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January 1962

New music releases: "Cry to Me" - Solomon Burke; So Much in Love - The Ray Conniff Singers; Roger Williams' Greatest Hits - Roger Williams; "The Young Ones" - Cliff Richard and The Shadows

On the 15th, Roger Daltrey submits an application for The Detours to audition for the BBC Light Entertainment. The band members are listed as "Solo guitar - Roger Daltrey, Bass guitar - John Empwhistle, Rhythm guitar - Peter James, Rhythm guitar - Roy Ellis, Drums - Harry Wilson, Vocalist - Colin Dawson."

Pete Townshend later notes this month as the one where he successfully auditions for The Detours.


February 1962

New music releases: "Good Luck Charm" - Elvis Presley; "Mashed Potato Time" - Dee Dee Sharp; "Wonderful Land" - The Shadows; "Johnny Angel" - Shelley Fabares

On the 2nd, the BBC tunrs down Roger's application for The Detours citing "insufficient experience". Around this time, The Detours make some adjustments in their line-up. Pete comes in as one of the group's rhythm guitarists. Peter James leaves, followed by Roger's friend Reg Bowen who had been supplying a radiogram the group was using for amplification. Pete suggests they get amps on hire purchase and Roger builds cabinets for them to make them look larger and more powerful than they actually are.


May 1962

New music releases: Peter, Paul & Mary - Peter, Paul & Mary; The Best of The Kingston Trio - The Kingston Trio; "The Stripper" - David Rose & His Orchestra; "I'm Looking Out the Window" - Cliff Richard with the Norrie Paramor Orchestra

On the 5th, Benny Spellman's "Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)" enters the U.S. charts. The B-side, "Fortune Teller" will be a staple of The Who's live act 1968-1970.


June 1962

New music releases: I Left My Heart in San Francisco - Tony Bennett; "Sheila" - Tommy Roe; "Do You Love Me" - The Contours; The Stripper & Other Fun Songs for the Family - David Rose & His Orchestra
The Everly Brothers Instant Party

On the 21st, The Everly Brothers' LP Instant Party is released in the U.K. Pete will lift the title for a song recorded in January 1966 intended as the B-side to "Circles," that will then be applied to the song "Circles" when "Substitute" becomes the final A-side.


Carlo Little

On the 25th, Keith attends a show by Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages. Afterwards he approaches the band's drummer, Carlo Little, and asks him to teach him his "wildman" drumming style. Carlo agrees. Two days later, Keith gets his first lesson from Little. Little later describes the 15 year-old Keith as "a lad fumbling, trying to play."


July 1962

New music releases: "She's Not You" - Elvis Presley; The Music Man (Original Soundtrack) - Various Artists; Ray Charles' Greatest Hits - Ray Charles; "Palisades Park" - Freddy Cannon

On the 7th, James Brown's "Shout and Shimmy," later covered by The Who, hits the U.S. pop charts. It peaks at #61.

Doug Sandom

Doug Sandom becomes the drummer for The Detours. He is not only older than the rest of the band, but has eight years more performing experience than they do. His first full-time gigs with the Detours start this month with a five-week occupancy at the Paradise Club.

Keith Moon and The Escorts

Sometime late in the month, Keith gets his first steady position as drummer with the band The Escorts.




On the 30th, the Detours' rhythm guitarist Roy Ellis drowns while swimming in the Thames. The Detours inherit his Vox 15s amp.


August 1962

New music releases: Ramblin' Rose - Nat King Cole; "The Monster Mash" - Bobby Pickett; Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits - Roy Orbison; Kid Galahad EP - Elvis Presley

The Paradise Club in Peckham is "broken up" by members of a rival club and The Detours lose their bookings there.

On the 9th, Pete's mom Betty reads an article in the Ealing and Acton Gazette about Bob Druce's successful dances at Acton's White Hart Hotel. She pressures Druce for an audition for her son's group. Druce agrees and The Detours audition for him at the Oldfield Hotel in Greenford. They pass the audition and are signed to the Druce agency.


September 1962

New music releases: "Green Onions" - Booker T & The MGs; Joan Baez in Concert - Joan Baez; The Best of Sam Cooke - Sam Cooke; "Bobby's Girl" - Susan Maughan

On the 1st, The Detours open for the Ron Cavendish Orchestra at the Town Hall in Acton.

On the 5th, Keith's group Mark Twain and the Strangers audition for the BBC Light Programme. They are passed over for the Dave Clark Five.

Two band impact!

On the 6th, The Detours get a feature article in the Acton Gazette and Post, their first ever press mention, in a review of the Gala Ball of the 1st. The paper says the "Detours" jazz group provided "the gist of the twist."

John receives his discharge certificate from the Boys Brigade with good conduct.

Pete starts his second year of art school. It is during this year that Pete makes friends with fellow students Richard Barnes (who will name The Who) and Tom Wright, who will turn Pete onto grass as well as record after record of U.S. jazz, blues and R&B.


October 1962

New music releases: "Love Me Do" - The Beatles; "Return to Sender" - Elvis Presley; We Wish You a Merry Christmas - Ray Conniff and The Ray Conniff Singers; Christmas with The Chipmunks - Alvin and The Chipmunks

During the month of the Cuban Missle Crisis, art school student Pete becomes friends with students that are members of the Young Communist Party and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Although Pete doesn't officialy join, he will champion their ideals in interviews and absorb their bleak view that his generation will die young in a nuclear war.









November 1962

New music releases: Girls! Girls! Girls! - Elvis Presley; "Rhythm of the Rain" - The Cascades; "Wild Weekend" - The Rockin' Rebels; "I Wanna Be Around" - Tony Bennett

After spying an ad in Melody Maker, Keith auditions but fails to get a spot in Shane Fenton and the Fentones.

Detours ad 30 Nov 1962

On the 23rd, The Detours start a residency at the Grand Ballroom in Kent. They play there at least once a month until the early summer of 1963. The 30th sees another performance. Admission four shillings.




December 1962

New music releases: "Hey Paula" - Paul & Paula; The Lonely Bull - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass; The Glorious Sound of Christmas - The Philadelphia Orchestra/Eugene Ormandy; "The End of the World" - Skeeter Davis
Gustav Metzger early 1960s

At Ealing Art College, Pete attends a lecture by the Austrian artist Gustav Metzger. The title of the lecture is "Auto-Destructive Art, Auto-Creative Art: The Struggle For The Machine Arts Of The Future." Metzger argues that the act of destroying a machine can be a valid artistic statement. He illustrates by smashing a bass violin.









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