Pete Townshend: 'The death of John Entwistle forced me to become a better guitarist'

By editorial board on June 27, 2023

The loss of Entwistle's nontraditional bass sound and Keith Moon saw Townshend branch into new sonic territory with The Who, and put greater emphasis on soloing and practicing

Speaking to Rolling Stone, the electric guitar heavyweight noted that, upon Entwistle’s passing, a broad sonic space was left in the band – a space that he ultimately had to fill by experimenting and developing new approaches to playing, owing to the bassist’s nontraditional sound, Guitar World reports.

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Townshend – who also reflected on the sonic space left in the wake of drummer Keith Moon’s death in 1978 – commented, “When John Entwistle died, there was another space left. That was because he was filling up so much of the musical spectrum with his bass sound, which was not a traditional bass sound.

“And so when he was gone, there was suddenly space for me – not so much to try and fill up the void he had left, but a space where I could have a different approach.”

 

“I started to solo,” he continued. “I had to learn to practice the guitar, which I hadn’t done much of before. I’ll never be a famous shredder, but I can play better than I could when we were in the Live at Leeds years, for example.”

Townshend has issued a statement on Facebook clarifying his remarks on Moon and Entwistle. The guitarist said he’s “grateful” (consequence.net)

Notorious for his self-destructive antics, Moon died of a clomethiazole overdose in 1978, while Entwistle passed away from a cocaine-induced heart attack in 2002. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Townshend proclaimed both “were fucking difficult to play with. They never, ever managed to create bands for themselves. I think my musical discipline, my musical efficiency as a rhythm player, held the band together.”

Specifically, Townshend insinuated that Entwistle’s playing tended to overshadow his own. “John’s bass sound was like a Messiaen organ,” he said. “Every note, every harmonic in the sky. When he passed away and I did the first few shows without him, with Pino [Palladino] on bass, he was playing without all that stuff…. I said, ‘Wow, I have a job.’”

On the other hand, Moon gave him more work to do in the band. “With Keith, my job was keeping time, because he didn’t do that,” Townshend recalled. “So when he passed away, it was like, ‘Oh, I don’t have to keep time anymore.'”

“ I was being ironic in my own English way by suggesting it is something I am glad about.” “The upside with Keith and John was that on tour and in the studio we had so much fun,” he added. “Playing with them was hard, but both Roger and I spent a lot of time doubled up in joy and laughter even though we could have benefitted from a quieter life sometimes. It was a riot.”

 

 

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