There can be no denying the fact that Pete Townshend has carved himself out a large and prestigious place at the table of Rock and Roll Legends, both past and present. His song-writing capabilities are of course well-known, from the rock masterpiece Tommy to the generation-defining Quadrophenia, from his solo work with Empty Glass to All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes. Pete can write and arrange musical notes with the best of them, and he expresses the anguish of the teenaged soul better than most, if not all, of his contemporaries. He set the tone for a generation of Mods in the United Kingdom, while an endless flock of rock journalists tried their hand at analyzing his talent.
One of my all-time favorite songs, period, let alone one of my favorite The Who songs, is Real Good Looking Boy. With an introduction of Elvis Presley's I Can't Help Falling in Love With You, this song is a haunting tribute to love; but this being Pete Townshend, the love in this song is not the sugary-sweet, pre-teen girlish Katy Perry or Taylor Swift kind of love- it is not, by a long shot, the fairy tale version of love. It is rather a twisted take on motherly love; it's motherly love, if your mother could double as the stand-in for the evil stepmother from Cinderella at a Disney Parade. Not many mothers tell their sons that they're ugly, and if having your mother tell you that you're the epitome of the Ugly Swan is not enough to shatter your budding self-confidence, than maybe knowing that a history of mental illness deeply runs through the family's genes will. to me, this song combines love and broken spirits, all set to an achingly beautiful melody. Truly, this is a classic song. Here's Townshend's motivation for writing Real Good Looking Boy:
"Real Good Looking Boy is a song I wrote quite a few years ago about two young men who worry about their looks. One of them, based on me - hopes and believes he might look like his best friend who is a conventionally handsome fellow. (He is disavowed of this notion by his mother). The second, based on Roger - hopes and believes he will one day turn out to be like the young Elvis. (He, more happily, sees part of his dream come true). They both find love in later life." - Pete Townshend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNP2jxAdpk8
Townshend always has been a beautiful man to me, not only in his physical appearance, but also in the intellect and humanity that shines through in his songs. His interviews are blunt, open and thought-provoking. He doesn't hide from the press behind meek protestations of personal privacy (but keep those royalty checks coming, fans!), he doesn't bend at the knee to the press, and he is smart enough to entertain not only on stage, but also in print. Townshend has been up front about his short-comings as a father and as a husband, while his body of work speaks freely of the struggles that all adults face within a marriage and, in fact, within any adult relationship. Like Joe Strummer (whom I've written about earlier), Pete could transition from Teenaged Hero, expressing the dream of the under 30 set to never grow old, to an adult man, with adult problems and concerns, without loosing his integrity as an artist (i.e. producing crap) along the way, just to put out a Number One record and keep the record company execs happy. The muse never seems to have left him.
There is one instance which makes me question Townshend's integrity, and one in which I really wish that he had hired a good publicist and let the hired hand do the talking. I wish that Townshend never had to engage the press in his legal troubles over porn, child porn to be exact. Townshend, who in the past openly and bravely wrote about his childhood demons, about the sexual abuse that he faced as a boy and his generally troubled childhood, recently stumbled into the unthinkable- claims that he visited websites promoting child pornography. Why? Why would Pete Townshend of the Who view kiddie porn? So many women, and men I might add, would willingly fall to Townshend's feet. Willing and able The Who groupies abound. Townshend claims that he was visiting these sites while researching a book, which may be true in and of itself, but still is not a perfect answer. I write here in this blog about Pete Townshend, but the Internet being what it is, I have no need to actually speak to Townshend himself to write this piece, although it admittedly would be nice. But talking to Pete Townshend for a blog is not exactly at the same level as looking at child pornography, in terms of researching material. One is a dream come true and innocuous, the other is rehensible and illegal. I actually have trouble reconciling the Artist Pete Townshend, a man who can express the beauty found in Real Good Looking Boy, to the adult man accused of paying for and habitually viewing websites promoting the sexual exploitation of children. Can one be seperated from the other, can the artist be seperated from the flaws of the man? Is there redemption for the troubled artist, or does the act refute the beauty of his work? What do you think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBDmpfnkFfQ
