Stern Gets Curious, Townshend Gets Going

Thu., Oct. 26, 2006 9:34 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Maybe Pete Townshend had a magic bus to catch.

Otherwise, why else would he have ditched the chance for a sit-down with Howard Stern to promote the Who's first album in 24 years, Endless Wire?

Actually, the iconic Who guitarist was all ready for his phone-in chat for Stern's satellite radio show Wednesday when he heard the a.m. shock jock's sidekick, Robin Quivers, bring up Townshend's 2003 arrest on child pornography charges—allegations he was later cleared of.

Most of Stern & Co. agreed that it was definitely a topic they wanted to broach with their guest.

Well, the interview was a no-go from there. Townshend, who was at a recording studio in London, refused to get on the horn, leaving his longtime girlfriend, Rachel Fuller, and the Who frontman Roger Daltrey to explain his absence.

And, of course, Stern was quite interested to know what went wrong and even said that he would have steered clear of the more touchy subjects if he had known Townshend was going to react that way.

Daltrey said his bandmate's wounds went too deep for him to be able to discuss such private matters.

"Can you imagine you're accused of this stuff and then you're found not guilty?" Daltrey said. "If you had to defend yourself through this stuff? The wounds are so deep on the man, and it's just tragic because he's got so much to offer."

"Tell him we're just a bunch of a--holes, and we won't do anything to upset him," Stern instructed. (Gotta love satellite radio.)

While he had Daltrey on the hot seat, Stern proceeded to quiz the singer about everything from the state of the record business (piracy's going to kill the business and leave artists with nothing) to the last time he beat up a guy ("probably 30 years ago"—and he never beat up Pete) and what drugs he's using these days (he hasn't smoked marijuana for three years and is now allergic).

Not exactly the kind of show you go on if you're not in the mood to face a few hardballs. And Townshend, who used to obliterate his guitars onstage at the end of shows, was going to be facing a few.

The Who rode the more famously destructive antics of drummer Keith Moon—along with Townshend's killer songwriting—to legendary status in the mid-1960s. Moon died of a drug overdose in 1978, while bassist John Entwistle fell prey to a cocaine-induced heart attack in 2002.

Townshend received a warning in 2003 after police discovered he had paid to access a child porn Website in 1999. He was temporarily placed on Britain's list of registered sex offenders, but police never discovered any further evidence against him during the course of a months-long investigation.

The musician explained he was doing research for an autobiography, which he promised would contain recollections of sexual abuse he suffered as a child (another touched-upon topic on the Howard Stern Show Wednesday). Townshend inked a deal to write his memoirs in 1997, but as yet it's still a work in progress.

"Tell Pete I am very sorry," Stern reiterated to Daltrey and Fuller, good-naturedly blaming Quivers for scaring Townshend off. "We would have had a great interview with him. I really wish he'd reconsider this. We adore him."

Stern sidekick Artie Lange then said that he was heading down to see a Who concert in Atlantic City in a few weeks, and would straighten everything out in person.