Pete Townshend has been known to give journalists juicy soundbites throughout his now-60-plus-year career. He once said “Jimi Hendrix was a great player, but he wasn't really creative.” Meanwhile, in a 1980 interview with Sound International, the Who guitarist said he regretted that he’s “said some really shitty things about Jeff Beck.”
In that same interview, Townshend fired off a shot at Keith Richards when he claimed that he was a better rhythm guitarist than the Rolling Stones co-founder. While he was quick to point at Richards’ legacy, he said his work surpasses Keef’s by a fair distance.
“I think my biggest influence in that area was Keith Richards," Townshend offered. "And I still really like the way he plays, but in that particular area, I don’t think I’m topped. There’s nobody to touch me.
“What’s really strange is I don’t think there’s many people who have actually heard me play rhythm in the function of a rhythm guitar. That’s where I really get off very well.”
It's a bit of an odd claim, considering that by the time of the Sound interview Townshend's right hand had been celebrated for its remarkable strumming technique, as well as speed, on Who tracks like "Pinball Wizard," "Going Mobile" and "Quadrophenia," to name a few. While Townshend is no slouch when it comes to soloing, it's obvious that rhythm guitar is his love, something which he admits to in the Sound article.
“I wouldn’t object at all to having a[nother] guitar player in the Who so that I could just concentrate on rhythm," he explained, "because I love it. It’s a physical thing, it’s like a dancing thing. There’s a strong syncopation element in it.
“There’s no guitar player that I’ve ever worked with that hasn’t said it — Jimi Hendrix, Stephen Stills, Eric Clapton,” he continued. “They’ve all said ‘It was great to play with you.’ I suppose it’s what it must feel like to be a drummer or a bass player: why do they do it and not want to be in the front light? And that’s something I feel when I’m playing rhythm with somebody else.
“One of the anomalies of the Who is I’m doing that kind of thing, but I’m also out front doing it,” Townshend continued, noting that bassist John Entwistle ostensibly served the role of lead guitarist in the band. “John is the lead guitar player, and ... he does produce a hell of a lot of the lead work. It’s really funny to this day when you get a song like 'Dreaming From the Waist' [from The Who by Numbers] when John is doing this blinding bass solo and making Alvin Lee look like he plays in slow motion, and I’m just standing there strumming a chord.”
Moreover, Townshend said the fact Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon would so regularly vie for the limelight made him double down on his rhythm parts.
“I think that’s why my style has been formally rhythmic,” he mused. “I put down the beat and John and Keith worked around it. I mean, John is not that syncopated all the time. I used to play almost with Keith’s bass drum and John used to play with the top kit. Normally it’s the other way around. I think it’s one of the interesting things about the Who’s sound. I think I would work with any drummer that way.”
On the flip side, in a 1972 chat with GP, Townshend moaned that kind of rhythmic focus was harming his lead chops. “I’ll never be able to play the kind of leads I want," he complained. And he wasn’t averse to his egotistical moments, either, admitting to his loudness war with Ronnie Wood as the pair pushed their amplifiers to their limits in the mid-’60s.
In related news, Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey are getting ready to hit the road for the Who's 2025 tour, which begins in England this April.
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