Pete Townshend says he once thought he was pansexual: “I was ready to fall into bed with anybody”

Pete Townshend has said that there was a time in the 60s he thought he was “pansexual” – but has clarified he isn’t anymore.

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The Who guitarist reportedly made the comments in a quote in the Wired column of The Daily Star [per NME]. He was discussing the band’s 1966 track, I’m A Boy.

“[The song discussed] the idea of masculinity and the way that men are seen to be at a time when I often forget,” he said. “To be homosexual, to be pansexual, as I think I probably was, but not anymore.”

“But I think I was ready to fall into bed with anybody that would have me,” he added.

At the time of the song’s release, homosexual acts were still illegal in the UK (they were legalised in 1967). So Townshend said he had to disguise his opinions on the matter in oblique ways: “I think I forget that homosexuality was still illegal, so these adventures had to be couched in vignettes of humour and irony.”

In other Townshend news, the 76-year-old guitarist reminisced about the times he got to watch Jimi Hendrix perform live, saying those who never got to experience the guitar legend’s live shows missed the “magic” of his artistry.