I was always trying to come up some new way to process sound that would take me away from the traditional processors used in studios. I was getting steeped in extraordinary ideas by people like Tim Souster, Roger Powell, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and others. I decided to move aside and back to academia, and art school inspired experimentation with no boundaries. By the time The Who hit 1971, the band was about to turn into a cartoon of itself Roger dressed as a fringe topped with a curly mop, John using his fingers on the bass as though he was eating crab claws, Keith playing drums with his head on fire, laughing until he cried, me wearing a crown and a tie-dye jump suit, our managers had decided to turn to heavy drugs for amusement. I was also involved in rock marketing and image making. I had been sidestepped into mysticism and expressed some of that in Tommy. For years I thought nothing about any of this. They were able to see that computers were coming, and could also see (which is the amazing part) that they would change the way art would work, and language itself. “My forward-looking notions were all implanted in me at Ealing Art College by Roy Ascott and Harold Cohen. Photo © Pete Townshend with ARP 2500 Electronica pioneer – Pete’s early influences and experiments The following is a close look at Pete’s work in the world of electronica over the years, primarily told in his own words sourced from various interviews, articles, liner notes, diaries, and his autobiography. Pete continues to push the technical and creative boundaries of electronic music, using musical technologies extensively as a compositional tool to help build song structures and produce exciting new soundscapes and orchestration.

Pete’s early synthesiser work written for the Lifehouse project and later Who albums was groundbreaking, and the timeless quality of his music continues to excite new fans who recognize the hypnotic arpeggiated electronic effects used in the theme songs to the popular CSI television series. His love of experimenting with forward thinking technologies stems from lessons learned in his days at art school.

His work with synthesisers dates back to 1971, and he has used them to create amazing soundscapes, and to help build a rhythmic frame for some of his most famous compositions. Pete Townshend is a pioneer of electronic music. Electronica - the electronic music of Pete Townshend

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