I thought of this when I was looking at the thread
about whether rain damaged guitars.

At Who concerts... virtually every show, I think...
Pete Townshend would bust up a guitar.
Maybe some amplifiers...
And usually Keith Moon would join in the fun
and destoy a drum kit for good measure.

Must have been expensive to stage the Who's tours.
Did he smash up his best guitars, or what?

The first time I saw the Who in '79, Pete didn't smash his guitar.
His hand was bandaged from a previous "accident", but he still hacked away that night like a trooper.
It was a great concert, but Kenny Jones was a horrible replacement for Keith Moon.

I'd say a little over 50% of the 69-71 shows featured a busted guitar. Once he switched to Les Pauls in 72ish, he stopped smashing them, in part because a Les Paul is much harder to crack than an SG.

The exception to that, of course, was the fourth MSG show in 1974, where between Keith and Pete, they smashed all of his guitars at the end.

In the Schecter era, I think there were only one or two guitars smashed. Those things were rather expensive at the time (Schecter wasn't a real guitar company yet), and Pete had grown tired of playing "The Who," so the gimmicks were less relied upon (like having a good drummer).

In the big band era, I don't think he smashed too many. You can find youtube footage of him destroying a beautiful Gibson acoustic on Letterman in 1993.

And since they really started touring again ('99-present), I would guess 8-10 of his Strats had been demolished, most notably at Jones Beach in 2000 and Osaka in 2004 (his last ever guitar smash, allegedly).

As to whether they were his best instruments... Pete seems to be fairly indiscriminate in smashing things up. Seek out the clip of The Who doing 5:15 on Top of the Pops in 1973 to see him demolishing the Gretsch that he recorded the bulk of Who's Next and Quadrophenia with. Evidently it doesn't make a difference which guitar it is...

Woodstock





Love this one, which I remember seeing when I was a kid...

I saw Pete trash his guitar at the Shepherds Bush Empire in 1999. I felt sorry for the stage. In Osaka it all seemed a bit deliberate and planned - and it was: he auctioned off the pieces.

Like this look at the end of the clip

My Generation .................





__________________________

Pete stopped smashing his guitar on a regular basis in 1967. Since that time, he has done it only occasionally.

The smashing of instruments put them in red. They didn t recover until Tommy broke in '69. The Ox never joined in on the fun. An expensive stage gimmick indeed.

I Wish I Never Met You Wrote:
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> The smashing of instruments put them in red. They
> didn t recover until Tommy broke in '69.

You beat me to it. Exactly right.

tatters Wrote:
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> Pete stopped smashing his guitar on a regular
> basis in 1967. Since that time, he has done it
> only occasionally.

Plenty of smashing going in 1968... I guess occasionally means just not ever night?

Yeah but pete would smash a guitar, but that didnt mean it was destroyed. That might happen after a few shows when the guitar would actually be destroyed. And he might not have done it on a regular basis, but he still trashed guitars during the 70s. One night at MSG in 74, he totalled THREE les pauls, while in 1975 at the end of the whos north american tour, they apparently destroyed all of the equipment (the joke being that they didnt want to take all the equipment home).
However, for guitar fanatics, a Rickenbaker guitar was an expensive guitar, and pete regularly demolished those in 64/65.
[www.thewho.net] check this out for a list of guitars he smashed. youll notice alot in 67/68

Pete and Keith pulverized their instruments when I saw the Who play a small club near Chicago in '68.
Again, when I saw the band in Chicago in '71, Pete made matchsticks of his red SG after a lengthy version of Magic Bus. By then it was a rare occurance that he smashed his gear. I was really surprised.
I'd be interested to see some pictures of the mayhem.

I have a pic circa '68 of Pete taking his guitar to his amp stack. Reminds me I still need to frame it. Its in black @ white. I got it on ebay, there are some goods action pics on occassion to be found there.

.. yea, i remember,,, idiotic gimmick.............

As a wee tot of 13 years, I attended that last night at the Garden in 1974. It was my second concert ever (the first being Mountain at the Felt Forum on the previous New Year's Eve). Pete was dissatisfied with his performances that week and concluded Naked Eye by smashing a row of three Pauls. He handed off the fourth one to Keith Moon, who smashed it with gusto.

baxlap Wrote:
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> Pete ... oncluded ... by smashing a row of three
> Pauls. He handed off the fourth one to Keith
> Moon, who smashed it with gusto.

Yes...
I was there
&
remember that too.

In 1968 I was a Boy Scout in the midwest of the USA. We would get asked to usher the shows at the annual State Fair. We really didn't do much but we worked cheap!! I was positioned in front of the stage for the Herman's Hermits show. The opening act was some band called THE WHO...The rest is history!!! My decline into the dregs of drugs, sex and R&R started that afternoon. I watched Pete destroy his amp and quitar, Roger bend a mike stand in half, and Moon, of course completely destroy his drum kit. I could just imagine parents taking their little girls to go see the cute and cuddley Hermits only to have the Who warped their young skulls full of mush!

LONG LIVE ROCK.....I NEED IT EVERY DAY!!!

"In the big band era, I don't think he smashed too many. You can find youtube footage of him destroying a beautiful Gibson acoustic on Letterman in 1993"

Can you post a link?

I remember once reading on some guitar mag that most of the destroyed guitars were fixed when possible and used for the last song of the next show.

C

Check out this video LOL

They do smash giutars on this one ..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-05-04 23:11 by boston2006.

Pete T on Letterman 1993..


the guitar just explodes....

Here is one of the latest (as far as I know) guitar smashing from Pete townshend...






By the way, I have seen the who last year... good place (antique theater in France). The guest were excellent.. the sound was clear and very good.

Once The Who came on stage.. the sound was too loud, too much distortion... It sounds like a mixture from outter space... I couldn't distinguish anything.. so I took my earplugs and I feel disappointed. (I have met people who have seen them in the seventies.. it was exactly similar... too much loud).

Too bad indeed, they are one of my favorite R and R band.

Thats from a gig in Japan 2004 (Ithink)

ablett Wrote:
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> Thats from a gig in Japan 2004 (Ithink)


Have you seen them ? How was it ?

I've seen them many times and they are superb!! Go before its all over.....
The gig above was the last time PT smashed a guitar. It was then sold in auction for charity.

The various websites are also very good.

ablett Wrote:
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> I've seen them many times and they are superb!! Go
> before its all over.....
> The gig above was the last time PT smashed a
> guitar. It was then sold in auction for charity.
>
> The various websites are also very good.


You are probably right.. It gives me the desire to see them again.. there is a show in Paris the 6 of June and I have rushed to ticketnet.fr (the french brother of ticketmaster)

It appears that good tickets are still available.. (for what I have understood from the seating map).

Unfortunately, I have a meeting scheduled the same day.. hum !! hum !!!

Fortunately, I have two tickets to see the Stones : Paris (Fos) and Slane (Gold A)..

I am waiting for my tickets for the second and third O2 arena show.. I hope they will be sent soon, but I am afraid they won't be sent until end of July or beginning of August. It is not smart from ticketseller and promoters : customers paid on April and will receive their tickets in July... or 14 days before the show.. or few days before the show.. Now everything is ready : hotel, flight, tee-shirts with tongue design and so one, ready for a good entertainment (which has already started.. in my mind).. but the tickets are not in hand.

.. here is come.. here's come your 19th nervous breakdown... (one of my favourite.. but I have many favourites).