...on disc 2 of the special edition of "The Kids Are Alright" is very insightful.

The whole thing is great, but the hidden treasure, IMHO, is contained in that interview. Roger's a beautiful man, and has his head on straight. Personally, I think he's vastly underrated, simply because of his humility.

Roger Daltrey's still one of the greatest ever rock singers and frontmen. The Who remain a mesmerising live act, and I think the new album will really kick major ass.

Nikolai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Roger Daltrey's still one of the greatest ever
> rock singers and frontmen. The Who remain a
> mesmerising live act, and I think the new album
> will really kick major ass.


Totally Agree with Everything the Who has always been my second favorite live act after the Boys. I currently have a hard-time with Pete Townsend and his Child porn excuse.

virgil Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nikolai Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Roger Daltrey's still one of the greatest ever
> > rock singers and frontmen. The Who remain a
> > mesmerising live act, and I think the new album
> > will really kick major ass.
>
>
> Totally Agree with Everything the Who has always
> been my second favorite live act after the Boys. I
> currently have a hard-time with Pete Townsend and
> his Child porn excuse.


Right, Pete and the child porn incident goes like this.

In 1999 Pete's then ten year old son is surfing the net. He types in the word "teen" on Google, looking for sites relating to his own age group. He finds them, but they're not what he expects. He finds sites advertising pictures of adults having sex with kids in his age group. He shows this to his dad.

Outraged that this should have happened to his son, and, quite obvioiusly, as the recipient of child abuse himself, Pete Townshend decides to do something about it. He correctly identifies one of the reasons for the proliferation of child porn on the internet as the complicity of the main credit card companies - Visa and Mastercard - in the business. They are quite willingly doing business with companies who sell such images online. He decides to start a campaign.

But first he needs to do his research. How can you fight an enemy you don't know? He logs on to a child porn website called Landslide. He uses his credit card and pays $4.99 for a trial subscription. He views but does not download the images.

Prior to doing this - still perfectly legal in the UK at the time - he sent emails to both Scotland Yard and the IWF (Internet Watch Foundation) informing them about what had happened to his son and what he was going to do about it. He promised to pass on all details of the site he looked at to them in a subsequent emails. He did just that.

After his arrest, Scotland Yard claimed never to have received the emails. When they tested his computers they found that he had in fact written to them twice, when he said he did. The Internet Watch Foundation not only acknowledged receipt of the emails, but also produced them too. Pete was telling the truth. The media never really broadcast any of this because what's the better story: "Pete Townshend - Paedophile!!!" or "Pete Townshend - Was Actually Telling the Truth ... Sorry!!!"?

It gets better. If you ever logged on to Pete's website between 2000-2001 you would have read copious articles he'd written and published online about child porn on the internet. They were detailed. He knew what he was talking about. Anyone reading them would instantly know that he had viewed at least one child porn site. I certainly thought so at the time. Plus there was such an angry passion in Pete's writing, that I was sure he'd suffered some kind of abuse himself as a child.

Like I said, you have to know your enemy to fight him, no matter how ugly his deeds.

Pete wasn't arrested until 2003.

Ironically, Pete's arrest and trial by media (he was cautioned, never charged with possession of images because he didn't and never had any) had one very positive result. Visa and Mastercard stopped doing business with paedophile sites. Ok, it didn't stop it from going on, but it - temporarily at least - halted it.

I appreciate that you won't know all the facts because child porn is a disgusting business, and your sense of outrage may have put you off wanting to find out more.

I admit that Pete was misguided, but a). he tried to involve the authorities BEFORE and AFTER he went on the site, and they didn't respond; b). using a credit card to access a child porn site was NOT illegal in 1999, so he was charged retroactively. It does NOT make what he did "right", but it doesn't make him wrong either.

The simple truth is that Pete was telling the truth. The press were disgusting in not publically exonerating him, but, like I said, it's all about headlines and circulation.

Don't get fooled again.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2006-08-20 15:58 by Nikolai.

Good post Nikolai, that is more detailed than what I had read before. But even based on what little I'd read about the case before this, I was convinced he was innocent.

ohnonotyouagain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good post Nikolai, that is more detailed than what
> I had read before. But even based on what little
> I'd read about the case before this, I was
> convinced he was innocent.

Very good post . very Informative more than I have ever seen about this issue.

For the record I never convicted him I just said I had trouble with his excuse and Nikolai's post helped me a lot with the issue.

Thank you

Back to the topic of this thread, in interviews Daltrey really does come off as a likeable, regular bloke. He often expressed his frustration with the lack of touring in years when The Who wasn't together or wasn't doing much, so I'm really glad for his sake that they're on such an extensive tour. He makes no bones about the fact that he feels most alive on stage, and that feeling really comes through when you see them in concert.

Thanks for the posting,Nikolai. I did see the WHO a few weeks ago with "mixed emotions" and I`m glad to read the details of the story. The show was great, much much better then expected. But to be honest: standing in the center frontrow, just 3 meters away from Roger, he is a great singer, but all in all kind of boring and funny to say that: a little introverted (cause all the pictures say the opposite). I was surprised that he has so less stage-activity. Comparing to the Stones, Jagger plays in a different league, really. But from the WHO-historyaltrey is not the natural born front-man.

Hey Nikolai- thanks for the details. The Facts will always prevail.

ANy Daltry was one of the most powerful LV of all-time back in his prime. He is still great.

I wonder why he ever did those Bolova Watch (spelling??) ommericals. Seems out of character. Nothing wrong with it- It just seems like an odd spokesperson......

Do U Think It's Alright

Very good post Nikolai....thanks.

Ditto Nikolai FANTASTIC POST! I never knew all that information about Pete. I never was down on him and really believed in what he said, and it really pisses me off that the media did not aggressively report the entire story of his innocence. And he continues to a registered sex offender in England, which is outrageous.

Actually, I forgot to mention that there was a documentary about "Operation Ore", the police operation which targeted and arrested paedophiles who'd gone on to the Landslide website. It featured Pete's arrest, right down to his filmed police interview. Watching it you could tell Pete was telling the truth, and that his explanation held up.

The reason Pete got arrested at all was that someone in Scotland Yard had tipped off the Daily Mail that Pete was on the list of subscribers. This would have been one of the lead detectives on the case. The documentary might have revealed who the source was because there was one older detective who positively RELISHED the prospect of arresting Pete. At one point the police had intel that Pete was with Mick Jagger at Jagger's house. Said detective started mocking Pete and Jagger in quite a nasty, spiteful way.

He's been treated VERY VERY unfairly, yes, but I think the general consensus among Who fans - if not the public - is that he was and is innocent.

Anyway, back to Daltrey, R: I agree that he's not in the same league as Jagger, shaman and showman, but I can't think of too many people who really are, outside of James Brown, Elvis and - to a lesser extent - Prince. Jagger's mesmerising.

i didn't know the background of the pete child porn affair,
i'm glad he is no second gary glitter.
always liked the who too.
yesterday they showed the quadrophenia movie on tv -
great stuff!i have to check out the soundtrack and the
original record again!
it's out on dvd now, but sadly the sound isn't remixed,
its very old school.