Pete Townshend Speaks Out

Pete Townshend, publicly silent since he was cleared on child porn charges earlier this month, shared his plans for the future with Rolling Stone via email (below).

In January, the fifty-eight-year-old Townshend admitted accessing illicit photos while doing research for a memoir that would document his own abuse as a child. After a searching his home and seizing his computer, British investigators found that he hadn't downloaded any images to his computer, and dropped the charges against him. Townshend's name will, however, be placed on the national Sex Offenders Register for five years.

In his e-mail, the Who guitarist stated that he is surprised by the decision to name him as an offender but that he is ready to get on with his life, finish his autobiography and get back to playing music.

From Pete Townshend:

I intend to work my way back to normality. As a result of all this shit, I've decided to greatly formalize the structure of my charity (Double-O) and the way I work with "survivors" -- so that in future my work is more well-known to everyone. I've kept my profile low in this area out of modesty I suppose, and it has worked against me. I am going to complete my autobiography, Pete Townshend (who he?). I put it down and did not plan to finish it until much later. But now I am going to push ahead until it is done. People need to read about my entire life to get a real picture of who I am. I hope to finish it by the end of the year. So it may come out next year sometime. I am also going to get up and play just as soon as I can.

Finally, I'm going out onto the street to meet people, to smile and shake hands with everyone who has been supportive of me in my hometown. But also to give those people who are "undecided" a chance to look me in the eye and make their own decision.

Going on TV won't help me. I'm too wounded, too crazy, too happy and grateful, too resentful and too busy.

Who fans? I hope that life will go on as usual. Roger has been a rock.

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Song Stories

“Tonight's the Night”

The Shirelles | 1960

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."

More Song Stories entries »

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