Pete Townshend would have been 'happier' without The Who

12-05-2025

Pete Townshend thinks he would have been "happier" without The Who. The 79-year-old musician - who co-founded the band in 1964 - has always felt the group were "beneath" him and he believes he'd have preferred to have followed his love of art instead. He told The Daily Mail newspaper's Weekend magazine: "I always feel I wish I'd left before the band got famous and been an artist. I think I would have been happier... "I was deeply into a college course about how art was going to have a revolutionary function. So I felt The Who were a bit silly, maybe a bit beneath me, I'm afraid." Asked how he sees things now, he said: "I feel the same. I think they feel beneath me." And Pete admitted bandmate Roger Daltrey is unimpressed by his stance. He said: "Roger and I have conversations about this. Sometimes he thinks I should be more grateful... "I should have left, I think. That's OK. I don't regret feeling that. It's just that there was a life I could have had that I missed." The 'My Generation' hitmaker never expected The Who to be around for more than a year. He said: "I expected The Who to self-destruct in six months. That's why I threw myself into performing in a bloody manner. I hurt myself on the stage. I smashed guitars I could only just afford. But my personal manifesto was absolute, 'This is a brief moment in music history. It won't turn into...' Well, what it turned into." The 'Pinball Wizard' rocker has moments of feeling he is a "genius" when he's on stage, but admitted performing live "does nothing" for him. He said: "I'll keep going as long as I feel it. We'll be on the stage and I'll be thinking, 'What the **** am I doing here?' "Then the first few tricky bars of 'Baba O'Riley' will begin and I'll think, 'I'm a f****** genius. I should be here, because this is my music.' "People say I get well paid for doing a job I like. I do get well paid but I don't like it. I don't like being on the road. I don't like being on stage. It does nothing for me. It makes me insincere." The guitarist noted there are some perks to his job. He said: "The money is great."

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Pete Davidson Talks Girlfriend Elsie Hewitt's Pregnancy

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3 hours ago

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Pete Davidson Talks Girlfriend Elsie Hewitt's Pregnancy

Pete Davidson spoke for the first time about news that he's about to become a father. Last week, his girlfriend Elsie Hewitt confirmed that she's pregnant after TMZ first reported the news. The comedian was first publicly linked to the model and actor back in March. At the premiere of his upcoming horror movie The Home, Pete spoke with reporters about everything that's been going on. When asked what kind of father he hopes to be by Entertainment Tonight, Pete replied, "I honestly couldn't be more excited." "As you know, it's been my dream forever, since I was a little kid. The baby's mother is one of my favorite people to ever exist, ever. She's going to be a great mom. I'm just stoked. I hope to be the dad that I hope that I would have," he added. Pete further told E! News that fellow SNL dads Colin Jost and Adam Sandler had given him some advice: "Everyone's just been super excited for me, because they know it's been my dream and they all just have been like, 'You're going to be great at this. It's the best thing that you'll ever do in your life.'" As for what part of fatherhood he's looking forward to, Pete alluded to his own dad, a firefighter who died on 9/11. "Just being able to take care of something and show it the childhood that I didn't have," he explained. As for how he knew Elsie was "the one," he said, "It was very apparent. We both met through mutual friends who were just like, 'You guys should meet,' and then we met. We weren't really looking for anything and we immediately were just like, 'Oh, wow.'" "I would say she's female me and I'm male her,' he concluded. 'We just laugh all day."

'60s Rock Icon, 81, Makes Bold Admission About 'Funny' Relationship With Fellow Band Member

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8 hours ago

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'60s Rock Icon, 81, Makes Bold Admission About 'Funny' Relationship With Fellow Band Member

'60s Rock Icon, 81, Makes Bold Admission About 'Funny' Relationship With Fellow Band Member originally appeared on Parade. '60s rock icons The Who, featuring original members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, are hitting the road for a farewell tour. Daltrey, 81, and Townshend, 80, had a famously tense relationship through much of the band's historic tenure, but the two became closer following the death of bandmate John Entwistle in 2002. As the band sets off on its summer tour, a spry Daltrey is giving new insight into the legendary rockers' 'funny friendship.'In an interview with AP Entertainment, the ageless Daltrey said, 'Pete and I, it's a funny friendship. We don't mix socially at all. We only see each other to work. He likes boats — I hate boats. I've got my feet on the ground... I like my feet in the mud. He likes fashion — I don't give a (expletive). I hate new clothes, you know, so we're total opposites. But it works. I don't question it. There's a chemistry that happens with the way he writes his songs, and the way I join him. There's something special there, and we should treasure it — which indeed we are.' On a post of the interview shared to social media, fans compared Daltrey and Townshend to Rolling Stones rockers Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, writing, 'Kind of like Mick and Keith,' while another added, 'Like brothers.'The Who are currently on tour through September 28, 2025. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 '60s Rock Icon, 81, Makes Bold Admission About 'Funny' Relationship With Fellow Band Member first appeared on Parade on Jul 22, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 22, 2025, where it first appeared. Solve the daily Crossword

Nick Cave Reflects on Lessons of Grief on Anniversary of Son's Passing

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a day ago

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Nick Cave Reflects on Lessons of Grief on Anniversary of Son's Passing

Ten years on from the passing of his son, Arthur, Nick Cave has reflected on his loss and the lessons he has learnt from the process of grieving. Cave's comments were shared on his frequently-updated Red Hand Files website, in which he answered questions from fans about what he and wife Susie had learned in the decade since the passing of their son, and whether their pain is one that continues eternally. More from Billboard Shakira & The Weeknd to Headline 2025 Global Citizen Festival in Central Park The Who Kick Off Farewell Tour in Italy, Perform First Show Since Zak Starkey Sacking Tool Announce First Hawaii Concert in Nearly 15 Years 'The pain remains, but I have found that it evolves over time,' Cave began. 'Grief blossoms with age, becoming less a personal affront, less a cosmic betrayal, and more a poetic quality of being as we learn to surrender to it. 'As we are confronted with the intolerable injustice of death, what seems unbearable ultimately turns out not to be unbearable at all. Sorrow grows richer, deeper, and more textured. It feels more interesting, creative, and lovely. 'To my great surprise, I discovered that I was part of a common human story,' he continued. 'I began to recognise the immense value and potential of our humanness while simultaneously acknowledging, at my core, our terrifyingly perilous situation. I learned we all actually die. 'I realised that although each of us is special and unique, our pain and brokenness is not. Over time, Susie and I came to understand that the world is not indifferent or cruel, but precious and loving – indeed, lovely – tilting ever toward good.' Cave's 15-year-old son Arthur passed away on July 14, 2015, as a result of injuries sustained from a fall from a cliff in Brighton, Sussex in England. 'Our son Arthur died on Tuesday evening,' the Caves said in a joint statement at the time. 'He was our beautiful, happy loving boy.' Cave's experience with the grieving process was captured as part of the final sessions for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' 2016 album Skeleton Tree, while the subsequent Andrew Dominik-directed documentary One More Time with Feeling provided an intimate insight into Cave and the band during this period. 'I discovered that the initial trauma of Arthur's death was the coded cypher through which God spoke, and that God had less to do with faith or belief, and more to do with a way of seeing,' Cave continued in his post. 'I came to understand that God was a form of perception, a means of being alert to the poetic resonance of being. I found God to be woven into all things, even the greatest evils and our deepest despair. Sometimes I feel the world pulsating with a rich, lyrical energy, at other times it feels flat, void, and malevolent. I came to realise that God was present and active in both experiences.' 'I'm not sure what else I've learned, […] except that here we still are, a decade later, living within the radiant heart of the trauma, the place where all thoughts and dreams converge and where all hope and sorrow reside, the bright and teary eye of the storm – this whirling boy who is God, like every other thing,' Cave concluded. 'We remember him today.' Cave recently used his Red Hand Files website to share insights into less heartbreaking topics, having reflected on turning down an offer from Morrissey to perform an 'anti-woke screed' on a track, and sharing fanciful tales of being mistaken for similarly-named actor Nicolas Cage. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart Solve the daily Crossword