Roger Daltrey Explains How Smashing His Guitar Felt Like Murder

As a solo artist, Roger Daltrey produced hits like “Walking the Dog”, “Written on the Wind”, and “Giving It All Away.” While classic songs, that was just a taste of Daltrey’s promising career as he also helped form the iconic rock band the Who. Having sold over 100 million records, the singer not only gained entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he also received a Lifetime Achievement award thanks to his contributions to music. Having performed since the late 1950s, the singer recently discussed his regret about smashing his guitar, comparing it to “k*lling his wife”. 

Appearing on the Daily Grind podcast with Shawn Keaveny, Daltrey recalled his years on the stage and focused on the one instrument he ever broke. Once smashing his guitar, the singer explained, “[Fans] never came to hear the music, they came to see the guitar being broken. The trouble is the guitar was worth 50 gigs. I’ve only ever smashed one guitar and I’m really sorry I did it.”

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Knowing he made a mistake at the time, Daltrey admitted not knowing what came over him to break his guitar. Regretting the moment, he added it was like k*lling his wife, Heather Taylor. “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 k*lling the wife.’”

Roger Daltrey Wasn’t The Only One Breaking Instruments

Sharing his time in the spotlight in his book Thanks A Lot Mr. Kibblewhite, Daltrey wrote about how he hated watching bandmate Pete Townshend break instruments. “It was heartbreaking. When I remembered how much I’d struggled to get my first guitars, it was like watching an animal being slaughtered.” He added, “An expensive animal that we’d have to replace with another expensive animal before the next gig. And we had to pay for the hole in the ceiling … from then on, the audience expected us to break our instruments. It was our thing.”

While fans expected the performers to break instruments, Daltrey noted that the band carefully broke them in order to glue them back together later.

(Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)