Pete Townshend is also more than a bit of a provacateur - he was when he smashed guitars, he has been in countless controversial statements over the years, he remains so.
I am currently listening to his very long, very pretentious, memoir. This is a man who loves to hear himself talk, who will freely talk about things he doesn't know all that much about, so I'm not going to get too bent out of shape over his simplistic understanding of the word "neocon".
He is also frustratingly brilliant. Never one to want to please the crowd, he delights in raising hackles, pissing people off. His memoir is constrictively linear, nowhere near as much fun as Neil Young's or Bob Dylan's (where's Volume 2, Bob?). But it has its moments of insights, and documents a fascinating life and time in the history of popular music.
I wouldn't be so quick to label the man a pedophile. He was the victim of sexual abuse as a child, and he seems to be someone so intent on analyzing everything to death, that I can buy his "research" explanation. Clearly, I don't know, but it's not that much of a stretch to believe his story.
The Who was a great band - simultaneously prone to pretentiousness and silliness, but technically perfect, and capable of soaring, emotional peaks. And Pete Townshend's many, many releases of his home demos are revelatory in themselves. For a little known, great album, look up his collaboration with Ronnie Lane of the Small Faces, Rough Mix.
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