The guitarist and singer Pete Townshend helped to form The Who in the early 60s and since then became the band’s main songwriter. Regarded as one of the most influential bands of all time, they have released 12 studio albums in almost six decades of existence and have sold an estimated amount of more than 100 million records worldwide.
A prolific songwriter, Townshend also recorded seven studio albums in his solo career which also had good sales and hits. Over the decades he talked about many artists he loved and even revealed who was the songwriter that was his hero but after sometime was not so important to him anymore.
The songwriter that Pete Townshend said was his hero in the 70s
There are artists and bands who are really connected to specific parts of our lives. That also happens to famous musicians. In an interview with Cameron Crowe in 1974, who would then become a praised movie director, Pete Townshend was questioned if he had any heroes when he was a kid.
His answer was: Bob Dylan. However, the musician noted at the time that after a while Dylan wasn’t one of his heroes anymore. “Well, there was Bob Dylan. When I was a kid. Well, not a kid, but younger and listening to Dylan. I couldn’t wait for the day when somebody would get to him and do that in-depth interview. (It would be) where everybody would find out what really was in the back of his head.”
“And when I discovered that there was nothing there at all. Nothing, I must say I was incredibly disappointed. From that day onward, he ceased to be my hero. He remained somebody who wrote music that I loved. I still love the earlier stuff for the pure nostalgia of remembering how stimulating he was. But he wasn’t quite the gladiator I had expected. You can’t deny, though, that Dylan’s music marked a new dimension in rock ‘n’ roll. He opened the door for rock to say bigger and better things,” Pete Townshend said.
He said Bob Dylan was a master
Although Townshend said that at the time, he always had a huge respect for Dylan and even covered one of his songs. In his biography “Who Am I: A Conversation” (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), Townshend said that Dylan was a master.
“Dylan because he was a master. Not just because of the use of words in a creative sense but as a folk singer. A folk singer is someone with a good memory, basically. He had a wealth of American folk songs and Irish, Scottish folk songs. If you’re an expert folkologist it is infuriating to be a Dylan fan. You know, someone like Roy Harper is always banging his head against the wall saying that ”Masters Of War’ was written in Scotland in 1706!’” Pete Townshend said.
Talking with Rolling Stone back in 2011, The Who’s guitarist revealed that the American musician was also an inspiration when he wrote “My Generation”. According to him, Dylan created a new style of songwriting. It was also the one who “sent” that message to The Beatles start doing the same.
He revealed that his original idea for the hit “My Generation” was that the track would be a mix of Bob Dylan and Mose Allison. In 2012, Townshend covered the Dylan song “Corrina Corrina”, originally released on the 1963 album “Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”. His version was part of a charity compilation called “Chimes of Freedom”. All the profit was donated to the human rights organization Amnesty International.