Pete Townshend’s opinion on Jimmy Page

Pete Townshend is one of the most influential songwriters of all time, as he was the mastermind behind The Who’s music over the decades and a crucial element in making the band one of the best-selling in the world.

But besides being an incredibly talented musician, Townshend is also quite sincere about what he thinks of other bands and artists. During his career, he has shared his opinion on many of his peers, including the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist and producer Jimmy Page.

What is Pete Townshend’s opinion on Jimmy Page

Pete Townshend had admired Jimmy Page as a guitarist since they were teenagers and had seen each other perform in the British music scene, but he was never really a fan of Led Zeppelin’s music. “It seemed mad for me to even try to compete with the likes of Beck and Clapton and Jimmy Page. I first saw Jimmy Page when I was 14 or 15 and he was already in a professional band. He was one year older than me and he was in a professional band at 16. He was earning 30 pounds a week when I was just still in school.”

“(Jimmy) was playing really fast stuff and Ritchie Blackmore was in a heavy pop band like a Ventures-type outfit. You would just listen to records like that open-mouthed at the time. But at one particular time after Hendrix I decided it was worth trying to express myself through single note work. I think a lot of the help was when Henry introduced me to the SG. It fitted my sound and had a lyrical quality to it because the neck was so uncluttered at the top you could play high,” Pete Townshend said in an interview with Sound International in 1980

During the same conversation, he noted that he would never try to engage in a guitar battle with someone like Jimmy Page. “Sometimes in the past it’s made me a bit catty towards that kind of player, catty through a certain amount of jealousy I suppose. I suppose I’ve never respected them that greatly. There are only sort of odd records that Beck and Page have come up with that I really liked. And I’ve never invited comparisons to that kind of player.”

He continued:

“Like I said before, you’ve got your Erics and Jimi Hendrixes. Jimmy Page and Blackmore and Jeff and people like that who are out there doing that particular thing. But I feel myself in a slightly different place. And even today I would never want to get into a guitar battle with people of that calibre. Because for me, ultimately, the joy I would get from expressing myself through a solo would never be as great. (It) would never be as fulfilling as the joy I get from expressing myself through a song,” he said.

Curiously, Jimmy Page, who before joining the Yardbirds was one of the most respected session musicians in England. He played rhythm guitar on The Who’s first hit, “I Can’t Explain,” released in 1964. Roger Daltrey said several times that Page played lead guitar and the solo, but according to people involved in the recording, his parts did not make it into the final cut. Jimmy himself said that the lead guitar and solo were actually played by Townshend.

“Pete plays lead and, by God, does he play the lead on ‘I Can’t Explain.’ Again, this only took a couple of takes. But you can imagine what the energy was like in that room, being in an enclosed space playing along with the Who. I wasn’t really needed or necessary, but it’s okay to talk about those things now because Pete’s fine with it. And he knows he played absolutely magnificently,” Jimmy Page said in an interview with GQ.

Why Pete Townshend never liked Led Zeppelin

Although Pete Townshend admires the members of Led Zeppelin as musicians and people, he was never a fan of the band’s music and never hid that. “I haven’t liked a single thing that they’ve done. I hate the fact that we’re ever even slightly compared to them, I just never, ever liked them. It’s a real problem for me because as people I think they’re all really, really great guys. Just never liked the band, you know. I don’t know if I just got a problem block to them. They became so much bigger than The Who in so many ways in their chosen field. But I never liked (them),” he said in an interview for History of Rock N’ Roll in 1995 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

In recent years, The Who’s main songwriter said that he believes his band “sort of invented Heavy Metal” and were copied by other bands, including Zeppelin. “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. Some of those bands, like Jimi Hendrix for example, did it far better than we did.”

He continued:

“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,” Pete told Toronto Sun in 2019.

Although Pete credited The Who’s live album “Live at Leeds” with helping create Heavy Metal, Black Sabbath had released their groundbreaking debut album months earlier in 1970. Led Zeppelin had also already released their first albums before that year. But the members of both Who and Zeppelin were good friends. Keith Moon and John Entwistle even were part of the creation of Led Zeppelin’s name.

In Pete Townshend’s opinion Robert Plant copied Roger Daltrey

Roger Daltrey is a close friend of Robert Plant and has praised him multiple times over the years. Curiously, when asked by the BBC to choose his “Rock God” a few years ago, he picked the “Golden God,” Robert Plant. Pete’s opinion has been a bit different, as he once said he believed Plant copied Daltrey in the early days of Led Zeppelin until he eventually found his own style.

“I think by that time (the early 70s), we became aware that Led Zeppelin was snapping at our heels. Eventually of course in heavy Rock terms (they) overtook The Who. But I think Robert Plant was a shrieker. He copied the way that Roger (Daltrey) looked on stage, you know. (Plant) had his own thing but you know, Robert Plant was somewhere between Roger Daltrey and Steve Marriott from the (Small) Faces. He found his own feet in the end. But I think Roger was aware that he had to really sharpen up and he did.”

“(Plant) started to really regard his voice as an instrument and to really take care of himself. He didn’t use drugs, he didn’t drink a lot. He had his issues, his eccentricities but he really looked after himself. The rest of the band would be living hard without question,” he told Jackie Brambles in 2023.

Many members of The Who were in and out of the band for a few days during the early years of their career. At one point, when Daltrey left, Plant, who was not yet in Led Zeppelin, offered himself as their frontman. Luckily, Daltrey returned, and the world ended up with The Who and Led Zeppelin in their classic and acclaimed lineups.