Roger Daltrey Wags His Finger at Young Rockers: “You Don’t Know Anything at That Age”
Last week legendary Who rocker Roger Daltrey violated our rule against open letters and penned a rambling, cranky one in British newspaper The Sun. The purpose? Warning out-of-control young rockers of the dangerous of living on the edge (in response to the study indicating rock stars are twice as likely to die early than mere non-rocking civilians). His byline? “By Roger Daltrey (still rocking at 63).” The best parts? They’re quoted right here:
• “Watching Pete Doherty and indeed Amy Winehouse is very sad. She is fantastically talented and he has a particular talent but I’m not sure he’s comfortable with it. There’s a bathroom floor waiting somewhere for him. He seems to have a deathwish and that is so incredibly dull — to think that that’s a cool and exciting thing.”
• “Keith Moon might have been saved if he were a young performer today. He had an intelligence, and with the structure there is now he might have been OK. But rehab then was very rare. … Most of us didn’t really spot there was anything really wrong with Keith — we just thought he liked a drink. But John Entwistle would never have changed. He lived and danced to his own tune.”
• “You don’t know anything at that age. You think you do but you don’t — and there’s a lot of temptation and pitfalls. Young people love to flirt with danger and I think with all these new health and safety laws it will get worse.”