One of the most important songwriters from the past six decades, Pete Townshend wrote almost all the songs released by The Who, creating strong chemistry with the band's original lineup which also included Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon and John Entwistle. A sincere person who never had a problem giving his real opinion on other artists, he spoke about many of his peers during his career, including The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards. What is Pete Townshend's opinion on Keith Richards Pete is a huge fan of The Rolling Stones and Keith Richards. In fact, he said the musician was his biggest influence when it came to rhythm guitar. “I think my biggest influence in that area was Keith Richards. And I still really like the way he plays but in that particular area I don’t think I’m topped. There’s nobody to touch me," he said. His iconic "windmill" move when he was playing live was actually inspired by Richards. “(We) supported the Stones for two shows. They were young, they were brand new and they had one hit, with a Chuck Berry song called ‘Come On.’ I met them backstage and they were all very charming.” Pete Townshend continued: “As the curtain opened, Keith Richards is doing this (The windmill move). I was thinking, ‘Wow, that’s so cool!’ I thought it was part of his ‘thing.’ A couple of weeks later, we supported them again in a club in south London. I’m watching carefully, waiting, and he didn’t do it.” He then went to ask Richards why he didn’t do it and “He went, ‘What?!’ I can’t tell you what exactly what he said. But the inference was, ‘I’m Keith Richards. Do you really think I’m gonna do ballet?’ That was the inference,” Pete Townshend told David Letterman in 2012. Townshend was releasing his biography "Who I Am" that year and compared his book to the one released by Richards a few years earlier. He said there was no one he admired more in Rock and Roll music than Keith Richards, but criticized him for not writing his own biography, saying it would have been much better if he had. Pete revealed to David Sheff that he once received a letter from Keith Richards after the Rolling Stones guitarist read an interview he had given. "I once got a great letter from Keith Richards after he had read an interview of mine. It just said, 'Dear Pete, Shut up!'" he said. More recently, when asked by Classic Rock about how he deals with aging and still performing live, he mentioned Keith Richards. "It's turned out, surprise, surprise, that rock'n'roll is really good at dealing with the difficulties of aging. Watching Keith Richards onstage, trying to do what he used to do. It’s disturbing, heart-rending, but also delightful," he said in 2024. Pete Townshend inducted The Rolling Stones into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Pete Townshend is a good friend of the band and he was the one they chose to induct them into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame back in 1989. During his speech (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) the musician called them the greatest. "Keith Richards once told me that I think too much. The truth is that I think that generally I talk too much. But I don’t think first. Faced with injecting the Rolling Stones this evening I realized that thinking is not going to help me very much.” “I can’t analyze what I feel about the Stones because I am a really absolute Stones fan, always have. Their early shows were just shocking. Absolutely riveting, stunning, moving and they changed my life completely. The Beatles were fun, no doubt about that. I’m talking about they’re live shows. I’m demeaning them in any way.” He continued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfFtACFYULU&pp=ygUdcGV0ZSB0b3duc2hlbmQgcm9sbGluZyBzdG9uZXM%3D “The Stones were really what made me wake up. On the Beatles shows there were a lot of screaming girls and at The Stones were the first to have a screaming boy. The sheer force of the Stones on stage and that perfectly balanced audience: 1000 girls and me (laughs). It kind of singled them out.” “They are the only group that I’ve ever really been unashamed about idolizing. So much of what I am I got from you, The Stones and I had no idea most of it was already secondhand (Laughs). No more gags, the Stones are the greatest for me. They epitomize British Rock for me. Even though they are now my friends, I’m still a fan.” At another point of his speech, he also joked that The Stones ripped-off many R&B artists. Curiously, Keith Richards is also a fan of Pete's guitar playing but doesn't like The Who. He already said they were a crazy band and that the vocalist Roger Daltrey was "all flash". The post Pete Townshend’s opinion on Keith Richards appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.