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THE WHO's PETE TOWNSHEND has launched a stinging attack at nme.com, branding the review of his band's NEW YORK show earlier this week a "sneer" written by a journalist "probably too young" to properly know his subject.
The extraordinary riposte was posted today (October 6) on his website www.petetownshend.com a matter of hours after the original review of the Madison Square Gardens performance appeared on nme.com.
Townshend was angered by journalist Alan Woodhouse's remarks that the show lapsed into "prog rock hell", that tunes were overlong and indulgent, and that Townshend himself made frequent "rambling pontifications on a number of subjects", particularly how much he loved his kids.
"I will not apologise for loving my kids," he raged. "If the NME critic has any balls at all, and sperm, he will come to know how it feels to love one's kids, and be prepared to bore all comers with the fact."
He went on: "My long guitar solos are, of course, hugely self-indulgent. I won't claim to have invented prog rock, but if I played any part I will accept the mantle... The universally applauded 'Live At Leeds' was probably a high point for what the NME now calls 'prog rock'.
"In fact, the NME guy who came to see us at MSG was probably too young to know what 'prog rock' really is."
Townshend also answered one of the inferences that the band were perhaps a little too old to be beating out songs such as 'My Generation', saying:
"It's an indulgence of the weary and weathered veteran, if you like. One thing old people don't do, not willingly, is shut up."
Meanwhile, Woodhouse has stuck to his guns.
"It was overblown and not what you want or expect from The Who," he said. "They have some great songs, but some things are best left at peace. Perhaps the time is right to fade away. Quietly."