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Townshend playing

Meet the new boss

Pete Townshend as busy as ever

May 15, 1996
Web posted at: 6:20 p.m. EDT

From Correspondent Paul Vercammen

HOLLYWOOD, California (CNN) -- Pete Townshend's undying passion has reached a fever pitch these days. There's a new Townshend solo record, a "Tommy" CD-ROM, and an upcoming reunion of The Who to perform "Quadrophenia" live in London.

Townshend

"This is us getting together to do something together that is not about hoo-ha making millions of dollars, beer sponsorship, selling records," Townshend says. (216K AIFF sound or 216K WAV sound)

So wherever it leads, the show in Hyde Park will also include Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and Alanis Morissette. The show is expected to draw well over 100,000 fans. "What is really interesting is if it fails, it will be a huge failure" Townshend says.

The self-deprecating Townshend has been out promoting his collection of solo tunes called "COOLWALKINGSMOOTHTALKINGSTRAIGHTSMOKINGFIRESTOKING." He let a record company committee pick the title and the songs, like "Let My Love Open the Door." According to Townshend, "You look, you take what you think is cool, because as far as I'm concerned, it's all genius. Or, if I get up on the other side of the bed, 'don't do it, it's all rubbish.' Somebody said to me this is your middle-life crisis work."(63K AIFF sound or 63K WAV sound)

At the VH1 Honors

Of course, earlier in Townshend's life, he wrote the now legendary rock opera "Tommy." Now, The Who offer a high-tech CD-ROM called "Tommy: The Interactive Adventure."

"What's interesting about 'Tommy' is that it has had so many incarnations that you need a multi-media platform in order to look at it all properly, so it's perfect for 'Tommy,'" Townshend says.

Recently, at the VH-1 Honors, the multi-dimensional Townshend showed he can still break things, namely several guitar strings. During a frantic version of "Won't Get Fooled Again," Townshend screamed, "Let's see if I can break the rest!"

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