The Who's Roger Daltrey Compares Smashing A Guitar To 'Killing His Wife'

Since forming The Who in 1964, Roger Daltrey has smashed a guitar one time—and he'll never do it again because it felt like "killing his wife."

The singer explained the feeling during a recent interview. “[Fans] never came to hear the music, they came to see the guitar being broken," he said, referring to his bandmate Pete Townshend's love of destroying instruments. “The trouble is the guitar was worth 50 gigs. I’ve only ever smashed one guitar and I’m really sorry I did it. I don’t know why, just this thing came over me. I’ve always regretted it – I thought ‘I shouldn’t have done that, that was like killing the wife.’”

As for the future of The Who, Townshend recently admitted that "it feels like the end of an era" after the band played their most recent show at the Sandringham Estate last summer. “I think it’s time for Roger and I to go to lunch and have a chat about what happens next," he said. "Because Sandringham shouldn’t feel like the end of anything but it feels like the end of an era.”

“It’s a question of, really, what is feasible, what would be lucrative, what would be fun?” Townshend added. “So, I wrote to Roger and said, come on, let’s have a chat and see what’s there.”