rockandrollgarage.com
Pete Townshend’s opinion on Metallica
As The Who’s guitarist and songwriter, Pete Townshend became one of the most important musicians of all time. He was a crucial part of the Rock and Roll revolution led by British bands in the 1960s. By the end of that decade, those groups were experimenting extensively and some began creating heavier songs. One example is Who's “I Can See for Miles,” which later inspired the Beatles to write “Helter Skelter.”
These songs are considered by some to be among the origins of Heavy Metal. Although it is not Townshend’s favorite style of music, he has been aware of groups from the genre and has shared his opinions on many of them over the decades, including the Thrash Metal band Metallica.
What is Pete Townshend's opinion on Metallica
Pete Townshend is actually a fan of Metallica and of the members of the band. In fact, he called James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett “brilliant guitar players” and said the group had done an "incredible amount" of great work over the years. "It's quite tough to be in a band, anybody will tell you this. I've only met and become familiar with the guys from Metallica recently. They came to Hollywood Bowl to see us when we did our orchestral show."
"I'd always thought of Metallica as 'shredders', you know, about being (fast) and they are shredders, they're brilliant guitar players. But what really impressed me was the fact that this 'contract'... the best word is 'compact', it's a kind of way you shake hands with somebody and just say: 'We're going to move forward and we don't know how we're going to develop. We don't know where we gonna go, but we're gonna stick together and see what happens."
He continued:
"They've done an incredible amount of developing different ideas. They used an orchestra before we did, they didn't have it for the whole show and it was very successful. So actually looking a band like them, I certainly think 'Wow" This is the definitive band!' (Bands also like) ZZ Top, for example, you know, for one year they didn't go home for 365 days. I think their wives said: 'Listen, it's thanksgiving, you've gotta come home' and they went home. But they were so screwed up with the idea of going back to their homes that they booked the families into a Holiday Inn hotel. These guys were not just fellow musicians, they were friends. They saw their upsides and their downsides," Pete Townshend told Apple Music in 2021 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
The Metallica members are also fans of The Who, James Hetfield especially. He picked the song "Behind Blue Eyes" as one of his favorites of all time in an interview with Rolling Stone. "This song had all that teen angst bubbling under it. It's about asking for help but not really wanting it. Reminds me a lot of me," he said in 2004.
Pete Townshend told Kirk Hammett he was a great guitar player
Although The Who have been one of the most influential bands in the world for the past six decades, Kirk Hammett actually became a big fan of them only in recent years. Not long after rediscovering their music, he went to see them at the Hollywood Bowl and had the chance to meet Pete and Roger Daltrey backstage. Only a few months later, the American musician was invited by Mick Fleetwood to take part in Peter Green’s tribute show, which also featured Townshend. As Kirk recalled, during the rehearsal, Pete praised him and said he played really well.
“OK, so about a year ago (2019) I got heavily into The Who. I’d never really been a fan, but something happened, and I became the biggest Who fan. Last year, I called up Rob (Trujillo) and I said, ‘Hey, I’m the biggest Who fan now!' He said, ‘That’s great because they’re playing this Friday at the Hollywood Bowl.’ I was here in Hawaii and I was like, ‘OK, I’m there.’ The next day I got on a plane, flew to LA, hooked up with Rex King. Because he’s their tour manager now, and went to go see The Who.”
“It was at the Hollywood Bowl and it was with an orchestra. So I was just fucking so thrilled. I got to meet Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey for the very first time. And you know, I was just shocked at how friendly they were. I’m always shocked at how friendly anyone is. So that was great. But then, fast forward four or five months to February 2020, we’re in rehearsal for the show, then Pete Townshend walks in; I forgot that he was a late addition to the whole event.”
He continued:
“He walked right up to me and goes, ‘Good to see you again.’ I said, ‘Likewise.’ And he said, ‘I didn’t expect to see you so soon.’ I said, ‘Likewise.’ Then he played the song that he was gonna play, a song called ‘Station Man’. Seriously, he positioned himself about five or six feet in front of me. (He) played the whole song in front of me. I was so blown away, bro. I got the complete Pete Townshend in that five minutes. By the end of the song, he even did a couple of windmills, and I thought, ‘He’s not doing that windmill thing for the show. That’s actually a part of his technique,’ you know?”
“I was blown away in a very quiet fashion. And then came the show, where I was super nervous and played ‘The Green Manalishi.’ I thought I played OK. Literally right afterwards, I felt someone grab my shoulder, I turned around and it was Pete! Pete said, ‘Man, that was really great, that sounded really, really great!’ I said, ‘Thanks, Pete!' Yeah, exactly, that’s what I thought, fucking hell! It was amazing, because I always thought that he was a somewhat extroverted character. But you know, the entire time he was very, very quiet, and just kinda sat in the corner. (He) was actually much more introverted than I expected him to be. Which I was able to relate to because that’s how I am,” Kirk Hammett said in Metallica's So What podcast.
Pete Townshend said The Who sort of invented Heavy Metal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt8zGoEmGrk
There are many theories about how Heavy Metal was born and the most widely accepted is that it truly took shape with the release of Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut album in 1970. However, some trace its origins slightly earlier, pointing to the Beatles song “Helter Skelter,” which was actually inspired by Pete Townshend. After reading an interview in which The Who's songwriter said they had created the heaviest song he had ever heard, Paul McCartney decided to try to top that.
The song was "I Can See for Miles", part of their 1967 album "The Who Sell Out". Three years later, in 1970, a few months after Sabbath's first album was released, The Who put out the live album "Live At Leeds". That record was mentioned as an influence by many musicians like Eddie Van Halen and in Pete's opinion, they sort of invented Heavy Metal music with that record.
He said that in an interview with Toronto Sun in 2019, when talking about the band's album "Who" (2019). "(This record) doesn’t sound like The Who from those early heavy metal years. We sort of invented Heavy Metal with (our first live album) 'Live at Leeds' (1970). We were copied by so many bands, principally by Led Zeppelin. You know heavy drums, heavy bass, heavy lead guitar and some of those bands, like Jimi Hendrix for example, did it far better than we did."
He continued:
"Cream, with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, they came along in ‘67, same year as Jimi Hendrix, and they kind of stole our mantle in a sense. So people who want to hear that old Heavy Metal sound there are plenty of bands that can provide it. So it’s not really what we can actually do today. Even if we wanted to, it was never high on my list of wishes," Pete Townshend said.
Although Pete Townshend praised Metallica, he is not very familiar with their discography. In 2021, when the band had released only ten studio albums, he said they had put out more records than The Who, who already had twelve studio albums. "The Who didn’t make that many records, when you compare us to bands like Metallica or even fucking Primal Scream, who’ve got dozens of albums. I think it was partly because I was the main writer. But we were also touring so much."
"I know that’s true of a lot of artists, but the way that I write is not with the band. I tend to write at home, which The Who Sell Out is a good testament to. Because it’s got all the demos on and you can see how I gathered material," Pete Townshend told Uncut. Since then, Metallica have released “72 Seasons” (2023), and they will be tied with The Who when they put out their next album.The post Pete Townshend’s opinion on Metallica appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.
New Posts (Home)
ChatBox
Popular Posts 
Game Zone
Top PodCasts
