POP MUSIC : When Rock ‘n’ Rollers Took R & R

Here are some of the most celebrated pop sabbaticals, although not all were voluntary:

A near-fatal motorcycle accident in 1966 put Bob Dylan on the shelf for years. He released an album in 1968, but he didn’t resume touring until 1974. Dylan has never fully explained the reasons for the extended break, but he may well have simply wanted a cooling-off period from the white-heat intensity of his “spokesman of a generation” days.

Fast-lane excesses led advisers to turn Beach Boy Brian Wilson over to the care of a 24-hour psychologist in 1981. Wilson--who was up to 300 pounds and so ravaged by years of drug abuse that even friends referred to him as a near vegetable--has finally rebounded with an acclaimed new album and is speaking about touring.

Legal and financial problems caused an artistic paralysis that blocked former Creedence Clearwater Revival leader John Fogerty from making an album for nine years. When the problems were resolved, Fogerty returned to the recording studio in 1984 and made an album, “Centerfield,” that went to No. 1.

John Lennon felt exhausted from the years of stardom and decided in the mid-’70s to enter a five-year “househusband” period to share in the raising of his son, Sean. He and Yoko Ono then collaborated on a 1980 album--a soft, reflective work titled “Double Fantasy”--that contained some of his best music in years.

Pete Townshend, one of the most articulate spokesman about the power of rock music to inspire, felt his life and family were suffering from all his years on the road with the Who and he decided to say goodby to the band and the road in 1982. Despite lucrative offers for a reunion tour, Townshend has remained home in England, working as a staff editor for book publisher Faber & Faber and making occasional solo LPs, including one tentatively scheduled for mid-September release.