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Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still<\/p>\n
October 31st, 2026 \u00b7 11:01am GMT <\/p>\n
Pete Townshend<\/a> has confirmed in a recent interview with Classic Album Review who he believes took The Who\u2019s place when the band originally split. <\/p>\n The Who launched a massive farewell tour and split in 1982 and 1983, and Pete Townshend said that he saw three different acts pick up the mantle and continue with what he and his band had been doing decades prior. <\/p>\n The guitarist said: \u201cWhen I broke up The Who in 1982<\/a>, post Live Aid, the band that came and filled the space, there were three bands \u2013 Bruce Springsteen, Queen and U2.\u201d <\/p>\n Townshend also claimed that he was responsible for writing the kind of songs that fill stadiums, and said that the aforementioned bands continued to write such music in a bid to take the audiences he had previously established. <\/p>\n He said: \u201cThey took the stadium audience that I had prepared.\u00a0 I prepared the stadium audience with songs like \u2018Baba O\u2019Reily\u2019, \u2018Won\u2019t Get Fooled Again\u2019, big, huge, anthemic songs, huge versions of \u2018My Generation\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n Townshend continued, \u201cThis was music that would work in a stadium.\u00a0These bands picked that up, and meanwhile, I was working as an editor at Faber & Faber, with a day job.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite thinking that Springsteen, U2 and Queen took his audience, Townshend also confirmed that he didn\u2019t feel any ill will towards the groups, as they always cited him as an influence, and he has become friends with each of them as a result. <\/p>\n He said: \u201cIt did sting a bit, but in a sense I was really proud because all of those musicians, they didn\u2019t always name check me but wow they were incredibly respectful to me, and I became friends with all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in the same interview, Townshend conceded<\/a> that he got it wrong about Led Zeppelin and admitted that his prior harsh opinion was due to being in competition with them.<\/p>\n Townshend then admitted, \u201cThe only heavy metal I really listened to was ACDC, and I never really got into Led Zeppelin, which is strange because today, I\u2019ve recently been trying to to get Jimmy Page to have lunch with me. I sent him a note recently, just saying, I\u2019ve been listening to all of the Zeppelin albums again. I thought I should, and there\u2019s some fucking great stuff there.\u201d<\/p>\n The guitar icon admitted, \u201cIt\u2019s just that at the time, I didn\u2019t like it that they were, in a sense, trying to pinch our audience. You know, I\u2019ve been through it before, with Jimi Hendrix coming over<\/a> and with his big amplifiers and his distortion and his wah wah pedal and everything else, and you know, having to admit, wow, he is a guitar genius.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably, speaking on the History of Rock \u2018N\u2019 Roll in 1995, Townshend said of his peers, \u201cI haven\u2019t liked a single thing that they\u2019ve done. I hate the fact that I\u2019m ever even slightly compared to them.\u00a0I just never, ever liked them<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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