Pete Townshend Smashes A Strat [VIDEO]

There's still something catartic and therapeutic about watching Pete Townshend demolish a guitar.  He hardly EVER does it these days.

I saw The Who in 1982 on their tour for the album 'It's Hard'.  I had been reading reviews of the shows and there had been several comments about Pete NOT smashing any axes on the tour.

But for whatever reason, on the night I saw them at the Cotton Bowl, he literally splintered a Gibson Les Paul.

Pete had been in a surly mood during the first half hour of that show, not even acknowledging or looking at the audience.  But the Dallas crowd would have none of it.  The crowd kept raising the roof for Townshend's guitar licks until he finally starting feeding on the energy.  By the end of the show, both he and all of us in the audience were completely adrenalized.

It was an amazing thing to watch, because when he smashes a guitar, you can tell it's not just doing it for show.  It's a release of tension, emotion, energy, even anger.  This video is one of the most recent I could find of a guitar demolition, and it dates back to 2000.  Enjoy and relieve some stress!