Since I've been waiting years and years for Pete Townshend's autobiography I just had to put aside reading books on our list and read this book as soon as I could. Since it isn't a top 100 book I won't say too much... First off, The Who are my all time favorite band. Second, I've also read the Keith Richards and Bob Dylan autobiographies, so I have to compare this book to those. Both of those other autobiographies were really fun to read. Keith's is entertaining and he just rambles on an on about fun stories and he seems to have enjoyed living the rock star lifestyle. Dylan's is good in that he just goes really in-depth into a few different parts of his life and at the end none of Dylan's mystique is cleared away. Pete's book however takes a much more conventional approach. While it is always interesting it isn't exactly fun. After awhile it is just sad to read about how he spent the entire 70's drunk and about horrible he was to his wife. Pete comes off as someone that has little self control and is prone to making stupid mistakes. At least he was able to turn most of those mistakes into really good songs.
It was also interesting to see how as he aged, Pete took longer and longer on each project he worked on. The first Who records came out yearly... by the end he spends years on projects. He goes on and on about his The Iron Man musical (which sadly isn't about Marvel's Iron Man) and says he started working on this book way back in 1996. In the last chapter he talks about a musical that he's been working on for the last five years and still hasn't finished. It seems as he ages he becomes far less spontaneous. I'd also complain that he sometimes doesn't go into much detail about certain events in the Who's past. He only gives a page to the Cincinnati disaster, never mentions how Kenney Jones left the band and barely mentions It's Hard (but Psychoderelict gets a whole chapter). Overall I'll give it a B.
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