"Athena" is a song written by Pete Townshend

Pete Townshend

Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...

 and recorded by The Who

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

. It appears as the first track on the group's tenth studio album It's Hard

It's Hard

It's Hard is the tenth studio album by English rock band The Who. It is the last Who album to feature bassist John Entwistle and drummer Kenney Jones, as well as the last to be released on Warner Bros. Records in the US. It was their last album until 2006's Endless Wire. It was released in 1982 on...

, released in 1982. It was released as the first single from that album, achieving moderate chart success at #28 on the US Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

, but received good airplay on album oriented rock and later classic rock

Classic rock

Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...

 radio formats. "Athena" reached #40 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

Pete Townshend wrote this song after an encounter with actress Theresa Russell

Theresa Russell

Theresa Russell is an American actress.-Biography:Russell was born Theresa Paup in San Diego, California, the daughter of Carole Platt and Jerry Russell Paup. She attended Burbank High School, but did not graduate. She married English film director Nicolas Roeg , in 1982...

. He promptly fell in love with her, and his frustration of being rejected is contained in this song. In this context, associated with an issue with a film director, it became a subplot of the much later The Lifehouse Chronicles

The Lifehouse Chronicles

Lifehouse Chronicles is a box set released in 2000 by Pete Townshend with the focus on the box being the formerly "abandoned" Lifehouse rock opera. The set contains song demos by Pete Townshend; including solo versions of "Baba O'Riley", "Won't Get Fooled Again", and "Who Are You", and the...

. Townshend initially changed the title to "Athena" to disguise who the song was really about. Roger Daltrey

Roger Daltrey

Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also...

 and Townshend share lead vocals on this song.

Despite this being the first single from the album and well-received on rock radio, The Who only played "Athena" a total of ten times on the band's 1982 tour, and has not played the song again ever since.