1947 – Karen Astley is born to Edwin Astley and Hazel Balbirnie in Grappenhall, Cheshire. In May 1968 she marries Pete and they have three children together. They divorce in 2000.

1965 – Record Mirror features an article titled “Their pop-art disc is like fly paper!”.  This issue also contains an add for Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere. The song moves up two spaces to #24 in their Top 50

 

Transcript: (unverified)

 

Their pop-art disc is like fly paper!

says WHO manager KIT LAMBERT

It now seems that whenever a solo singer, pop group, orchestra and what have you decides to do something a bit different, that is taken as the signal for the “Holler than thou” to start having a go.

And they were in fine form when the Who had the affrontary to strike out against puerile pop and attempt a new form of pop music. Something which they called pop art.

by RICHARD GREEN

Out came the record “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere” and in came the letters. Generally, they claim that the Who not only have little talent, but should wait until they have sold as many records as Val Doonican and “the King” before shouting their mouths off, and don’t know what pop art is anyway.

So we asked the Who’s co-manager, Kit Lambert, to answer back. He proved a willing person and one who should bear some weight with the “knockers” if only by virtue of the fact that he is older than the members of the Who.

One reader asked why, if the record is supposed to be pop art, there were orthodox vocal refrains at beginning and end.

Over to Kit: “Yes, this is a very worrying criticism. Recently, I have been accused of having a mission in life which is not at all what I blundered into the music business for. I wish that this reader’s ideas of what was popular were those of the general public because then I should be able to sit at home shuffling through the group’s awards.

“Anyway, I think the beginning of the disc is like fly paper — designed to trap the unwary and hold them there while the ‘damage’ is done. We’re in a guerilla role, so why complain about booby traps and fifth column tactics?”

The second point made was that more originality was needed in lyrics generally and the Who should have injected this into their record.

“I couldn’t agree more about the lack of originality in lyrics in general, with one very important exception this year — ‘Concrete And Clay’ — which I felt was a major break-through and perhaps owed some of its success to the occasionally surrealist quality of the lines. What a pity they didn’t follow it up,” Kit replied.

“But aren’t you being a little hard on ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’? Where are the sure-fire commercial references to love, happy or unhappy, the folk, the whimsy, homesick, crying, wonderful?”

Then on to the third point which was that while the reader admired the Who for talking about pop art, he could not say much for the integrity which had gone into the record.

Kit said: “Jet planes, emergency signals, city traffic. What more do you want without going to the sound effects library? It’s going to be very difficult to put pop art principles into lyrics.

“A great thing about pop art is that it won’t stand analysis. You can’t explain it, it just works. In painting, you put a frame round something common or garden — a target, a Coca Cola, a box of matches — that’s familiar to everybody and if you’ve chosen right, you’ve got something. Another thing about pop art is that statements it makes are very, very simple. One record, one idea.

“Another thing about pop art is that it is very limited. There’s room for a few more records like this, but not many.”

As far as I’m concerned, the Who have managed to get the attitude of kids into their record. Certainly their London fans have the “if I want to do something, I’m gonna do it” view. It’s possible that others feel the same way.

But as least kids can identify their feelings with the lyrics. And the sound is one that they like, which must be of some consequence.

1965 – The Who play in Dudley at the Town Hall

1967 – Keith goes against doctor’s orders and climbs back into the drummer’s seat for the Christ’s College Summer Ball in Cambridge. He still has staples in his stomach holding his rupture together. The supporting acts are The Moody Blues, Georgie Fame and French singer Francoise Hardy

1967 – Willi Nolte releases a German-language version of “Happy Jack” as a single in GermanyYou can listen to it on YouTube here

1972 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s album Some Time in New York City is released in the U.S. The double album features Keith Moon, credited as “Keif Spoon,” drumming on live versions of “Cold Turkey” and “Don’t Worry Kyoko” from the December 15, 1969 Lyceum concert.
You can listen to it on YouTube here

1976 – The Who hold their final concert of this UK mini-tour at the Swansea Football Ground in Swansea, Wales. The concert is officially recorded by producer Glyn Johns but left unreleased until 1994 with “Dreaming From The Waist” on the 30 Years of Maximum R&B boxset. Additional tracks, but not the entire concert, have since been released on various Who compilations. This is Keith’s last concert before a paying audience in the United Kingdom. After the show, he flies back to his Los Angeles home.

1982 – Pete discusses his two-year drug and alcohol binge and his recent recovery in New Musical Express

 

You can read a transcription by the author here: https://www.pauldunoyer.com/interview-with-pete-townshend-of-the-who/

1991 – Pete receives the Living Legend Award at the 3rd (and last) International Rock Awards at London’s Docklands Arena

1992 – Roger visits “Live with Regis and Kathy Lee” to promote is recent release, Rocks In The Head.

2000 – Pete starts selling The Scoop Collection, Avatar Collection & Lifehouse Cronicles at his merchandise site – eelpie.com

2004 – Roger holds a press conference: “Look at us – all we’ve got left is the music. All the sex idol thing which was important in the Sixties has all dropped away from us. So, all is left is the music and people still want to see it.”

2004 – The Who play the Isle of Wight Festival at Seaclose Park in Newport, Isle Of Wight

2013 – The Who play in Glasgow at the SEC

2018 – Roger plays the second of two nights at the Trap Felene Center in Vienna, Virginia

2020 – The comic strip Andy Capp references a song by The Who