During a conversation with the Toronto Sun, The Who guitarist Pete Townshend discussed the band’s early days and influence on the rock genre, saying they “sort of” invented heavy metal.
The Who released their new album “Who” earlier this month as their first full-length studio effort in 13 years.
Saying that the new material “doesn’t sound like The Who from those early heavy metal years,” Pete added:
“We sort of invented heavy metal with [1970 live album] ‘Live at Leeds.’ 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.”
Anyone else?
“Electronic-ambient music and electronic artists. They’re home studio producers. So there’s that feeling that I get, a pride, that I started the tradition of the home studio.
“I inspired it. I was probably the first rock and pop performer to have their own studio and I worked with developing equipment for home studios, to miniaturizing it, to making it smaller so it would fit into the domestic environment.
“But when I communicate with those guys, they can appear to be a bit nerdy, they so get excited because they regard The Who as being one of the revolutionary synthesizer bands as well.”