Pete Townshend Found the Who Tour 'Tough'

2 August 2015

Pete Townshend found the last Who tour "tough" because Roger Daltrey insisted on having "complete control".

Pete Townshend

The guitarist admits it was frustrating to be left out of decision making, particularly as he didn't agree with everything his bandmate did, but conceded the "sergeant major" singer's ideas made the shows successful.

He said: "When we did the last tour, I said I would do it if it was 'Quadrophenia'.

"Roger said he would do it on two conditions, I had to give him complete control creatively and complete control of the band. I thought, 'F**k, but I may as well give it a try.'

"It was a bit tough for me, I lost a few players I really liked and Roger was a bit of a sergeant major sometimes, but the reviews were spectacular."

In 1969, Pete penned rock opera 'Tommy' and admits he did so because he felt it was the only thing he could do to make the band "survive".

He explained to Q magazine: "I wrote 'Tommy' because I thought The Who were f**ked.

"We had descended into comedy singles, Keith Moon was dressing up as Hitler and getting on the front page of the Daily Mirror, Roger had the long hair...

"So I decided to write this dangerous piece for a rock band - an extended, kinda pretentious, kinda audacious attempt to change the rock form. I thought it was the only way we could survive."