{"id":673390,"date":"2026-07-04T12:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T12:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/673390\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T12:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T12:30:11","slug":"the-classic-rock-band-pete-townshend-could-never-forgive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/673390\/","title":{"rendered":"The classic rock band Pete Townshend could never forgive"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pete<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Heinrich Klaffs \/ Harry Chase, Los Angeles Times \/ Center of the Universe<\/p>\n

Sat 4 July 2026 10:33, UK <\/p>\n

Nothing that The Who ever made was intended to be just a throwaway piece of music. <\/p>\n

Pete Townshend<\/a> was always in charge of steering the band in whatever direction they needed to go in, and that usually meant that every track had some sort of intent other than just being a catchy single. Whereas Townshend was looking to paint musical pictures every time he played, he admitted that AC\/DC was a bit too ordinary in how they approached their craft.<\/p>\n

As far as the Aussie rockers are concerned, why try to fix what was never broken in the first place? Compared to the other hard rock acts that they get lumped in with, AC\/DC have practically been a blues outfit for most of their career, albeit one that happens to play at deafeningly loud volumes. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like The Who hadn\u2019t dabbled in the blues that much, either. Going through every one of their early albums, some of the first hits saw the band operating in a bluesy mould by reimagining R&B songs, and Townshend even found a way to shoehorn in \u2018Eyesight to the Blind\u2019 on his first rock opera, Tommy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That was just to lead the story along, though\u2026 the real drama would come afterwards. After Townshend started making more grandiose tracks like \u2018A Quick One While He\u2019s Away\u2019, his focus shifted from a catchy single to a broad musical soundscape. He wasn\u2019t put on this Earth to make pop songs\u2026he was there to show the world the complexity that could come from rock music. <\/p>\n

\"Angus<\/a>Credit: Far Out \/ Joan Sorolla<\/p>\n

That philosophical difference lay at the heart of Townshend\u2019s criticism. Where The Who viewed each album as an opportunity to expand rock\u2019s possibilities through ambitious concepts and experimentation, AC\/DC were content refining a formula they believed already represented rock at its purest.<\/p>\n

For Townshend, what they were doing was miles ahead of what AC\/DC could have tried, later recalling to The New York Times<\/a>, \u201cAC\/DC made 50 albums, but all their albums were the same. It wasn\u2019t the way The Who worked. We were an ideas band\u2026 We\u2019re not making Coca-Cola, where every can has to taste the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a comparison that has fuelled debate for decades. Admirers of The Who celebrate their constant reinvention, while AC\/DC fans argue that consistency is a virtue rather than a flaw, pointing to the band\u2019s remarkable longevity as proof that their approach has stood the test of time.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t some new vision that Townshend had, either. As far back as The Who Sell Out, he was already poking fun at the kind of artists that like to cash in and make the same tracks over again, including throwing in mock commercials in between the main songs to simulate a kind of pirate radio station broadcast.<\/p>\n

Then again, AC\/DC sticking to their guns throughout their career has made them one of the few bands that never sold out. Even though it might seem easy to repeatedly manufacture the same piece to keep the customer satisfied, that one track might be the greatest rock song ever written, whether it\u2019s under the title \u2018Let There Be Rock\u2019, \u2018Hells Bells\u2019 or \u2018For Those About To Rock\u2019.<\/p>\n

Since they have stayed in their lane, they have also never done anything to embarrass themselves, either. Compared to artists like Townshend, who may go for a specific sound and fail spectacularly, AC\/DC would never play a ballad, and there was zero chance that Angus Young would ever break out an acoustic guitar for a song. This was rock and roll, and if it bothered you that the band didn\u2019t change, that\u2019s too damn bad.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\\In the end, Townshend\u2019s comments say as much about The Who as they do about AC\/DC. One band measured success by artistic evolution, the other by perfecting a signature sound. Both philosophies produced some of rock\u2019s greatest records, proving there has never been just one path to enduring greatness.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE \"\"\/ <\/a> The Far Out Classic Rock Newsletter<\/p>\n

All the latest Classic Rock content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Far Out \/ Heinrich Klaffs \/ Harry Chase, Los Angeles Times \/ Center of the Universe Sat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[27575,27576,58176,96,128,33162,3584,9738,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-673390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ac-dc","tag-angus-young","tag-classic-rock","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-pete-townshend","tag-rock","tag-the-who","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}