Most Popular Books by Pete Townshend

He is one of the greatest musical talents Britain has ever produced. But even as the principle songwriter and lead guitarist for The Who, it would be unjust to define Pete Townshend''s life simply through his achievements with bandmates Daltrey, Moon and Entwistle.

Long acknowledged as one of rock music’s most intelligent and literary performers, Pete Townshend—guitarist, songwriter, singer and founding member of The Who—at last tells his wild story in this candid and immersive autobiography. Raised in west London by an eccentric grandmother, while his parents were off living the early post-war, rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, Townshend describes a frenetic childhood of displacement and abuse. Then, in high school, everything changed when he met Roger Daltrey and formed a band that would travel the world, earning fame, fortune and critical acclaim. In Who I Am, Townshend brings us from the inner sanctum of Eric Clapton’s drug-ridden hotel rooms to the feet of Jimi Hendrix and his electric kool-aid guitar; from the first trial performance of Townshend’s rock opera, Tommy, in a London bar to his infamous arrest (and acquittal) on child pornography charges. With his trademark eloquence, fierce intelligence and brutal honesty, Pete Townshend has created a work of literature that stands as a primary source for popular music’s greatest epoch. Readers will be confronted by a man laying bare who he is, an artist who has asked for nearly sixty years: who are you?

LIFEHOUSE is an apocalyptic journey across the industrial wastes of Britain on the last day of the millennium. Disillusioned ex-TV executive Ray is on a desperate search for his daughter Mary, who has gone missing, presumed dead. He leaves his wife and rural hideaway and heads back to the city where he was born, magnetised by the voice of a pirate D.J. calling the like-minded and lost to the LIFEHOUSE - a subversive musical event. The play explores the power of music to transform and the potential for digital networking to draw together the young, the marginalised and the spiritually hungry.

In his debut novel, rock legend Pete Townshend explores the anxiety of modern life and madness in a story that stretches across two generations of a London family, their lovers, collaborators, and friends. A former rock star disappears on the Cumberland moors. When his wife finds him, she discovers he has become a hermit and a painter of apocalyptic visions. An art dealer has drug-induced visions of demonic faces swirling in a bedstead and soon his wife disappears, nowhere to be found. A beautiful Irish girl who has stabbed her father to death is determined to seduce her best friend''s husband. A young composer begins to experience aural hallucinations, expressions of the fear and anxiety of the people of London. He constructs a maze in his back garden. Driven by passion and musical ambition, events spiral out of control -- good drugs and bad drugs, loves lost and found, families broken apart and reunited. Conceived jointly as an opera, The Age of Anxiety deals with mythic and operatic themes. Hallucinations and soundscapes haunt this novel in an extended meditation on manic genius and the dark art of creativity.

Provides a history of Tommy from rock opera to its staging as a Broadway musical.

Writers, artists and thinkers in British life talk about what Europe means to them. Includes: Frank Cottrell Boyce, William Dalrymple, Margaret Drabble, Simon Callow, Tracey Emin, J.K. Rowling, Holly Johnson, Pete Townshend, Melvyn Bragg, Jeffrey Boakye, Onjali Rauf, Tony Robinson, Will Hutton, Prue Leith, Jonathan Meades, Chris Riddell, Philip Ardagh, Mary Beard, Brian Catling.

Rockbiografien, som alle har ventet på! Som sangskriver, komponist, guitarist og kreativt kraftcentrum i det legendariske rockband The Who har Pete Townshend haft afgørende betydning for rockmusikken. For første gang fortæller Townshend nu sin egen historie, en intenst bevægende fortælling om hans vanskelige barndom og dens betydning for hans senere liv. "Råt og nådesløst," Michiko Kakutani, New York Times "Uden tvivl den mest selv-udleverende rock ‘n’ roll-biografi nogensinde," Mojo "Ærligere end nogen turde håbe på!" Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone

An original graphic novel based on rock music legend Pete Townshend''s 1970 screenplay of the same name, which inspired The Who''s 1971 globally bestselling and universally beloved album, Who''s Next. Set in a Dystopian future where music has been outlawed, Life House follows a small band of rebels who stage an underground concert in an effort to undermine a tyrannical leader... and free Britain and all of humanity. This graphic novelization is co-written by Doom Patrol''s James Harvey and Spider-Man Noir''s David Hine with art by both Harvey and Australian visual artist Max Prentis, lettering by Michah Myers, and inks by Eisner Award winning artist Mick Gray. It is edited by the former Editor-in-Chief of Bleeding Cool, Hannah Means-Shannon, and features a massive Vinyl LP format (12.25" x 12.25"). This is a must-have for any serious music collectors, rock fans, and pop culture aficionados! Originally envisioned as a sci-fi rock epic to follow-up The Who''s chart-topping song, "Tommy," and put aside 50 years ago--in favor of Who''s Next songs like "Baba O''Riley," "Won''t Get Fooled Again," and "Behind Blue Eyes"--Life House will finally take center stage. Features a Vegan Leather-bound Slipcase

2012s mest kritikerroste rock’n roll-biografi. Nådeløse og ærlige memoarer fra den ledende låtskriver og gitaristen i The Who. «... den mest selvutleverende, kompromissløse, usminkede, ærlige og samtidig smertefulle, litterære og dypt menneskelige rock''n''roll-biografien til nå.» Svein Andersen, Aftenposten « ... en av de beste rockebiografiene jeg noensinne har lest!» Einar Engelstad, Bergens Tidende

Um cultuado e decadente astro do rock desaparece na região montanhosa da Cúmbria. Quando sua esposa o encontra, descobre que ele virou um pintor ermitão cujas obras evocam visões apocalípticas. Um negociante de arte, sob efeito de drogas pesadas, tem visões de rostos demoníacos gritando na guarda de sua cama, e sua esposa o abandona sem mencionar seu paradeiro. Uma bela jovem irlandesa, que ainda criança esfaqueou o próprio pai para salvar a irmã de abusos recorrentes, está determinada a seduzir e conquistar o marido de sua melhor amiga. Um jovem compositor inglês em ascensão começa a ter alucinações auditivas durante seus shows e crê estar ouvindo as manifestações de medo e ansiedade de seu próprio público. Ele abandona a carreira e transfere sua criatividade para a construção de labirintos verdes no jardim de sua casa. Impulsionados pela paixão e pela ambição musical, quatro vidas e duas gerações se encontram em uma espiral fora de controle – drogas leves, drogas pesadas, amores perdidos e reencontrados, famílias desfeitas e refeitas. Concebido como uma ópera rock, A era da ansiedade é o romance de estreia de Pete Townshend, que conduz sua inconfundível visão artística a novas e inesperadas direções. Alucinações e paisagens sonoras assombram sua narrativa, nos revelando uma meditação profunda sobre o mundo moderno, loucura e genialidade, e o lado obscuro da arte e da criatividade.

Das Romandebüt eines Weltstars Pete Townshend hat mit seiner Band The Who alles erreicht und dabei die Grenzen der Populärmusik ausgedehnt. Der Komponist der ersten bekannten Rockoper Tommy tauschte nun das Gitarren-Plektrum gegen die Schreibfeder und verfasste einen schillernden Rock''n''Roll-Roman. Genie, Wahnsinn, Ängste, Drogen und Sex sind die Themen, die sich zu einer lebendigen und packenden Handlung vereinen. Geradezu visionär beschreibt Townshend die "schwarze Magie" der Kreativität und lässt dabei surreale Bilder von ungeahnter Strahlkraft entstehen. Doch auch das harte Leben eines Musikers, der sich auf der Suche nach Selbstverwirklichung jeden Abend neu beweisen muss, bildet thematisch einen der roten Fäden, die der Autor zu einer kraftvollen Erzählung verknüpft. Townshend wirkt dabei zutiefst authentisch, denn er weiß, wovon er spricht, hat er doch all das selbst erlebt - von künstlerischen Höhenflügen und nicht abreißenden Erfolgsserien bis hin zu Sucht und Stagnation. Ein Buch wie ein Song von The Who: eindringlich, laut, aber dennoch melodisch!