Who I Am

By: Pete Townshend

Narrated by: Pete Townshend

Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

From the voice of a generation: the most highly anticipated autobiography of the year, and the story of a man who...

• ...wanted The Who to be called The Hair.
• ...wanted to be a sculptor, a journalist, a dancer, and a graphic designer.
• ...became a musician, composer, librettist, fiction writer, literary editor, sailor.
• ...smashed his first guitar onstage, in 1964, by accident.
• ...invented the Marshall stack, feedback, and the concept album.
• ...inspired Jimi Hendrix's pyrotechnical stagecraft.
• ...is partially deaf in his left ear.
• ...stole his windmill guitar playing from Keith Richards.
• ...followed Keith Moon off a hotel balcony into a pool and nearly died.
• ...did too much cocaine and nearly died.
• ...drank too much and nearly died.
• ...detached from his body in an airplane, on LSD, and nearly died.
• ...was embroiled in a tabloid scandal that has dogged him ever since.
• ...planned to write his memoir when he was 21.
• ...published this book at 67.

©2012 Pete Townshend (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers

Great read

I enjoyed that it was narrated by Pete Townsend himself. Interesting experience learning about his life as a rockstar

Pete on Pete!

Pete Townsend can talk about himself in an alarming way at times which makes certain sections of this tome difficult. At times I just really don’t like him! He can be so self absorbed and pathetically narcissistic while making terrible choices that clearly devastated the lives of people that really tried to give him his impossible space to create.
In the end you know he is somehow going to redeem himself so you can hopefully laugh with(something he does off handedly often while describing painful scenes) him.
Reading Roger’s book is a great follow up to this one and ultimately a lot more entertaining.
I am guessing he kept diary’s and he talks over random events often that add little to your sense of what was happening at various chapters. You may find it tiresome as you try to make sense of his inability to have any real transcendent understanding of himself or his demons.
I am a musician and I am awed at his talent musically. As a person a little less but in the end I think he does indeed redeem himself! Curious that he doesn’t directly thank Karen while acknowledging all her family..
In the end this is a brutally honest telling of pretty confused guy brimming with talent.

I finally found a way to hear this book!

I had bought the ebook version of Pete Townshend's book when it first came out. I just don't have time to read so I never finished it. But with this audible version I finally finished, and with Pete reading it it was even better.

Bonus having Pete narrate

The best part about this book was hearing Pete in his own voice. He is more than a brilliant musician. I was unaware of the manic periods, as many great artists experience.

Nice to get to know you Pete

I have been a fan since my youth in the 70s. Have seen The Who many times. I now have a better appreciation for what was happening behind the scenes. I have heard Roger’s voice give out in concerts and now I know why. I also now understand what took
place around Pete’s legal issues and I really feel badly for him. No good deed goes unpunished I guess. This was a great listen for a Who fan.

Wonderfully Written!!!

What made the experience of listening to Who I Am the most enjoyable?

Pete Townshend provides very interesting insights into the british rock scene of the 60's. The interactions between various artists of the time was amazing.

What did you like best about this story?

Pete Townshend pulls no punches for anyone including himself. Seemed to be very honestly written.

What about Pete Townshend’s performance did you like?

He was able to laugh at himself and his past behavior.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I went back and listened to my entire Who library. It was really cool to have that first hand background on the creative process that Pete went thru to write a lot of the Who's songs.

Any additional comments?

You will not be disappointed with this purchase.

I LOVE this book. It is like hanging out with Pete

I LOVE this book. It is like hanging out with Pete Townshend as he tells me about his entire life and all the interesting stuff about his musical career including the Who and many other folks! Very interesting!

Excellent this being my only second audio book.

What made the experience of listening to Who I Am the most enjoyable?

I'm a person with dyslexia, at the age of 57, I honestly can't say I've ever read a book cover to cover. What made this so enjoyable was the Townsend narrating the entire book. My first audio book was Life (Keith Richards) I enjoyed it but the downside Keith only,only read a little at the beginning and end. Johnny Depp read half the book, then here's the letdown the last half of the book was narrated by some joker reading the book in the third person. Trying to come across as Keith himself. Second of all I purchased this CD's. 24 to the exact. audible.com is fantastic I can enjoy listening on my iPad in the car, or play it on my PC at home. Kudos I find this just as enjoyable as listening to the music of my generation. Why I never tried this before is beyond me. I highly recommend this book of Pete Townsend to everyone. To me it's like listening to a almost 18 hour song very enjoyable.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Who I Am?

just hearing Pete Townsend read the entire book, this man lived it so who better to hear from.

Which scene was your favorite?

at the moment, I can't answer this question, only about halfway into the book

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

definitely made me laugh more than once.

Any additional comments?

will be certainly, buying more I'm also joined the membership program, I also highly recommend that also

Maximum R&B as I hoped it would be

Pete's narration makes the book complete, probably the best of the recent rock bios by a good measure. Pete is brutally honest, well worth a listen, my favorite book of the year.

Pete on Pete

Great details about the history of The Who and Pete Townsend. His ocasional insincere sounding chuckles are annoying at first, but eventually you get used to his reading style. In-depth, intimate and definitive. It was only lacking where I would've preferred more about his songwriting process on some of his more early/iconic songs.