http://thewhotour.com/news/news.php?uid=259
11.01.07 Pete Townshend writes open letter on how rock responds to war
Pete Townshend recently posted an open letter to David Lister, the arts columnist of Britain’s The Independent, on his official website about how rock and roll reacts to both the denial of war and active conflict. The guitarist posted in part that, „’60s loud and aggressive rock rose from the unique post-war mood of denial in the older generation. They had seen too much horror, found an uneasy peace, and could engage the subject no more. It is clear that such a silence might lead the teenager I was to write ‚My Generation,‘ and turn up my guitar to emulate the sound of bombers.“Townshend said that today’s writers and bands are in a decidedly different position than the post-war Brits growing up in the wake of World War II: „I think rock music is about to throw off some of its testosterone driven defiance… Wherever I look today I see younger musicians demanding a new level of intimacy from their audience… This is not entirely about protest, rather about music performed gently that expresses a single idea… Even anger is delivered gently.“
He went on to say that, „To my mind this is a more fitting way to make music in today’s political climate than standing on a stage hiding behind a virtual armory of heavy metal weaponry. It is not Pacifism. It is not denial. It is a sharing of individual morality.“
Townshend speculated on the genesis of what amounts to a new, subtle genre of protest music: „I’m not certain where this new powerful gentleness has come from. Perhaps the invasion of Iraq, the horrible mess that we now face on top of the horrible mess we made when we created the country in the first place, is sifting down through the current generation of songwriters and producing a quieter voice.“
He closed by saying, „Don’t worry, I am not quite finished screaming as I leap over the top, I am too entrenched now in my rock method to change overnight, but survival is not always the result of heroism, in or out of the arena of the arts. Best regards, Pete Townshend.“
Pete Townshend will appear with Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman, Joe Walsh, and others at a memorial concert for Traffic drummer and songwriter Jim Capaldi on January 21st at The Roundhouse in London.
The Who kick off their next series of dates on February 23rd in Reno, Nevada at the Reno Events Center.
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