Who are You, Pete?

I was lucky enough to be able to interview Pete Townshend of The Who recently -- along with pretty much anyone else remotely interested in the band's latest effort Endless Wire, truth be told -- for Morphizm, and you knew I was going to ask him a few political questions. And Townshend is no doubt one of the last people to say the personal, the political and the artistic have nothing to do with each other: From "My Generation" to "We're Not Gonna Take It" to "Won't Get Fooled Again" and beyond, his songs have been concerned with how individuals move within and without the political and economic spheres in which they reside or die. And he's made a serious, pardon the pun, killing off of the whole thing.

But it felt weird to hear Townshend sounding the alarm on Iran during our interview, as if he was a mere cipher for the neocolonial, neoconservative dogma that has so far done nothing for anyone other than make the world a fucked-up place to live. And to put the tangle of terrorism at the feet of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Saddam, or fucking Emperor Palpatine while pushing off the efforts of his native UK and his adopted US cash cow as righteous efforts to pursue truth, justice and Western civilization...well, let's just say my neck hurts from the double takes and the double talk.

But here is our exchange, for those who want to form their own judgments about The Who's increasingly rightward politics, no small matter considering Endless Wire tackles the Beslan hostage crisis, the war on terrorism, and, what else, the decline of Western civ. I'm sorry for the title of the piece, but I couldn't help it. Plus, it was a direct quote from Pete:

Remember Pearl Harbour: An Interview with Pete Townshend
"I'm not a shoot-first-ask-questions-later survivalist by any means, but I grew up in a neighbourhood where every second house was a bombsite -- a little like downtown Baghdad today. I have no heart for war, but I have no heart either to stand quietly waiting for someone to kill everyone in my neighbourhood before I look to protect myself. It is a tricky time for the West. The rules have changed. Don't get fooled again folks..." MORE

The interview is a shorty for sure, but it has some choice quotes, including the one above. And since I'm a new-school journo, I'm not too concerned about coloring your perception of Pete or his insanely awesome band, because I'm not buying what he's selling. Because if the rules have indeed changed for the West, as he says, then the Bush doctrine of preemptive shock and awe (read: baseless military aggression resulting in tens of thousands dead) would itself be null and void. We've been attacking the shit out of whoever we want ever since we could, and I'm having a hard time seeing how that's changed at all. If anything, the West's enemies -- terrorists, insurgents and others who have thrown out the rules of engagement -- have learned that guerilla warfare without borders is the only thing that's going to give them a chance. And we can't bitch about that, because without the same tactics we would probably still be a United Kingdom colony. And who knows? We might be paying Townshend even more tributes -- uh, I mean royalties -- than ever.

Not that he'd have a problem with that. Morphizm pal Andy Hermann, who manages the Artist Direct site, had an interview with Pete as well (again, who didn't?), and I read something there that drove this all home for me. When asked what he missed most when he was on the road, Pete responded with this laundry list:

"My home studio...my books, the view from my house, my nifty built-in wardrobes, my old Airstream bus, my classic sailing yacht (that seems to win most of its races while I am somewhere else), my little VW Lupo. It’s all serious luxury stuff. I know how to live. But even dogs are expensive, especially when they’re sick."

Sick dogs. That about covers it for me. You're welcome to your own opinion, of course, but after reading about Pete Townshend's concern for his wealth and the heathens that jeopardize it in more than one place, I can't help thinking of the lyrics to "We're Not Gonna Take It" more differently ever:

"Right behind you, I see the millions.
On you, I see the glory.
From you, I get opinions.
From you, I get the story."

That story seems to change the more The Who nail commercial endorsements and tour sponsorships. Just remember that when you drop your hard-earned money to listen to Pete wax philosophical about politics and terror as he poignantly longs for his Airstream and classic sailing yacht.