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The Who's Pete Townshend Reimagines Classic Rock Opera

“It's quite surprising the number of people who have confessed to me that the record made a difference. It wasn't meant to be a rite of passage.”
Pete Townshend performs during "The Who Hits 50!" North American tour at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey in 2016.
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“I could spend eight months at a computer desk writing a book, lyrics, poems—that's what I love to do,” Pete Townshend says. The famously literate rock star, who co-founded the Who in 1964, has always been ambivalent about performing, despite the theatrical, great-moments-in-rock flourishes—windmilling arms, power slides across the stage, guitar smashing, etc. Townshend would just as soon be home, even if playing live does, in

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