Thanks a Lot, Mr. Kibblewhite: My Story

The lead singer for The Who looks back on frenzied tours, drug binges, band feuds and devastated hotel rooms in this raucous rock memoir. Recalling the titular school principal who told him he would never amount to anything, Daltrey recounts his rise from working-class London striver to superstar in the group that pioneered arena-rock staples such as apocalyptic sound systems, laser light shows, and guitar-smashing stage antics. Daltrey paints himself as the straight man in The Who's volatile group dynamics, tagging other bandmates with the heavy drug use and property destruction%E2%80%94drummer Keith Moon, who drove a car into a swimming pool, blew up plumbing, lapsed into narcotic comas on stage, and died of an overdose, takes pride of place%E2%80%94and toxic rivalries. There is affection and resentment in his portrait of Who songwriter Pete Townshend, who comes off as a brilliant but arrogant and cutting man whose abstruse concept albums lacked grounding in showbiz reality. Daltrey's musings are sometimes self-serving ("[s]exual infidelity should never be a reason for divorce"), but they are full of vivid imagery ("[t]all and skinny, [Townshend] looked like a nose on a stick") and piquant humor ("[A]s the butterflies flew upward, they would all empty their bowels," he reports from the set of Tommy). The result is an entertaining rock %E2%80%98n' roll picaresque. (Oct.)