Pete Townshend has destroyed countless guitars over the course of his career, but one of his most memorable victims has survived for more than 50 years. A fan rescued the remains of Townshend’s 1969 Gibson SG after the Who’s famously chaotic June 7, 1970, performance at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House. Now, after decades in his possession, he’s preparing to hand the historic instrument over to Matt’s Guitar Shop in Paris.
The guitar, a cherry-red Gibson SG with two P90 pickups, met its fate during the show’s closing moments. As Binky Phillips, the fan who caught it, recalls in a new interview with Matt’s Guitar Shop, Townshend had been in a foul mood throughout the evening. But when the guitarist struck one of his Hiwatt cabinets and knocked the SG out of tune, his frustration boiled over.
“When Pete’s mad, you get a good show,” Phillips says with a smile.
The Who had been riding a wave of success with their rock opera, Tommy, but relentless touring had left the band exhausted. The Metropolitan Opera House, meanwhile, was an unusually prestigious setting for the group’s raucous performances. With a crowd of teenagers descending on the venue, the evening was poorly organized and tensions were running high.
The band nevertheless delivered a brilliant set. They even returned for an encore, something Phillips says was unusual for the Who at the time.
“Usually the stage was completely destroyed [by then], but Keith Moon didn’t dump the drum kit, Pete didn’t break the guitar, so, they came back out, and they did ‘Shakin’ All Over,’” he recalls.
“Pete’s playing lead, and he’s got his eyes closed,” Phillips continues. “He hits the guitar on one of the Hiwatt cabinets, and it goes out of tune.”
Phillips, a regular in the front row at Who shows, says he noticed an immediate change in Townshend’s demeanor.
“He threw the guitar on the ground, stomped on it, and cracked off the head,” he remembers. “He shoots me this look, and I instantly get chills. I know what’s happening.”
Townshend then wrapped the guitar strap carefully around the broken instrument before approaching the edge of the stage.
“He walks to the very lip of the stage, looks at me and goes, ‘You ready?’ He stepped back about three steps, and he threw it really high, it arced, and I caught it by the horns. It was an absolutely dead perfect throw. A major league pitcher couldn’t have done that.”
Phillips had caught the guitar, but keeping hold of it was another matter. As the house lights came up, dozens of fans rushed toward him.
“The lights came up, and about 60 kids are tearing down the aisles to get the guitar,” he says. “Everybody’s charging, and an usher, he was about 6’6″ with long blonde hair, looked down at me. He goes, ‘You’ve been at every fucking Who show I’ve ever ushered. No one’s taking that from you!’”
The usher then turned on the advancing crowd, which quickly dispersed. One young girl remained, pleading with Phillips for a single guitar knob. He gave it to her, leaving that small piece of the SG as the only part of the instrument he no longer possesses.
Townshend’s guitar-smashing habit had begun long before that night. He was just 13 when he first discovered the cathartic power of smashing a guitar, with his grandmother the target of his anger on that occasion. The act eventually became a defining feature of the Who’s live shows.
In the band’s early days, when money was tight, Townshend would glue his guitars back together so he could destroy them again at the next performance. As the Who grew more successful, he no longer needed to salvage the pieces himself. Many of the instruments were lost, making Phillips’s rescued SG an especially unusual survivor.
The guitar has since been carefully repaired, and Phillips is now entrusting it to Matt’s Guitar Shop in Paris, the company that has also been showcasing Jeff Beck’s celebrated Yardburst Les Paul to high-profile players.
Phillips and the shop share a desire to see the SG remain more than a museum piece. He hopes it will be played again.
“I want someone to play it,” Phillips says. “I just think it should be seen. [Pete Townshend] the first guitar player who made rhythm guitar the lead instrument,” he adds, referring to the guitarist’s influential approach — even though Townshend himself never considered himself the Who’s lead player.
Townshend has also recently looked back on recording a Who classic with a future rock legend, with both musicians distracted by a beautiful woman. He has also suggested that the Who could still make another album, after previously threatening to turn to AI for a new solo record.
