THE WHO's ROGER DALTREY: 'We Were The First Heavy Metal Band'

Blabbermouth ^ | May 29, 2026 | N/A

[DoodleBob]

Roger Daltrey has made the claim that THE WHO was "the first heavy metal band", having laid the groundwork for the genre more than six decades ago.

The 82-year-old rock legend made the comments during a new interview with Rolling Stone. Asked how he sees THE WHO's legacy and what he and his bandmates did better than everybody else, Roger said: "We were just different than everybody else. Americans don't really know THE WHO from the early '60s, but as the drummer of DEEP PURPLE [Ian Paice] said recently in a magazine, 'THE WHO started it all.' We were the first heavy metal band."

He continued: "Jim Marshall invented the 4×12 [speaker cabinet], 100-watt stack for [THE WHO guitarist] Pete Townshend. All the guitar smashing that Jimi Hendrix became famous for, in his style, was basically copied from Pete Townshend, first of all. And the first rock opera, of course, we elevated rock to be maybe up its own ass in a way, you could say it. We were doing it before anyone, but it's not important in the long run."

Back in 2019, Townshend told the Toronto Sun that THE WHO "sort of invented heavy metal" with the band's first live album, 1970's "Live At Leeds". "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," he said. "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."

Daltrey recently announced a run of U.S. solo tour dates, celebrating his return two years after his widely praised semi-acoustic 2024 summer outing and the acclaimed THE WHO farewell tour. The 2026 solo trek has been dubbed "A Great Night Out".

The tour will kick off August 23 at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona and run through September, including a rare Daltrey performance at New York City's The Town Hall on September 27 and wrapping up in Medford, Massachusetts at the Chevalier Theatre on September 29.

Daltrey was honored with a knighthood by The Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle this past December for his contribution to charity and music. Daltrey launched and curated the Teenage Cancer Trust concerts initiative at the Royal Albert Hall which has raised millions for the charity over the past 25 years.

Inducted into the Rock And Hall Of Fame with THE WHO in 1990, Daltrey received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Grammy Foundation along with the band in 2001. Daltrey and THE WHO co-founder Pete Townshend received Kennedy Center Honors in 2008. Considered to have one of the most recognizable singing voices of all time, Planet Rock listeners voted Daltrey rock's fifth-greatest voice in music history. He also received stellar reviews for his unique 2018 autobiography, "Thanks A Lot Mr. Kibblewhite", with one critic describing it as how "the punk became rock's Godfather…" Known for his magnetic presence and rebellious creative spirit, Daltrey has also been an actor and film producer, with multiple roles in films, theatre, and television.

He's released ten solo studio albums, including the acclaimed discs "Daltrey", "Ride A Rock Horse", "One Of The Boys" and the 2018 release "As Long As I Have You", and such hit singles as "I'm Free", "Giving It All Away", "Without Your Love", "Free Me" and "After The Fire". His solo work has been compiled into two anthologies, "Martyrs And Madmen" (1997) and "Moonlighting" (2005). Queen Elizabeth awarded him a CBE for his service to music and charity in 2004.

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TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: daltrey; heavymetal; music; rock; thewho

[kawhill]

“Pinball Wizard” was originally written by Pete Townshend and recorded by the English rock band The Who for their 1969 rock opera album Tommy.

[discostu]

Maximum R&B is at least a heavy metal precursor. So yeah, that’s fine. But remember Roger, distortion came from The Kink, and without that there’s no maximum R&B and no metal.

[drwoof]

Just watched them play Young Man Blues from that concert— Holy Crap! Had not seen previously. Thanks for the recommendation. My morning is off to a very good start...

[neverevergiveup]

Didn’t know they also covered that song. Maybe Eddie Cochran deserves some credit for starting metal lol..

[DoodleBob]

I bought a bootleg of Zeppelin at the Fillmore West in Jan 1969, before their first album came out. It is a smokin’ bootleg. The crowd only knew Jimmy Page - in fact when Plant introduces the band and leaves himself out, someone in the crowd says “who are you?”

At some point, Zeppelin stopped being good live. On some bootlegs they’re downright awful. The ONLY strong points live after 1970 was JP Jones and, usually, Bonham.

that said…This is one of the greatest photos ever.

[plain talk]

Yeah agree with that.

Townsend was foremost a great song writer. He was also a showman if you like that sort of thing. Guitar solos was really not his thing.

Townsend was an underrated singer. He handed the band a demo of Quadrophenia where he played and sang it all. Stunning.

[CatOwner]

I wasn't a big fan of The Who growing up, and most of that was traced to Daltrey's singing. While many were ecstatic over Daltrey's scream in Won't Get Fooled Again, I found it annoying. Enough so that I usually didn't listen to The Who. There were many other rock bands to follow.

Fast forward several years, and I found myself listening to Tommy. I noticed that Daltrey's vocals were much more under control. More than that, I realized you could understand the words he sang. This was not the case with most rock lead singers, at least for myself.

[TalBlack]

Yup. My first thought was Blue Cheer. Their sound was heavy as hell.

[Larry Lucido]

[Larry Lucido]

Ozzy and Lemmy often raved about the Beatles as their inspiration. That said, Lemmy’s favorite bassist was John Entwhistle.

[muir_redwoods]

Cream gets my vote

[ansel12]

Blue Cheer was great.
Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as1NcX31szs

[Big Red Badger]

I’ve got Four Copys of
‘Tommy’ but not one ‘Quadrophenia’...
.
Pray For Me.

[Big Red Badger]

Can You See The Real Me ?
Can Ya?

[Secret Agent Man]

Wonder why he felt now was the time to have another whip it out, dick-measuring contest.

[Hyman Roth]

1974 was Zeps last good year live. Thats when Page was heavy into heroin.

[vladimir998]

“Far Out magazine says it was a group called Blue Cheer.”

There’s reason for that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSmJOiijjt0

[Prov1322]

Definitely would have said Blue Cheer.

[dfwgator]

But remember Roger, distortion came from The Kink,

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I thought I read somewhere that Jimmy Page actually played that riff.

[dfwgator]