(ITS) The latest episode of the syndicated radio show In The Studio with Redbeard re-examines Pete Townshend's solo work through the lens of his 1986 Deep End Band performances. The show sent over these details:
The mid-Eighties was a most difficult time for the titans of rock's Second Generation. It was the only time in the last half century when every one of the British superstar bands which had dominated the Seventies, i.e. the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Who, were no longer recording, touring, and in some cases even speaking together. Rock'n'Roll was officially in full-blown midlife crisis, and even the biggest names such as Pete Townshend and David Gilmour were cast adrift from the structure of their respective former bands to deal with it individually for the first time.
The 1978 death of Who drummer Keith Moon, the horrific 1979 tragedy at a Cincinnati Who concert where eleven fans were trampled to death, and the subsequent official breakup of The Who following a huge farewell tour in 1982 left Pete in uncharted emotional territory. These events forced Townshend to address his well-being the best way he knew how, through his music. A series of solo albums in the early '80s would give way to limited select concerts in the UK and France fronting an all-star band dubbed the Deep End featuring another suddenly solo superstar, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour.
Pete Townshend makes this surprising confession to InTheStudio host Redbeard about his state of mind, emotionally and musically, as he transitioned from The Who to a solo career.
Townshend says, "It wasn't that I particularly felt The Who wanting, in anyway. I didn't feel that they didn't provide me with anything. I felt that I wasn't serving them very well, and I thought that perhaps pursuing a solo career would in fact help me to serve The Who better. In actual fact, what I think happened was I ended up stopping, working for The Who at all." Stream the episode here.
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