On the weighty topic of ear buds causing deafness, Pete Townshend has offered up his luminous thoughts.

It turns out that he blames studio headphones for his own partial deafness and darkly forecasts that those who use iPods will be joining him in the Cochlear Club soon enough. Why a professional musician would confuse an iPod with a set of headphones is a mystery – maybe he didn’t hear the question right.

The article up on Philly Burbs ends with this excellent “What Have I Wrought?” quote:

“I have unwittingly helped to invent and refine a type of music that makes its principal components deaf,” [Townshend] said.

Or, you know, depends upon it as a pre-existing condition.

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