Writing dark lyrics for The Who's hits made British rock veteran Pete Townshend realise he was in need of therapy.
The guitarist has little memory of the years he spent in the care of his mentally-ill grandmother, when he believes he was sexually abused, and it was only after analysing his own lyrics that he decided to seek professional aid to help him come to terms with his personal troubles.
During an interview on US breakfast show Today on Monday, he said, "It (childhood abuse) didn't define my music but it definitely came out in it.
"I could see evidence of it in my music that actually did lead me to get therapy to look at just that, because I could see it in the lyrics, you know, that I'd had trouble as a kid."
Townshend writes about his troubled upbringing in his new memoir, Who I Am, but admits there's still much more he could have written about the period of abuse. He close not to as it would not have served him any good: "I don't want to delve too deeply. I don't know how much I would gain from going into it."
And the musician credits his creative outlets with helping him overcome his traumatising youth.
He added, "I do think too, that redemption for me has been through being creative and allowing it (his story of abuse) to come out."
WENN.com
source: newshub archive
