Roger Daltrey says Jimi Hendrix stole Pete Townshend’s stage act. But they both stole from blues great Buddy Guy, says the Who frontman

Music Radar ^ | November 12, 2021 | Jonathan Horsley

[DoodleBob]

The Who’s Roger Daltrey has accused Jimi Hendrix of “completely stealing” Pete Townshend’s stage act, and having enjoyed a ringside seat when two of the greatest players ever to pick up the electric guitar were making their bones, he would be in a position to know.

Daltrey was sitting down with The Coda Collection for a career-spanning interview, when he made the claim – in good humour, it has to be said – but he offered an almighty caveat: that neither invented firebrand guitar hero stagecraft. That honour goes to the blues great Buddy Guy, whom Daltrey not only considers the pioneer of guitar showmanship, but the greatest male blues singer of all time.

“I’ve always stuck up for Pete,” said Daltrey. “Jimi stole Pete's stage act completely, which incidentally, I think he did. But there again, I’m sure Jimi had seen Buddy Guy previously, as I am sure Pete had seen Buddy Guy, and embellished it.”

On Guy, Daltrey was fulsome in his praise. He is peerless. “You watch Buddy Guy in the early days,” he said. “You have to really look for the inventor of all that stuff. It was probably Buddy Guy… I take my hat off to Buddy Guy and he deserves the accolade and I just love him.”

Daltrey discussed a number of issues, proclaiming himself “the number one hater of the internet,” talking about how he often felt belittled as a singer, and opened up about the heated arguments he had with the band when their use of amphetamines affected their performance.

“For them to take it before a show was a complete no-no because here was this brilliant band of musicians,” said Daltrey. “Townshend was an absolute original on the guitar. Entwistle was an original on the bass. What can you say more about Moon [than] being totally original? 

“When they got on the amphetamines, the music just turned to a load of crap. The songs were too fast. When rock gets too fast, it’s not rooted. The band thinks it’s good because they’re all, ‘Oh yeah, we'll speed it up.’ But when you listen back to it you go, ‘Yeah, but it’s come off the ground. It’s not slamming to the floor.’ That’s what was happening.”

• 5 crazy Keith Moon moments

Daltrey also admitted being envious of Robert Plant, whom he said had some “time to relax” during Led Zeppelin compositions, and weighing on Paul McCartney’s disparaging assessment of the Rolling Stones, he said “it’s like comparing cheese with apples.”

“They’re both very tasty, but the cheese does one thing and the apple does another,” said Daltrey. ‘I’ve always thought that you cannot take away the fact that Mick Jagger is still the number one rock and roll show. The only other people I'd put up against him would be perhaps James Brown, maybe Jerry Lee in his day, or Little Richard, but Mick Jagger, you’ve got to take your hat off to. He’s the number one rock and roll performer.”

Head over to The Coda Collection to watch Daltrey’s interview in full. 

[Chode]

Buddy wasn’t on acid...

[Main Street]

The Left loves to accuse Elvis of stealing the song You ain’t nothing but a ‘Hound Dog’ sung by Big Momma Thornton, Elvis didn’t steal anything. ‘Hound Dog’ was created, written and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two white guys. So if we want to call it “stealing”, any black person recording that song “stole” white music.

They have the gall to accuse Elvis and other whites in the music industry of stealing black music. What songs did Elvis “steal”, that Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Dionne Warwick, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, John Coltrane, Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Little Eva, Freddie Scott, Brook Benton, David Ruffin, Luther Vandross, and many other black singers and musicians, who built their careers singing and playing songs written by white men and women, didn’t “steal”?

[DoodleBob]

To be fair, Pete stopped taking drugs in 1969 (he kept drinking) but then fell off the wagon in 1981. He finally stopped drinking in the late 1980s.

[Pez149]

I don’t know,
I’m partial to
“Band of Gypsys” myself.
I hear that today and I’m still amazed at sounds he made.

[DoodleBob]

Jimi is absolutely 100% American, and loved America. Jimi was on Dick Cavett after Woodstock and he did NOT say it was a protest song.

“I don’t know, man,” Hendrix said on his decision to play the track before adding, “I’m an American, so I played it. They made me sing it in school, so it was a flashback.” Cavett then points out that Hendrix is likely to find himself on the receiving end of a barrage of hate mail because of his decision to cover the national anthem in an unorthodox manner, to which Hendrix proudly stated, “It’s not unorthodox, I thought it was beautiful.”

Jimi may not have been a fan of the war, but he didn't hate America. And prior to Woodstock, when not rehearsing, they were also apparently doing some target shooting.

For people who wonder where Jimi may have gone had he lived, I believe the best hints are found in The Shokan Tapes of recordings and jams prior to Woodstock in Ulster County with Larry Lee (guitar & vocals), Billy Cox (bass), Mitch Mitchell (drums, though I believe Mitch didn't arrive until a few weeks before Woodstock), Juma Sultan (bass, flute & percussion), Jerry Velez (percussion), and Mike Ephron (keyboards). Some of these jams are inspiring, and some of this is just good old fashioned rehearsing. You can also give a listen to the live show he did before Woodstock at the Tinker Street Cinema. It has more to do with free jazz than psychedelia and the instrumentation is eclectic.

If Jimi had continued in this direction, he'd have likely opened up a whole new dimension of music. We'll never know.

[Carriage Hill]

Hell of a show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMS47w8hAZ8

[FreedomPoster]

BFL

I saw Buddy Guy warm up for B.B. King a couple times in King’s declining years. Which means you were really there for the warm up, and to pay homage to B.B., as B.B. wasn’t up to his early years.

There was NOTHING wrong with getting to see Buddy as the “main act” for those shows. He still “had it”.

[Mr. Mojo]

Same here. About a dozen. But the first time was the standout, at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz in 1986, with his old buddy Junior Wells. Those two brought out each other’s best.

[FreedomPoster]

And the extended version of Live at Leeds is in the running for best live rock album ever.

[ifinnegan]

Who were stupid.

Cut your hair old hippie freak.

[slouper]

True that, best live concert I ever attended.

[FreedomPoster]

Ping

[DoodleBob]

Woo hoo!! Buddy is on tour next year!

No wussing out due to the pandemic for this man!

Nov 14 Arcada Theatre St Charles, IL

Feb 25 The Louisville Palace Louisville, KY

Feb 26 Rialto Square Theatre Joliet, IL

Mar 04 Golden State Theatre Monterey, CA

Mar 05 Uptown Theatre Napa Napa, CA

Mar 09 Coach House Concert Hall San Juan Capistrano, CA

Mar 10 The Canyon Agoura Hills, CA

Mar 11 The Canyon Montclair Montclair, CA

Mar 12 Oxnard Performing Arts Center Oxnard, CA

Mar 13 Saban Theatre Beverly Hills, CA

Mar 16 Chandler Center for the Arts Chandler, AZ

Mar 17 Rialto Theatre Tucson, AZ

Mar 19 House of Blues Houston Houston, TX

Mar 20 Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater Austin, TX

Mar 22 House of Blues Dallas Dallas, TX

Mar 24 Von Braun Center Huntsville, AL

Mar 25 Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre Atlanta, GA

Mar 26 Ryman Auditorium Nashville, TN

Mar 27 Lexington Opera House Lexington, KY

Mar 30 Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre at the Count Basie Center for the Arts Red Bank, NJ

Apr 01 Paramount Arts Center Ashland, KY

Apr 03 The Palace Theatre Greensburg, PA

Apr 09 Massey Hall Toronto, ON

Apr 21 Revolution Hall Portland, OR

Apr 22 Moore Theatre Seattle, WA

Apr 27 Paramount Theatre Denver, CO

May 04 Marion Cultural and Civic Center Marion, IL

May 19 Aretha's Jazz Cafe At Music Hall Detroit, MI

[DoodleBob]

Try to get your hands on the bootleg/soundboard recording of Leeds. It has all the warts and parts they cut out. It's spectacular. And I agree - it's the best live album ever.

And this was their simple stage setup for that gig.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Theatrics is one thing. Musical genius is another. Hendrix may have borrowed some stage moves but his musical ideas (which are really his legacy) came from within. To that extent I claim Daltrey misses the point. It’s definitely not all about the showmanship.

[one guy in new jersey]

“instrumental”

__________

see what you did there 😎

[CatOwner]

Funny, I would rather listen to Jimi sing than Roger. I’ve listened to a lot of rock music since I was a teenager, and Roger Daltrey is one of those singers I can only take in limited doses. The Who musically? Outstanding. Kind of the same way for me with Led Zeppelin. Love the music. After a couple of songs with Robert Plant, I’m done.

[dfwgator]

I always wondered what the deal was on “Magic Bus” with that short little reverse track.

They say the “Live at Hull” tapes were even better than the Leeds ones.

[mylife]

I think they were the best rock band ever!

[Beowulf9]

At the time I was going out with a lead guitar player who took me to all the concerts. I remember when Townsend started his stuff and my bf talked all about how great it was. Shortly after I noticed the other bands starting to imitate the act including breaking the guitar.