Pete Townshend names his five favourite Pete Townshend songs

Pete Townshend in October 2025 — (Image credit: Darren Gerrish/WireImage for Christie's London)

Pete Townshend has named his five favourite Pete Townshend songs. Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote the staging of Quadrophenia, A Rock Ballet at the New York City Center this weekend, he was asked by the host to name his best songs and picked four by The Who and one from his solo career.

"I think the top is Love, Reign o'er Me," says Townshend. "I think Behind Blue Eyes. I really love Let My Love Open The Door [from Townshend's third solo album, Empty Glass]. I love Baba O'Riley. I think that's now got 1.5 billion streams on Spotify.

"And of course, the one that is most applicable to the modern world, which is that our leaders are never any good. And when we people try to tell us who to vote for, we don't always feel quite right about that. So, I wrote this song called Won't Get Fooled Again. And it was, as Bob Dylan said, 'Don't follow leaders, follow parking meters.' It's kind of a comment on the fact that the people we put in power always seem to end up breaking their promises. And that's not directed at anybody now today, but just everybody there's ever been.

"Politicians promise stuff that they sort of know – they have their fingers crossed behind them – they know that they can't deliver some of the stuff that they promise. And I was being bullied in 72 by a bunch of hippies who said, 'Pete, the revolution is coming and you've got to get behind it.' So I wrote Won't Get Fooled Again for a project called Life House, which was 'No, I won't write be part of your revolution. I think the revolution, if it comes, won't need me to write for it.'"

Elsewhere in the interview, Townshend discusses The Who's farewell tour, his traumatic childhood, the 350-450 unheard pieces of music in his vault, and the origins of classics like Tommy and Quadrophenia.

Quadrophenia, A Rock Ballet runs for four performances this weekend. Tickets are available online.

Artists

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.

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