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
14 May 2025
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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