(Credits: Far Out / Noord-Hollands Archief / Fotoburo de Boer)
Wed 3 December 2025 21:00, UK
Grace Slick has never been afraid of a nuanced opinion. While many believe that they have to ascribe to yes or no answers, to liking something or disliking it, Slick has always been comfortable with the fact that her thoughts on something can be a bit of both.
The perfect example of this is Slick’s opinions towards The Beatles. “Somebody called and said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to come over and see Ed Sullivan. These guys called The Beatles are on.’ So I went over, and they sang ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’,” she recalled of the early 1960s. Tuning into the show, she honestly found it embarrassing, adding, “Now these are 20-year-old people singing ‘I want to hold your hand.’”
While most other artists are busy singing the praises of The Beatles, given that they’re undeniably the most influential band in rock history, Slick refused to subscribe to that. She refused to join the choir of people, saying that the band were wholly and always great, stating instead, “Until they came out with Rubber Soul, I thought they were silly.”
However, later down the line, McCartney came to San Francisco to jam with Slick’s band, Jefferson Airplane, so the singer was always open to holding a conflicting opinion. That’s why she’s fine with holding a two-sided view of Pete Townshend, a man who she sees as both a goddamn intense performer but also a more introspective artist.
A painter as well as a musician, she once painted his portrait. It’s a calm, still image that transforms Townshend into the simplest of men. “This is the quiet songwriter, the impressionist for the artists in the audience. Pete Townshend, the consummate composer,” she wrote in the notes to the piece, seeing it as a portrait of the man behind the music.
It’s a portrait that captures him in a quiet moment. It’s easy to image this man writing songs, or working in the studio, ironing out little details and tunings and getting into the more subtle, almost admin-like tasks that come in the calmer moments of the music world.
However, that’s not the only view of the man Slick holds. She intended to do a second painting on the second side she sees, adding, “There will be the other side of the coin – I will paint the leaping feed back man, the clown for the crowd – the consummate entertainer – coming soon to some canvas.”
Any second painting was never revealed, but Slick made her two-tone opinion clear. To her, The Who’s guitarist is a man of many facets. He’s both a songwriter and a stage presence, a considered and quiet composer, but also the man who can get loud and rowdy when it comes to performing what he crafts. Capturing the humanity of the icon, she allows him to be it all, encouraging the different aspects of him, rather than just demanding one shade all the time.
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