THE WHO's PETE TOWNSHEND: 'We Sort Of Invented Heavy Metal'

December 21, 2019

In a new interview with the Toronto Sun, THE WHO guitarist Pete Townshend said that fans shouldn't be surprised that the band's first new album in 13 years, "Who", bears little resemblance to THE WHO in terms of that classic ferocious rock sound. "It doesn't sound like THE WHO from those early heavy metal years," he explained. "We sort of invented heavy metal with [our first live album] 'Live At Leeds' [1970]. We were copied by so many bands, principally by LED ZEPPELIN — you know, heavy drums, heavy bass, heavy lead guitar and some of those bands, like Jimi Hendrix for example, did it far better than we did. CREAM, with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, they came along in '67, same year as Jimi Hendrix, and they kind of stole our mantle in a sense. So people who want to hear that old heavy metal sound, there are plenty of bands that can provide it. So it's not really what we can actually do today. Even if we wanted to, it was never high on my list of wishes."

Townshend told The Pulse Of Radio that THE WHO was among the most versatile bands of its era, and that its musical talent freed him to write material that frequently covered many different genres. "The band THE WHO never gave me a clear brief," he explained. "They never said to me, 'We wanna be a comedy act,' but if I gave them comedy songs, they were brilliant at them. They never said to me, 'We wanna be a girl-friendly band,' but if I gave them a love song, they would do it brilliantly. They never said, 'We want to be a heavy metal group' — if I gave them a heavy metal song, they did it brilliantly. They could do anything — but they never gave me a brief. Where did I get my brief? I got my brief from the audience."

"Who" entered the U.K. chart at position No. 3, becoming the band's highest-charting U.K. LP in 38 years.

"Who" is THE WHO's first set of new material since 2006's "Endless Wire", which debuted at No. 9 in November of that year.

THE WHO's 1981's LP "Face Dances", which also entered the chart at No. 3, peaked at No. 2.

THE WHO has released 12 studio albums and topped the chart just once, with "Who's Next" from September 1971.

THE WHO has one of the greatest rock legacies in music history — they're one of the all-time great live bands, have sold over 100 million records worldwide and scored nine U.S. and 10 U.K. Top Ten albums and 14 U.K. top 10 singles in a career spanning six decades.

Photo credit: Rick Guest / courtesy of NEC Group

Find more on The who
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).