The Who was one of those rare bands with perfect chemistry between its members, allowing song ideas to be developed and recorded in the most effective way possible. Unlike many groups where songwriting duties are shared, The Who’s creative output was largely centered on Pete Townshend, who wrote the vast majority of the band’s material. Because of that, many fans place him in the same league as great Rock and Roll songwriters who often worked alone, such as Neil Young.
Townshend has long admired artists of that kind and over the years has shared his thoughts on the legendary Canadian musician, including on his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
What is Pete Townshend’s opinion on Neil Young
“Neil Young? Neil’s the leader – the rest of us just follow him,” Pete Townshend once said. He has always been a big fan of the Canadian musician and even believed that Crosby, Stills & Nash were much better when Neil was part of the group. “For me the halcyon years of Crosby, Stills & Nash was when they imported a real human being called Neil Young. Once Neil Young was in the band, wow, that was some band. Great couple of records they made.”
“Neil Young is still out there, (he) is the only one still doing it. The only one left, the only man who is still out there. His beard growing, doing MTV Unplugged and he believes, you know. I got passion while I’m on stage but I don’t know if I really believe the way he believes. But yeah, they were a good band,” Pete Townshend said in an interview with Time in 1995 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Pete has been a big fan of Neil since the 1960s and has mentioned him as one of the artists from his generation who inspired him the most. Beyond loving his music, he also admires Neil’s courage to constantly experiment with different approaches, which led him to make some very different albums over the decades. “Neil Young is in London. He is most welcome as a true ambassador of America (despite his Canadian passport). He is such an inspiration to people like me who sometimes feel I have lost my way in Rock ‘N’ Roll. (Neil) takes huge chances sometimes in his creative projects. The biggest risk probably (was when he decided) to go out on tour with CSN, bless their collected genius.”
He continued:
“For me, to go out with Roger under the Who brand is not a risk. I find it easy, I find it natural, I don’t have to think. I don’t have to work at feeling good or even. (So) I know who I am and those who buy tickets know what to expect most of the time. Lately I have begun to really enjoy it, I hope not because it’s such a slick gig. There are always some difficult times to savor on every tour. I suppose what happens whenever you put creative people together in ‘bands’ is that you get strength at one level, weakness on another.”
“Neil manages the two strands of his career in a way I admire and try hard to emulate. I don’t want to be like Sting (Though I do think he’s a master craftsman in his work) and leave the band entirely behind as he did with Police. It was a clean divorce and he’s never gone back. Neither do I want to be like AC/DC. God bless them forever and a day, who just keep working the same seam of gold and don’t seem to stop for breath,” Pete Townshend said in his blog in 2005.
Pete said that Neil Young is one of the few truly authentic Rock stars that exist
To Pete Townshend, being a Rock star does not mean having outrageous behavior or doing crazy things all the time. In his opinion, a true Rock star is someone who genuinely cares about the music he makes and is always trying to push forward and evolve musically. That is why, for him, Neil is one of the few truly authentic Rock stars in the world. There are very few people truly authentic to the cause: David Byrne. Mick Jagger. Neil Young. Joni Mitchell. Deborah Harry,” he told New York Times magazine in 2019.
They became good friends over the decades and he already played at Neil Young’s charity event, the Bridge School Benefit. The first time was as a solo artist in 1996 and the second time 1999 with The Who. Curiously, it was after trying to get the “Neil Young” sound in the early 1970s, that Pete ended up finding the right kind of guitar to record The Who’s groundbreaking album “Who’s Next” (1971). As he told Premier Guitar in 2010, it was The Eagles‘ Joe Walsh who gave him the guitar. “From 1971, everything changed. Alan Rogan helped me track down a lot of cool guitars. Joe Walsh gave me a Gretsch and a Fender Bassman combo with an Edwards pedal (to get the Neil Young sound).”
He continued:
“He also gave me a Flying V (that I am sad to say I sold to help buy my first big boat. He’s never quite forgiven me). I bought two or three D’Angelicos, and started to really appreciate what a fine guitar really was. (My influences when I was young were) Wes, Kenny Burrell (in his work with Jimmy Smith), Jim Hall (with Jimmy Giuffre), Buddy Guy, Leadbelly, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Snooks Eaglin, Big Bill Broonzy, Hubert Sumlin (with Howlin’ Wolf), Albert King, Steve Cropper, Don Everly, Bruce Welch (with The Shadows), Eddie Cochran, James Burton (with Ricky Nelson). Among my contemporaries, it was Dave Davies, Jimi Hendrix and Neil Young. At art school I met Bert Jansch, and realized folk guys used tricks (tunings)!” Pete Townshend said.
Pete Townshend said there are many incredible underrated Neil Young songs
Neil Young is one of the most prolific songwriters of all time and until 2025 has released 45 studio albums. That is is three or even four times more than many other artists and bands from his generation put out over their entire careers. So among the hundreds of songs he has written, there are many incredible ones that are underrated in Pete’s opinion.
“The worst person to have control of Neil Young’s catalog is Neil Young. (Laughs) Give it to me. I just think there’s so much stuff there that could be just turned into joy. He’s such an incredible writer. So much of his stuff is just unknown, partly because he keeps it tied so tight to his chest. Of course, he didn’t have happen to him what happened to me, which is The Who ended for a good 10 years. In 1982, the Who closed down, and we weren’t earning money.”
Pete Townshend continued:
“I started allowing my songs to be used for commercials, for film use, and not all of it was good. There’s no question. Some of it was embarrassingly bad. But it earned money. One of things that did happen, in a couple of places … with the use in CSI, fuck! It just hugely, dramatically, powerfully spread the word about the potential … These were some of the best songs that the Who had ever recorded. They were on TV over and over and over and over again. It just reminded people that we were still there. I think it probably helped us to come back,” Pete told Rolling Stone in 2022.
Although Pete has allowed his music to be used in commercials, TV shows and movies, he is very picky about which songs can be used and in what context. For example, when documentary filmmaker Michael Moore wanted to use ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ in his 2004 film “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Pete refused and suggested using a Neil Young song instead. He explained that his track was not ‘unconditionally anti-war’ nor clearly ‘for or against revolution.’ ‘I suggested in the email that they might use something by Neil Young. I knew (he) had written several songs of a more precise political nature and is as accessible as I am,’ he said at the time on his website. In the end, the film featured Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ in the Free World.’