Table of Contents
Act One: War Music
1 I Was There 3
2 It's a Boy! 6
3 You Didn't See It 26
4 A Teenage Kind of Vengeance 49
5 The Detours 62
6 The Who 86
7 I Can't Explain 113
8 Substitoot 130
9 Acid in the Air 151
10 God Checks In to a Holiday Inn 175
11 Amazing Journey 199
12 Tommy: The Myths, The Music, The Mud 226
Act Two: A Really Desperate Man
13 Lifehouse and Loneliness 277
14 The Land Between 304
15 Carriers 334
16 A Beggar, a Hypocrite 351
17 Be Careful What You Pray For 374
18 The Undertaker 398
19 Growing Into My Skin 416
20 Rock Star Fuckup 451
Act Three: Playing to the Gods
21 The Last Drink 489
22 Still Loony 526
23 Iron Man 559
24 Psychoderelict 589
25 Relapse 607
26 Noodling 627
27 A New Home 644
28 Letter to My Eight-year-old Self 665
29 Black Days, White Knights 694
30 Trilby's Piano 703
31 Intermezzo 714
32 Who I Am 721
Appendix A Fan Letter from 1967 725
Coda 728
Acknowledgements 730
Picture Credits 740