Posted on 12/21/2019 8:04:34 PM PST by DoodleBob
In a new interview with the Toronto Sun, THE WHO guitarist Pete Townshend said that fans shouldn't be surprised that the band's first new album in 13 years, "Who", bears little resemblance to THE WHO in terms of that classic ferocious rock sound. "It doesn't sound like THE WHO from those early heavy metal years," he explained. "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. 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."
Townshend told The Pulse Of Radio that THE WHO was among the most versatile bands of its era, and that its musical talent freed him to write material that frequently covered many different genres. "...THE WHO never gave me a clear brief," he explained. "They never said to me, 'We wanna be a comedy act,' but if I gave them comedy songs, they were brilliant at them. They never said to me, 'We wanna be a girl-friendly band,' but if I gave them a love song, they would do it brilliantly. They never said, 'We want to be a heavy metal group' if I gave them a heavy metal song, they did it brilliantly.
(Excerpt) Read more at blabbermouth.net ...
I’m with you. Black Sabbath were the ones. I still listen to their stuff.
Hey, I haven’t said a single word about buying stairways to heaven!
Just spent some time listening to some 60’s Rock-N-Roll instrumental songs like Wipe Out, Pipeline, Telstar, Apache etc.. they sounded like the roots of Heavy Metal to me.
OK then ;)
OK then ;)
I think a case could be made for Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf and Vanila Fudge’s contribution. Oh and the Mc5. Kick out the Jams..
Looks like us original punk rockers are coming out of the shadows here. :)
Can ya see the real me? Can ya? Can ya?
Have to agree-The Who is more like a precursor to Punk-which I also like-Led Zeppelin, Cream-that is my idea of Heavy Metal-I jam to it on the way home from work all the time on the classic rock station (and I have the Mothership CD in the truck, along with some other favs)...
Live at Leeds and Live at the Isle of White are very heavy for sure. But I give the title to Black Sabbath. The first six Sabbath albums might be the heaviest ever.
Freegards
;)! The only song more OVERPLAYED and annoying is FELIZ NAVIDAD! BOTH of them seem to never end! And I absolutely love LZ. Just not that song!
Yep, that's my idea of the original Heavy Metal along with Black Sabbath which I nearly blew my pathetic speakers out with circa '71-'73.
The Who started Heavy Metal? Townsend must be in the early stages of dementia, LOL
It was The Kinks in ‘64, followed by “Shapes Of Things” 1966 by the Yardbirds and Jeff Beck’s tube amps.
Then came Blue Cheer in ‘67.
Black Sabbath invented loud schlock for Seconal addicts.
We are talking about heavy metal, not contemporary rock music in which Led Zeppelin may have had a hand in creating. But the harder, edgier version of rock, which is heavy metal, belongs to Black Sabbath.
Feliz Navidad!
Ventures!
I’d have to give JimRob $10 for the bandwidth I’d consume. Let’s just say that their performance of Won’t Get Fooled Again at the Concert for New York may be the single greatest moment in the history of rock.
Not sure I totally agree with that, but thanks for turning me on to Link Wray who I didn’t know existed with the exeption I’d heard “Rumble” before.
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