Updated Mar. 1, 2022
January 1993
New music releases: So Close - Dina Carroll; "I'm Every Woman" - Whitney Houston; "I'm So Into You" - SWV; 12 Inches of Snow - Snow
On the 15th, Roger is a guest on Howard Stern's radio show in New York. The following day Roger appears at the Paramount Theatre Benefit Concert for the CityKids Foundation of New York.
On the 18th, the group Fish release their album Songs From the Mirror featuring a cover of "The Seeker". Steve Howe of Yes plays lead guitar.
On the 26th, Pete and his art school friend Richard Barnes attend a wake for the recently deceased Meher Baba disciple Delia De Leon. Afterwards they retire to Pete's studio barge to work on the script for the Psychoderelict play.
February 1993
New music releases: Hard Workin' Man - Brooks & Dunn; "I Have Nothing" - Whitney Houston; "Should've Been a Cowboy" - Toby Keith; "Rooster" - Alice in Chains
On the 8th, the Recording Industry Association of America upgrades their sales awards for Who albums. The Who's Greatest Hits (double platinum), Hooligans (gold), Live At Leeds (double platinum), Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy (platinum), Quadrophenia (platinum), The Who By Numbers (platinum), Tommy (double platinum), Who Are You (double platinum), Who's Better, Who's Best (gold), and Who's Next (triple platinum).
Van Halen releases their live album Live: Right Here Right Now featuring a cover of "Won't Get Fooled Again."
On the 24th, Q magazine prints a letter by Chris Charlesworth decrying the sorry state of the Who's CD catalog and lack of a career-spanning boxset retrospective. The next day, Pete calls him up and gives him permission to begin a CD reissue program and the compilation of a Who CD boxset.
Pete completes two years of on-and-off recording for his next solo album Psychoderelict. On the 27th, he delivers the master tapes to Atlantic Records.
March 1993
New music releases: Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We? - The Cranberries; Ten Summoner's Tales - Sting; Are You Gonna Go My Way? - Lenny Kravits; This Time - Dwight Yoakam
On the 2nd, Pete Townshend performs with the band used for the Broadway musical The Who's Tommy at a private party at the West Bank Café in New York.
A "digitally re-mastered" CD of The Who's version of Tommy is issued on a single disc.
On the 29th, Pete attends the first dress rehearsal for The Who's Tommy on Broadway. He has his first alcoholic drink in eight years and, coincidentally, begins an affair with the New York journalist Lisa Marsh around this time.
On the 30th, Pete receives a Very Special Arts award at Sardi's Restaurant in New York for The Who's Tommy.
April 1993
New music releases: Get a Grip - Aerosmith; "Weak" - SWV; Undertow - Tool; "That's the Way Love Goes" - Janet Jackson
On the 13th, Pete attends a party celebrating the coming Broadway premiere of The Who's Tommy. The party is held at Club USA in New York.
On the 18th, the syndicated radio program The Dr. Demento Show premiers a parody of "My Generation" by Seattle's The Flyin' Saucers entitled "My Ken-L-Ration."
On the 22nd, The Who's Tommy opens on Broadway at the St. James Theater. Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle attend along with a large number of celebrities. Frank Rich raves about it in the next day's New York Times calling it "the authentic rock musical that has eluded Broadway for two generations."
During the month, Pete finds the time to sing backing vocals on The Ramones' cover of "Substitute" recorded for their album Acid Eaters.
May 1993
New music releases: Janet - Janet Jackson; "Whoomp! (There It Is)" - Tag Team; Unplugged... and Seated - Rod Stewart; "Chattahoochee" - Alan Jackson
On the 9th and 10th, George Martin has his one experience producing Pete's music when he speedily records the Official Cast album for The Who's Tommy at The Hit Factory in New York.
On the 17th, Roger makes his first appearance as Hugh Fitzcairn during the episode "The Hunters" of Highlander: The Series.
June 1993
New music releases: Sleepless in Seattle - Various Artists; "Insane in the Brain" - Cypress Hill; Back to Broadway - Barbra Streisand; "Runaway Train" - Soul Asylum
On the 6th, Pete wins Tony awards for best book (musical) and best score (musical) for The Who's Tommy. Pete sets the Who gossip mill turning by showing up for the event accompanied by New York journalist Lisa Marsh instead of his wife Karen.
On the 7th, Pete attends the groundbreaking ceremony for the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland. Pete mimes guitar playing with his shovel. "Originally it was music that came from people that were in trouble, and spoke deeply and hugely and heroically from deep down in their soul. That's what we inherit here today. It's a real living, breathing religion - that's how I feel about it." He also donates to the museum the Gibson J-200 guitar on which he composed Tommy. Chuck Berry and Billy Joel are also present.
On the 12th, Roger is reported to attend the ritzy wedding of billionaire John Paul Dejoria in Malibu. He sings "You Are So Beautiful" to the bride.
On the 15th, Pete's last solo album of new material, PsychoDerelict, is released in the U.S. The U.K. release follows on July 11. Q Magazine says the new songs "aren't terrible" but the radio play around the songs is let down by "terrible dialogue." New Musical Express calls it "dazzling ambitious." Rolling Stone says the album allows Pete to "explore themes that have long obsessed him" despite the story's "cliché and bombast." Entertainment Weekly says it has meaty songs if you can get past the "high concept." Robert Christgau in the Village Voice claims Pete "wrecked his record with voiceovers and bad dialogue." Atlantic Records told Pete they thought the album would be a big seller but it fails to chart in the U.K. while in the U.S. the album peaks at #118.
On the 17th, Pete appears on Late Night With David Letterman, plays "Pinball Wizard," and smashes his guitar. Pete: "I smashed the one on the Letterman show even though I didn't really want to. They asked me to do it and I told them I would if they sold the guitar for charity."
On the 20th, Pete performs at a private party for the The Who's Tommy cast at the China Club in New York.
July 1993
New music releases: Toni Braxton - Toni Braxton; Black Sunday - Cypress Hill; Siamese Dream - Smashing Pumpkins; Candlebox - Candlebox
On the 2nd, Pete Townshend holds a press conference in London at the Mayfair Theatre where he also performs an unplugged version of his new solo album Psychoderelict. The next day is the cover story at The Times Magazine.
On the 10th, Pete launches his North American solo tour in Toronto at Massey Hall. In addition to a selection of his old hits and rarities, Pete presents Psychoderelict as a multi-media presentation with actors and background projections, a staging similar to the musical The Who's Tommy. The actors are John Labanowski as Ray High, Linal Haft as Rastus Knight and Jan Ravens as Ruth Streeting. Pete's art school friend (and the man who named The Who), Richard Barnes, directs the production.
Among the usual suspects providing musical backing for the show is bassist Pino Palladino. The tour continues to the Beacon Theater in New York (12th and 13th), the Tower Theater in Philadelphia (15th), the Aire Crown Theater in Chicago (17th) and the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles (29th and 30th).
Starting at midnight on the 13th, Pete holds an autograph party at Tower Records in New York City for that day's release of the Original Cast Album of The Who's Tommy. George Martin produces the CD, the only time the famed Beatles producer has ever worked on Who-penned songs. The CD peaks at #114 in the U.S. chart.
On the 17th, Pete plays "Pinball Wizard" and smashes his guitar on Late Night with David Letterman.
On the 23rd, Pete is interviewed on Good Morning, America (ABC-TV) and on the 30th he performs "English Boy" and "Face The Face" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC-TV).
On the 26th, "English Boy (non-dialogue)" / "English Boy (dialogue)," from the Psychoderelict album, is released in the U.K. It fails to chart. CD singles are released in various countries with additional non-album tracks "Psycho Montage," "Early Morning Dreams (demo)," "Flame (demo)" and "Electronic Wizardry."
August 1993
New music releases: Music Box - Mariah Carey; In Pieces - Garth Brooks; Tuesday Night Music Club - Sheryl Crow; River of Dreams - Billy Joel
Pete continues his multi-media tour of Psychoderelict. On the 2nd and 3rd he is in Berkeley, California at The Community Center. On the second night Broadway Tommy Michael Cerveris joins Pete onstage to sing "Pinball Wizard" and "Save It For Later." He also appears at Pete's show the next night at Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego at a charity benefit for the La Jolla Playhouse where the Tommy musical began.
On the 7th, Pete pulls the Psychoderelict crew into the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a performance that is made available on pay-per-view, then subsequently released on videotape, laserdisc, CD-i and DVD. Better this night than on the 9th where technical problems at the Great Woods Amphitheater in Mansfield, Massachusettes force Pete to stop the play unfinished. The tour ends on the 12th at the Jones Beach Theater in Wantaugh, New York.
On the 2nd, The Real Underground, a CD collection from Tommy Keene, is released featuring a previously unheard cover of "Tattoo." On the 10th, Erik Lindgren's 1987 album The Space Negros Do Generic Ethnic Muzak Versions Of All Your Favorite Punk/Psychedelic Songs From The Sixties is released on CD. It contains a medley of "Boris The Spider" and "Silas Stingy."
September 1993
New music releases: Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell - Meatloaf; August & Everything After - Counting Crows; In Utero - Nirvana; Yes I Am - Melissa Etheridge
On the 5th, Time Magazine reports that Roger is recording a concept album for children called "The Man In The Moon Takes A Night Off". To date it has not been released.
On the 7th, John Haitt releases his album Perfectly Good Guitar featuring the title song, an "attack" on the waste of guitar smashing.
John returns to Australia for the first time since The Who's disastrous 1968 tour, to perform at the Australian International Music Show. On the 10th, he is interviewed on Tonight Live and performs "Won't Get Fooled Again."
On the 14th, Pete releases Psychoderelict - Music Only in the U.S. It does not chart.
On the 21st, the U.S. cartoon show Animaniacs runs an episode entitled "Piano Rag." After a piano is smashed, one of the characters remarks, "Very Pete Townshendesque!" Asked "Who?" he replies, "Exactly!"
October 1993
New music releases: Vs. - Pearl Jam; Very Necessary - Salt 'n' Pepa; Everything Changes - Take That; One Woman: The Ultimate Collection - Diana Ross
On the 2nd, Roger makes a guest appearance on the HBO TV series Tales From The Crypt in an episode entitled "Forever Ambergris."
Also on the 2nd, Pete performs at a private party for the Broadway and touring casts of Tommy at the West Bank Café in New York.
On the 15th, Pete oversees auditions at the Young Vic Theatre for the production of his musical The Iron Man. One beginning actor chosen by Pete for the role of "Picnic Dad" is 24-year old Stephen Moyer (True Blood). Around the same time Pete records "Iron Man Recitative" that later appears on Scoop 3.
On the 30th, Pete is interviewed by telephone on BBC1's Danny Baker After All.
November 1993
New music releases: Greatest Hits - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers; The Colour of My Love - Celine Dion; The Sign - Ace of Base; So Far So Good - Bryan Adams
On the 1st, Pete previews his stage production of The Iron Man for the London press.
On the 8th, Pantheon publishes the coffee-table book The Who's Tommy: The Musical. In addition to a history of Tommy and the musical's libretto is a CD with Pete's demo of "I Believe My Own Eyes", the new song he wrote for the show.
On the 11th, Pete is on The Late Show With David Letterman performing "Don't Try To Make Me Real" from Psychoderelict.
On the 16th, Pete Townshend Live, from the August 7th show, is released on VHS, laserdisc and Philips Interactive Media's shortlived CD-I format.
Pete is interviewed in Rolling Stone by Anthony DeCurtis. Pete discusses rap, U2, Madonna and Lenny Kravitz. He also confronts DeCurtis on his pan of the Tommy musical in Rolling Stone.
On the 19th, Pete and Ted Hughes hold press interviews in London prior to the opening of Pete's musical version of Hughes' children's' story The Iron Man. It opens on the 25th for a short run. David Thacker is the Production Director; Anthony Castro is the Music Director.
On the 23rd, Pete is interviewed by Terry Gross on the National Public Radio (U.S.) program Fresh Air. He discusses how, after his 1991 hand injury, he began to investigate his childhood and discovered he had repressed memories of abuse by his grandmother.
On the 27th, Adam Faith releases his last album Midnight Postcards hits the U.K. charts. It features Roger singing with Faith on "Stuck In The Middle," "Squeeze Box" and "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight." The album peaks at #43.
On the 30th, Pete receives the Silver Clef Award at the Nordoff Robbins' Music Therapy Silver Clef Dinner & Auction at New York's Roseland Ballroom. He is one of the first non-Americans to receive the award after he donates a block of preview tickets to The Who's Tommy to be raffled off for the benefit of autistic children receiving therapy at Nordoff Robbins.
December 1993
New music releases: The Cross of Changes - Enigma; What's the 411? - Remix Album - Mary J. Blige; Diary of a Mad Band - Jodeci; "Whatta Man" - Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue
On the 1st, Pete Townshend Live, taken from his August 7th concert, is broadcast on PBS as part of their Great Performances series.
Zenon Schoepe in Billboard reports on the 4th that Pete's Eel Pie Studios in London is looking for new tenants.
Pete's alcoholism, which flared up earlier in the year, reaches a peak this month. His New York girlfriend Lisa Marsh urges him to seek help.