Pete Townshend On Jimi Hendrix

[Music] come down [Music] but I'm one [Music] I am one but Monterey was in that Spirit it was let's do a new Port jazz festival but it will be pop we'll give all the money away and a bunch of of cool people in California led by Derek Taylor The Beatles publicist and uh a couple of the guys in in The Mamas and the Papas uh put up this festival and invited all kinds of people and and and um we were invited and and then I heard that that Jimmy was going to appear and when we got there we we for some reason hadn't taken our big Marshall lamps uh Jimmy had taken his we we hired some amplifiers over there we were always doing things on the cheap and um and then Derek told me gave me the the the the the the running order uh and it was that Jimmy went on before the who and I I took Derek aside and I said you know this is wrong and he said what do you mean and I said you know Jimi Hendrix is the got to be the most profoundly um important artist of this generation and I was thinking in terms of you know kind of music or variety you know the artist that closes the show is the most important and I wanted Jimmy to be higher up the list and he said oh it doesn't matter and I said you know it does I don't want I don't think it would be appropriate for The Hoot to follow Jimi Hendrix you know he should he he should be on after us so um he said well come and talk to Jimmy so we went in and Jimmy had just taken some very very powerful LSD and he was standing on a chair he'd got a little amplifier he was standing on his hand he was playing you know and he was such an amazing player you know if you saw Jimi Hendrix perform you'll know what I mean if you didn't well you know I'm sorry that's not what you meant to say no I'm sorry because you know it would there was something else it's okay to hear the records but God this guy in the flesh was just something he was from another planet he had the skills of a shame and I've never quite understood how he did what he did he seemed to be able to come alive and create light and color uh I'd I'd never ever took LSD to go and watch Jimmy Play I Was far far too far too terrified just in my normal skin and um but I always used to see stuff you know I I think I'm into I'm slightly psychic there's no question about that but just the most incredible performer elegant graceful and beautiful and then you'd meet him afterwards and he'd look like a dustman a garbage man he looked like somebody that you know he'd look like a seriously he was for he was very dirty and not particularly nice looking he had very very bad skin and um and his hair wasn't a proper afro it was this kind of but you know the reason why women went so crazy for him is that when he was on the stage he looked like a god as soon as he walked up there and so he's up on this chair he's looking at him and he looks like God because he's playing and uh Derek and I Jimmy uh we just wanted to talk to you about the running order and he's going what do you want to know and um and I and I said um I'm a bit worried about going on you know after you and he said yeah yeah I would be how and I said no you don't understand and he said I think I understand and I and I and um and at that moment the idea came up to toss a coin and Jimmy agreed and so we tossed a coin and Jimmy made the call heads and he lost so he had to go on after The Who because he lost so we go on and we do our routine and we smash our guitars and everybody's kind of Fairly stunned and then I go out and I sit with Mama Cass and Jimmy comes out and does roughly the same thing but probably more elegantly but anyway he does roughly the same thing as she turns to me and she says Pete aren't you supposed to be the guy that smashes the guitars and I said this everything I do everything I've done everything that I am everything that I could ever have come up with is his now and and that's kind of how it was

Channel: Nominay

Views: 271,552

Keywords: Jimi Hendrix, Hendrix, Pete Townshend, The Who, Monterey, pop festival, music festival

Id: GG77HpuY7ZI

Length: 5min 41sec (341 seconds)

Published: Mon May 15 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/Oni_das_Alagoas]

I believe that the truth is quite the opposite. They were afraid that jimi would eclipse their performance. Over the years Pete sounded more and more resentful towards artists on the scene that "took" the who's place as the next beatles (hendrix, led zep, etc). And as the time passes he tends to change versions on his stories.

[u/sparxcy]

I heard/read it different. A few people about backstage where they told Hendrix that the who would finish the show or wanted to. Hendrix got up on a chair, probably plugged in, and showed them what he will do and said 'i will pull all the stops'

Pete Townshend amongst others were terrified of Hendrix when he 1st 'hit' the scene

[u/Johnny66Johnny]

Townshend is probably one of Hendrix's greatest (and most thoughtful) champions, but it's easy to see how his remarks can be misconstrued. Was Townshend threatened by Hendrix? Of course. Did he likely feel 'bested' by Hendrix in every respect? Of course. (And not only musically or professionally: he has related how his wife-to-be at the time openly admitted to feeling the pull of Hendrix's sexual allure.) Townshend's honesty (in this clip and elsewhere) might not appear flattering (particularly as regards Hendrix's early physical appearance), but he wasn't alone in this: Paul Kossoff recalled the shabby appearance and body odour when he encountered Hendrix at Jim Marshall's music store for the first time (upon Hendrix's arrival in London). No doubt Jimi got his act together pretty quickly, but during those first weeks in London he no doubt presented to strangers exactly as he was - an (effectively) itinerant musician without a penny to his name. (Immigration officials had the same reaction when Chandler escorted Hendrix through Customs at Heathrow.)

We tend to put Hendrix on a pedestal, but Townshend is being honest - about the times, and about his own insecurities (and assumptions) as a younger man in the public eye. We seem to forget that British rock circles were no doubt informed by talent, musicianship, fashion sense, conquests, etc. - but also by social class experience. For example, upon first meeting Bert Jansch, Townshend assumed he dressed shabbily (by 'Swinging 60's' standards) as a result of choice, rather than due to poverty. Such statements aren't intended to demean, but rather illuminate Townshend's then naivete and the very specific social world these young British musicians inhabited and the assumptions that necessarily informed it.

Townshend is an exceptionally thoughtful artist, and painfully self-aware in ways that many classic rock stars aren't (or, at least, might publicly care to admit to). His remarks on Hendrix over the years have often been revealing and insightful and (one assumes intentionally) not always particularly flattering regarding the ego and ambition of the young Pete Townshend. We really should be grateful for his honesty, as the last thing we need is more fawning Hendrix anecdotes - which usually function to elevate the legend but further obscure the man.