Pete Townshend – Empty Glass (1980)

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Pete Townshend – Empty Glass (1980)

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Pete Townshend is the best thing that ever happened to Rock, and “Empty Glass” is his solo masterpiece, an insightful, invigorating confessional from a man on the edge. Townshend addresses punks, aging, drinking, music critics, work ethic, and his lifelong quest to find some meaning in life. Townshend is Rock’s great philosopher and, like all great philosophers, he frequently dips into deep dark spells when he concludes life is pointless. The centerpiece of the album is the title song, in which the dueling elements at Townshends core–the rough boy, tough guy (the adolescent Mod, perhaps?), and the softer, more fragile adult–battle for supremacy. That’s some pretty heavy stuff, but Townshend bounces back from those depressions “Don’t worry, smile and dance, you just can’t work life out.” Townshend’s backing band, including members of Big Country, isn’t the as hard as the Who, but does rock, and can float through the softer sections of “Empty Glass” in a way the Who had some trouble attaining. The album represents the very essence of Townshend, and the remnants of 1960s Rock, as the 80’s began and those icons hit their mid-30s. There have always been those who have critisized Townshend for his self-discovery and his search for a greater meaning. For me, it is the questions Townshend asks, and the search he has made, that make him the most important thinker in Rock, and a worthwhile role model. In Townshend’s own works (taken from the exclusive interview with Murray Lerner off the film ‘The Who: Live at the Isle of Wight Festival’): “And when I did my first solo album, I called it ‘Empty Glass’, ’cause of this idea that when you go to the tavern — which is to God, you know — and you ask for His love — He’s the bartender, you know — and He gives you a drink, and what you have to give Him is an empty glass. You know there’s no point giving Him your heart if it’s full already; there’s no point going to God if your heart’s full of Doris.”