Throwback: Happy 79th Birthday, Pete Townshend!

May is an exceptionally busy month in music history: 

• The 91st anniversary of the birth of the legendary godfather of soul James Brown was on May 3
• The legendary jazz bassist Ron Carter celebrated his 87th birthday on May 4
• The 68th anniversary of the birth of the great soul artist Sharon Jones was on May 4
• The 82nd anniversary of the birth of one of the most beloved singer/songwriters in country, Tammy Wynette was on May 5
• Echo & The Bunnymen‘s Ian McCullouch celebrated his 65th birthday on May 5
• Van Halen co-founder, drummer — and most important Eddie’s brother, Alex Van Halen celebrated his 71st birthday on May 8
• Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan celebrated his 62nd birthday on May 9
• U2‘s Bono celebrated his 64th birthday on May 10
• The Afghan Whigs, The Gutter Twins‘ and The Twilight Singers‘ Greg Dulli celebrated his 59th birthday on May 11
• The great Burt Bacharach was born 96 years ago on May 12
• The legendary Stevie Wonder celebrates his 74th birthday on May 13
• EPMD’s PMD celebrated his 55th birthday on May 13
• Cream‘s Jack Bruce was born 81 years ago on May 14
• The legendary Talking Heads frontman David Byrne celebrated his 72nd birthday on May 14
• Hip hop pioneer Melle Mel celebrated his 63rd birthday on May 15
• Nirvana‘s Krist Novoselic celebrated his 59th birthday on May 15
• The iconic and pioneering Janet Jackson celebrated her 58th birthday on May 16
• Nine Inch Nails creative mastermind and film composer Trent Reznor celebrated his 59th birthday on May 17
• Taj Mahal, one of the greatest living bluesman and multi-instrumentalist around, celebrated his 82nd birthday on May 17
• Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock‘s Rob Base celebrated his 57th birthday on May 18

May 19 is a rather auspicious day as it features some very important music birthdays: The first of those birthdays that I’ll acknowledge is The Who‘s Pete Townshend. Townshend is one of the greatest guitarists to ever live; but he’s arguably one of the greatest songwriters, who have ever lived. He celebrates his 79th birthday today.

I’ve loved The Who since I was small. And as a fan — and journalist — I wanted to wish Pete a happy birthday. May there be many, many more!