailed by listeners old and new.
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