THE WHO's PETE TOWNSHEND Says He 'Never Really Got Into LED ZEPPELIN': 'The Only Heavy Metal I Really Listened To Was AC/DC'

In a new interview with Barry Robinson of Classic Album Review, Pete Townshend was asked if he thinks THE WHO "in any way played a part in the burgeoning or evolution of heavy metal in some respects" in the late 1960s. THE WHO guitarist and main songwriter responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "In a way, but I do think the difference, really, was that bands like BLACK SABBATH and all of the other big heavy metal bands, until LED ZEPPELIN came along, who combined heavy metal with some softer songwriting and ballads and so on, heavy metal was almost a religious philosophy. It was rooted in a sense of darkness and often irony, often ironically, I think. Also, the musicianship is extraordinary in heavy metal. And so a lot of heavy metal players cited [THE WHO's first live album, 1970's] 'Live At Leeds' as giving them permission, in a sense, to go nuts, to stretch out and to jam."

Circling back to the idea that THE WHO might have played a part in creating the heavy metal genre, Pete said: "No, I don't necessarily think so. I think 'Live At Leeds' is probably as explosive as it got. But, meanwhile, we were still doing... Like, for example, at Woodstock, we played a good chunk of 'Tommy' and then we played some heavy stuff as well. We did both.

"The only heavy metal I really listened to was AC/DC," Pete admitted. "And I never really got into LED ZEPPELIN, which is strange because today I've recently been trying to get [LED ZEPPELIN guitarist] Jimmy Page to have lunch with me. I sent him a note recently just saying, 'I've been listening to all of the ZEPPELIN albums again,' and I thought I should. And there's some fucking great stuff there. It's just that at the time I didn't like it that they were, in a sense, trying to pinch our audience. [Laughs] I'd been through it before with Jimi Hendrix coming over with his big amplifiers and his distortion and his wah-wah pedal and everything else, and having to admit, 'Wow, here is a guitar genius.' Eric Clapton was my friend. Jeff Beck was my friend. Jimi was somebody that I knew really well. I knew he was a great shredder if he wanted to be. And so I was kind of surprised, really, when I started to listen to LED ZEPPELIN at the variations."

Townshend added: "I don't know about bands like BLACK SABBATH and so on because I really didn't listen to them, despite the fact that I think they were — can I put it like this? I think they were great fun and enjoyable. And I really love the parts of the music business where people don't take themselves too seriously. That was my issue in my early days, was that I felt I was carrying a big cross, a big manifesto for rock and roll. I felt that this was important for me to deliver this."

Back in 2019, Townshend told the Toronto Sun that THE WHO "sort of invented heavy metal" with "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," he said. "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."

THE WHO's 1975 album "The Who By Numbers", will be reissued on October 30 as a 5CD/1Blu-Ray super deluxe edition boxset featuring a 100-page hard back book with photos, memorabilia and exclusive notes from Townshend and WHO expert Andy Neill, 92 unreleased tracks and mixes, brand new Atmos, 5.1 and Stereo mixes by Townshend, 11 of Pete's original demos for the album, tracking sessions from Ramport and Shepperton Studios, early mixes, guide vocals, the fullest version of "Live At Vetch Field, Swansea, Wales, June 12, 1976" released to date and on the Blu-ray audio and video from a previously unreleased WHO concert shot on 2" videotape from Metropolitan Stadium, Pontiac, Michigan.

Produced by Glyn Johns, who had previously worked with the band on their 1971 album "Who's Next", "The Who By Numbers", despite its light-hearted John Entwistle-drawn sleeve and massive hit single, features some of the darkest songs ever recorded by the band. This new super deluxe edition sheds light on the making of the album and the state of mind of its composer, Pete Townshend.