Pete Townshend - by Larry Smith (Hardcover)

About the Book

Smith explores Pete Townshend's artistic struggle between his own creative impulses and those of the commercial public. Faced with a modern version of the minstrel's dilemma, Townshend, early in his career, ignored his creative instincts to satisfy commercial agendas. After his success, he slowly withdrew to resolve his conflict between creativity and commercialism. Townshend's creative vision unfolds against the conflicts and compromises battled with the entertainment industry. A common theme, that of the seeker, weaves throughout the various phases of Townshend's career and highlights his own quest for complete artistic expression free from compromise.

In The Minstrel's Dilemma, Townshend is shown as a musician confronting the same battles begun by early minstrels and later fought by composers such as Beethoven and Mozart. He is referred to as a rock auteur, creating music that reflects his personal experiences and creative views. He is called a seeker, in search of artistic freedom toward personal expression. And at the end of his thirty-year struggle he is a true artist, able to live up to audience expectation while attending to his own artistic impulses.

Book Synopsis

Smith explores Pete Townshend's artistic struggle between his own creative impulses and those of the commercial public. Faced with a modern version of the minstrel's dilemma, Townshend, early in his career, ignored his creative instincts to satisfy commercial agendas. After his success, he slowly withdrew to resolve his conflict between creativity and commercialism. Townshend's creative vision unfolds against the conflicts and compromises battled with the entertainment industry. A common theme, that of the seeker, weaves throughout the various phases of Townshend's career and highlights his own quest for complete artistic expression free from compromise.

In The Minstrel's Dilemma, Townshend is shown as a musician confronting the same battles begun by early minstrels and later fought by composers such as Beethoven and Mozart. He is referred to as a rock auteur, creating music that reflects his personal experiences and creative views. He is called a seeker, in search of artistic freedom toward personal expression. And at the end of his thirty-year struggle he is a true artist, able to live up to audience expectation while attending to his own artistic impulses.

Review Quotes

?Larry David Smith's new book recognizes Pete Townshend as a 'rock auteur.' It is an excellent and extensive academic study of Mr. Townshend's personal artist's dilemma....The book...leaves us with a warm and healthy understanding of Pete Townshend, his work and career, and an honest desire to follow the artist's future projects in multimedia musical theater.?-Text and Performance Quarterly

?Recommended for fans and for academic libraries with popular culture and music collections.?-Library Journal

"Recommended for fans and for academic libraries with popular culture and music collections."-Library Journal

"Larry David Smith's new book recognizes Pete Townshend as a 'rock auteur.' It is an excellent and extensive academic study of Mr. Townshend's personal artist's dilemma....The book...leaves us with a warm and healthy understanding of Pete Townshend, his work and career, and an honest desire to follow the artist's future projects in multimedia musical theater."-Text and Performance Quarterly

About the Author

LARRY DAVID SMITH is Associate Professor of Communication at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He specializes in narrative critiques of popular media and is the author of Cordial Concurrence: Orchestrating National Party Conventions in the Telepolitical Age, (Praeger, 1991).