Pete Townsend curses out fan at concert

Who Princess

chadwick wrote:

question... (firstly, i have read & watched stories of the who in the old days where roger liked to fight) question is when pete was being a prick did anyone ever pop him in the fucking mouth and not just his band mates? seems to me that those who never get smack the fuck down grow up to be adult pricks, adult bullies & adult assholes because not one single person ever stood up to them & bloodied their lips & nose a few times.

so if pete was or still is this gigantic asshole (drunk or sober) is it because people allow him to be that way?

I don't know about anybody else, but Roger famously knocked him out during the rehearsals for the 1973 Quadrophenia tour. But there was always a strong sense of competition and rivalry between the 4 original members.

I'm not friends with Pete ( ) so I don't know if the people around him allow him to act that way. He doesn't seem to have an entourage, if that's what you mean. I believe some of his friends staged an intervention to help him get sober. He seems to have longstanding friends of many years so I don't think people necessarily allow him to behave badly. And he may seem a rude onstage occasionally but it's nothing like he used to be.

Pete seems to do as many kind and charitable things as Roger does, he just never gets much credit. He oversees the Who's original charity, the Double O charity. I had a chance to witness a kindness before the VH1 concert. A group of about 50 fans met for a pre-party. We paid in advance for the room and a deli buffet. We also had a silent auction of Who items. Anything over our payments plus the auction was going to the family of Meg Fox, a fan who died of breast cancer a few months earlier. She left behind a husband and 4 children. Although she'd had insurance, the family still had to deal with medical bills.

So who showed up to our party? Pete. He only stayed a few minutes but he very graciously thanked us for helping Meg's family and told us what caring people we were. He autographed all the silent auction items, blew us a kiss and left. The whole thing lasted maybe 5 minutes but it was the high point of the trip for me.



That's me in profile on the right.

SatansFuton

Who Princess wrote:

I'd be very impressed though if he'd been interested in child porn and dropped it because of his arrest. He clearly has an addictive personality and obsession with internet porn is sometimes referred to as an addiction. But if he hadn't reached that stage and was scared into avoiding it, I'd consider that a good thing, at least. Interesting you mention his "White Knight Complex"--the chapter in his book leading up to his arrest is called Black Days, White Knights.

I only referred to it as his "White Knight Complex" because he referred to it as that in a story I read. So I'm not surprised he mentioned it in his book. It wasn't a lucky guess or anything.

As far as addiction goes, regardless of what it's to, people can reach their bottom (hopefully) and it can set them straight. I think a child porn charge would be a pretty hard bottom to hit. I personally used to be a pretty big druggie when I was younger, more than just smoking the occasional joint, I was pretty big into coke, acid, etc. I got high off something every day, I don't know if I was a full blown addict, but I had advanced beyond simple recreational/social use, I think it was a problem. Until I got popped with some coke and dropped all that shit, it scared the hell out of me, and caused me a lot of trouble. Until last year when I smoked a little grass on a couple of occasions I didn't touch anything stronger than alcohol for 12 years. That arrest was enough for me to drop it all overnight. Fear can be a strong motivator, I know from personal experience. Even after those couple of occasions I smoked, I didn't get back in the habit and dropped it again just out of fear of losing my job, or winding up with a rolled up bill up my nose again.

But those kind of things are different for everybody. Some people don't ever wake up. But it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he could give it up (once again, to those that haven't been reading the whole conversation, IF he is in fact guilty of doing it) given what happened to him. Some people don't have a bottom, some are deeper or more shallow than others.

Who Princess

SatansFuton wrote:

I only referred to it as his "White Knight Complex" because he referred to it as that in a story I read. So I'm not surprised he mentioned it in his book. It wasn't a lucky guess or anything.

Dude, nobody had to know that! Nothing wrong with taking a little credit once in a while!

SatansFuton wrote:

But those kind of things are different for everybody. Some people don't ever wake up. But it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he could give it up (once again, to those that haven't been reading the whole conversation, IF he is in fact guilty of doing it) given what happened to him. Some people don't have a bottom, some are deeper or more shallow than others.

I know several people in recovery and I agree. Hitting bottom is different for each individual and people can make changes in their lives. Kudos to you for recognizing a problem and dealing with it. :thumbup: