Much as I’d like to ignore the story, the Pete Townsend thing is hard to avoid, when the man has been such a foundational figure in modern rock. It ain’t exactly a secret that Townsend’s lyrics are full of stuff that’s hardly G-rated. He sang about homosexuality in “Rough Boys,” to say nothing of the lyrics to “5:15” Heck, his most prominent work thirty years ago was about a boy who withdraws from the world after being sexually abused by an older male relative. At the time, people thought of this as a metaphor.
Nonetheless, even if it turns out – as it appears – that Townsend has been consuming child porn, regardless of the purpose, we can still enjoy his music. In fact, one of the benefits, for political conservatives, of the idiot leftism of so many actors, musicians, etc. is that we learn early to distinguish between the artist and the art.
Thus, when Robert George on NRO comments that “Pete Townshend[‘s] arrest on child-porn charges must cause CBS and the producers of CSI a little discomfort (Its theme song is, “Who Are You”),” I say: No, it shouldn’t. Say what you will about the man, the song “Who Are You” is not just great rock & roll, it is, in fact, a song about man’s search for God – an angry expression of that search (“tell me who the f__k are you?”), to be sure, but the lyrics include a description of Jesus’ love for sinners that most Christian rockers would give their right arm to write:
I know there’s a place you walked
Where love falls from the trees
My heart is like a broken cup
I only feel right on my knees
I spit out like a sewer hole
Yet still recieve your kiss
How can I measure up to anyone now
After such a love as this?