{"id":816777,"date":"2026-10-28T19:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T19:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/816777\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T19:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T19:04:11","slug":"heavy-metal-was-a-almost-a-religious-philosophy-it-was-rooted-in-a-sense-of-darkness-the-whos-pete-townshend-on-the-birth-of-heavy-metal-black-sabbath-jimi-hendrix-ac-dc-and-why-hes-trying-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/816777\/","title":{"rendered":"“Heavy metal was a almost a religious philosophy. It was rooted in a sense of darkness.” The Who’s Pete Townshend on the birth of heavy metal, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, AC\/DC and why he’s trying to get in touch with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pete Townshend<\/a> has shared his thoughts as to whether The Who<\/a> should be acknowledged as one of the godfathers of heavy metal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The question arose during Townshend’s appearance on the Classic Album Review podcast, when host Barry Robinson referenced the evolution of heavy metal and noted that “everyone cites Black Sabbath<\/a> as being the band that started it, but The Who were bludgeoningly heavy and loud at that time.” Robinson then asked Townshend directly, “Do you think you have a place to play in that narrative?”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“In a way,” Townshend replies, “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 a almost a religious philosophy. It was rooted in a sense of darkness, and often ironically.<\/p>\n

“Also the musicianship is extraordinary in heavy metal,” he continues. “A lot of heavy metal players cited the Live At Leeds<\/a> album as giving them permission in a sense to go nuts, to stretch out, and to jam.<\/p>\n

“But, no, I don’t necessarily think so. I think Live at Leeds is probably as explosive as it got [for The Who], but, 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.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From Louder<\/p>\n

“The only heavy metal I really listened to was AC\/DC<\/a>,” the legendary guitarist continues. “I never really got into Led Zeppelin<\/a>, which is strange because I’ve recently been trying to to get 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 there’s some fucking great stuff there. <\/p>\n

“It’s just that, at the time, I didn’t like it that they were in a sense trying to pinch our audience,” Townshend adds with a laugh. “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.”<\/p>\n

“I was kind of surprised, really, when I started to listen to Led Zeppelin at the the variations.” Townshend concedes, adding that he knew Jimmy Page could be a ‘shredder’. “I don’t know about bands like Black Sabbath and so on because I really didn’t listen to them despite the fact that they were great fun. I love the parts of the music business where people don’t take themselves too seriously.”<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Watch the interview in full below.<\/p>\n

Pete Townshend: ‘Who by Numbers’ | Squeeze Box’ | Birth of Metal | Led Zeppelin – Change of heart? – YouTube
\n\"Pete<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

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