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Thread: Pete Townshend....ouch this is bad

  1. #11
    Border Troubadour FreyFollower's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pete Townshend....ouch this is bad

    However he spins it, there's no way he can make his statements OK. If he truly wanted forgiveness, he would actually apologize. Being impatient or unfocused doesn't rationalize it, and simply calling his statements "careless" doesn't begin to cover how insensitive they were.
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  2. #12
    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pete Townshend....ouch this is bad

    What an awful thing to say. At least he's back tracked but... wow.

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  3. #13
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    Default Re: Pete Townshend....ouch this is bad

    It doesn't seem so bad to me and his own clarification on Facebook his expressed well. Remember that interviews can be misleading with questions that provoke answers that haven't been properly thought out.

    Over the years, I've mention a book called "Roadwork" which was written by an old friend of Pete Townsend, Tom Wright, and has lots of stories about The Who and other bands. What I remember is that the guitars that Townsend "wrecked" during concerts were glued back together and used again. Generally they broke in ways that could be fixed. And, of course, Keith Moon had many other uses for the glue.

    As for the child porn incident, I remember his explanation being that it was research to try to understand what had happened to him when he was younger. As "Tommy" is the story of a sexually-abused boy, it's clearly something he sees from the side of the abused.

  4. #14
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    Default Re: Pete Townshend....ouch this is bad

    Quote Originally Posted by UndertheWire View Post
    As for the child porn incident, I remember his explanation being that it was research to try to understand what had happened to him when he was younger. As "Tommy" is the story of a sexually-abused boy, it's clearly something he sees from the side of the abused.
    You would think he would want to distance himself from that "information". So much for PTSD!

    Personally, I think you can do "research" on that kind of thing without downloading videos and photos of it actually happening to your computer. I'm sorry, but I don't buy it. I think at the very least he's a creeper.

    I do realize that Tommy has that topic as it's theme. I still don't excuse him for downloading the actual footage of it to his computer. Read about it all you want Pete, watch videos talking about the subject - but there was no legitimate excuse for having the actual content on his computer at least in my mind even if it was in his mind to research what happened. You'd think that you'd want to avoid trauma and flashbacks.

  5. #15
    Stuck on the Border NightMistBlue's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pete Townshend....ouch this is bad

    If you read Roger Daltrey's autobiography (or even better, listen to the audiobook, which he narrates himself), he defends his friend and nemesis so passionately of this charge that I very nearly believe Pete is innocent. "Of COURSE he'd defend Pete!," I can hear you shouting, "that's his tour income and musical legacy on the line as well." And you are correct. But apparently it has been established as fact that Pete never downloaded any images from the web site; he simply entered his credit card info.

    It's very unfortunate what Pete said about his departed band mates, and he's apologized to their children. He says regrettable things, and certainly doesn't come across as the most charming guy in the world. It can't be denied that he's a musical genius though, surely one of the best songwriters of the rock era.

    I saw The Who (what's left of 'em) for the first time in concert 3 months ago, and they were amazing. I don't know how it's physically possible for a 75-year old man to sing with the power that Roger does, but somehow he does. And Pete is just brilliant as a guitarist, writer and singer.

  6. #16
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    Default Re: Pete Townshend....ouch this is bad

    NMB - In an ideal world I'd love to believe it too. But it seems awfully fishy to me. It seems like a convenient out for him and his legal team. A good lawyer can get you out of what seems a lot. To an extreme example, look at the Caylee Anthony case. And to think of all of what went on behind closed doors with Casey and that attorney makes me sick. He knew she was guilty! Defense lawyers want one thing - make $.

    If it is in fact true that he didn't download it, that's good, but still - why put your credit card info on a child porn site for "research"? He says he was trying to expose some bank thing. To me it's a lame excuse. I think he probably quickly backtracked and got caught. How far deep in the well he got before he thought 'oh crap' is minutia. I think he was cleared on charges, but there are a lot of innocent people in jail and a lot of bad people running free. Michael Jackson was another who got off his charges too easy IMO. Vince Neil's negligence (to put it mildly) in the 80s killed another person and was lightly punished. Not very fair.

    I've read Roger's book as well. I still think Roger and Pete will stick up for one another. It's like brothers. They hate and love each other. I do think despite their differences they are in many ways inseparable. Just like Mick and Keith and Steven and Joe. They need each other more than they'd admit. Some songwriting partnerships are volatile and the dysfunction of it is what at least partly made/makes it great.

    And yes, it's still very icky to me and to me Pete is an insufferable character. Being a songwriting genius doesn't mean it's ok to be a miserable person to everyone around you. He's a malcontent. I could name others (and you can probably guess who), but I won't. That's leaving the creepy stuff out of it. He's just a jerk and while he's brilliant, that doesn't enable him to say those things. Apology my hind end! You mean it, and then quickly backtracked. I'm one who forgives people the first time but repeat offenders are wasting their breath trying to apologize to me for the umpteenth time. Save it for someone else.

    I would love to know how they in fact know he didn't download anything. Was the server hosting that stuff checked for download activity on his IP address? Because computers can be cleaned and hard drives destroyed. Forensic computer technicians aren't as good as you'd think they should be. There is some seriously powerful software out there that will wipe a hard drive beyond any recognition (same software and formatting style used when the government gets rid of hard drives/computers), and you can take it a step further and destroy the drive by crushing it (which he didn't likely do that part!). But I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't download anything. Still, he put his own CC info on that website that was obviously for what it was. What did he think he was going to solve by doing that?! Absolutely nothing.

    Leave the criminal detective work to the investigators Pete, stay off the dark web, appreciate what you've been given, be kind, and play your damn guitar. Maybe then you'll be worthy of my respect again.

  7. #17
    Stuck on the Border EagleLady's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pete Townshend....ouch this is bad

    I love The Who but Pete has always came off to me as a standoffish, arrogant person. and You're right Austin, He could've found other ways to explain what happened to him as a boy and not try to obtain child porn.

  8. #18
    Stuck on the Border KingWalsh's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pete Townshend....ouch this is bad

    Ya, that is so odd, the whole "internet search".....I feel bad for the trauma he experienced, however he seems so unlikable and it makes it hard for me listen to the Who sometimes for I am torn . He might regret playing with Moon and Entwhistle, but they are regarded as legends. Nobody played like either one of them, many probably listened to the Who for these two giants! It's almost like he's jealous they got the recognition they did. I'm glad he apologized, but I wonder if he would if he didn't get the backlash that he did.

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