THE WHO

Pete Townshend describes the moment that he and Roger Daltrey bonded and began their partnership which helped create the Who. Townshend has been posting excerpts from his upcoming autobiography, titled Who He?, on his blog (petetownshend-whohe.blogspot.com), and recalled the second time he encountered Daltrey, which led directly to the band's formation.
Prior to the meeting, a teenaged Townshend had been exiled by his group of friends for striking one of them in the head, while not knowing that he was recovering from a concussion, which ended up worsening the boy's injury. Townshend detailed how future Who bassist John Entwistle was among the only people who stayed friends with Townshend when it seemed his whole world turned their back on him.
Townshend wrote that he saw Daltrey hanging out at their school one day, recalling that, "Roger Daltrey had been expelled for smoking but was still impudently attending school to speak to his cronies when he wanted to. I'd seen him around at the foot of Acton Hill, carrying an exotic white electric guitar, which he'd made himself... Roger swaggered up in his Teddy Boy outfit, his hair combed into a grand quiff, and his trousers so tight they had zips in the seams..."
He went on to write that, "A few boys watched the encounter with interest. I had suffered from some very bad press over the (concussion) incident with Chris Sherwin, and many of the boys who sat on the fence were curious to see whether Roger would threaten me (as he had done once before after a playground altercation). He simply informed me that John Entwistle had told him I played guitar pretty well, and if an opportunity came up to join his band, was I interested? I was stunned... The invitation was one which could forever change my standing in the childish little world in which I still moved."
Townshend says that he's awed by how much history he and Daltrey share: "The great thing about being out on the road with Roger is that this is a 43-, 44-year relationship. It goes back a long way, maybe even longer than that, 46 years. It's great to have that relationship. But the musical background for it is incredibly varied."
The Who kick off their final European leg on May 16th in Lisbon, Portugal.