And The Who kicked both of them up one wall and down the other. I'll put Townsend's core rock innovations against the Beatles - they, IMO, went too far down the pop music trail while The Who remained rockers.
Tough call, considering all three were different genres inside the rock whole. I will say though, the first band with "feedback" were the Beatles on "I Feel Fine". The Beatles were the only group that was more than a band, though. They were fed off the time, while the time fed off them.
But why on God's green earth do people keep forgeting about the Kinks?
Townsend invented longer rock songs (A Quick One While He's Away). Invented the Rock Opera (Tommy). And pioneered the incorporation of synthesizers into kick-butt rock tunes (Baba O'Reilly, Won't get Fooled Again).
In addition, Pete never went for that hippy nonsense like the Beatles did (his quote about Woodstock - "I 'ated it"). The Beatles, IMO, sound stale across time with their foray into Sixties psychodelia - whereas Won't Get Fooled Again was declared the greatest conservative rock song of all time and resonates no matter what era we are in.