Trending:
Pete Townshend knows a hit song when he writes one.
During an interview with Rolling Stone published on Wednesday, March 24, The Who guitarist and songwriter spoke about his upcoming 8-CD box set collection of his solo music outside of The Who called Studio Albums, complete with in liner notes packed with anecdotes from his career.
Among the anecdotes, the 79-year-old rock legend spoke about the band creating “Stadium Rock.” “I handed the stadium stage to Queen and U2, and of course to Bruce Springsteen. That wasn’t a bad thing,” he wrote in the compilation’s album booklet.
“But we should have been a part of that Post-Punk legacy act resurgences that those acts enjoyed?”
He broke down the particular quote for Rolling Stone, explaining why the band — which at the time included Townshend, Roger Daltry and John Entwistle — had terrible timing.
“The Who invented Stadium Rock. We gave it away. Our timing was terrible. When we did Live Aid, we could barely f—in’ play. Queen were in the middle of a tour, walked out there, took the whole thing, and turned it into an advert for themselves,” he recalled.
Townshend added that he is a “huge” fan of Bruce Springsteen and U2 and is “very happy to see the way that they took the stadium mantle..”
Meanwhile, he “never really appreciated what Queen was about.” He also liked ABBA but didn’t “connect it with the lighthearted pop diversity of Queen’s catalog.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Townshend also named two songs he thinks he executed perfectly with The Who.
“With songs like ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ and ‘Baba O’Riley,’ I f—in’ nailed it. There’s no question. And I gave that instrument away,” he said of the 1971 songs from the album Who’s Next.
Townshend added that it would be “wrong” to say that he regrets it — because he doesn’t. “I have to look back and say, ‘Well, what is, is.’ But where it really bit for us all was financially, because that moment was one where instead of playing places like the Fillmore and the occasional arena, the big acts were playing consistently huge venues.”
Townshend told PEOPLE about his experience with sobriety in May 2022, and how he turned to music, along with alcohol to deal with tragedies such as late bandmate Keith Moon dying of an overdose at 32 years old in 1978 and a 1979 crush outside of a concert in Cincinnati that left 122 dead.
“What’s interesting about alcohol, for anybody that regards themselves as an alcoholic, is that they found a medicine that works,” he said at the time.
“For long periods, I was uncomfortable being in The Who. I wanted to be happily married and have a normal family and life, but it was proving to be impossible. Drinking helped me deal with it. Then one day it stopped working.”
Studio Albums releases on Friday, March 28 and is available to pre-order.
Read the full article here
