Pete Townshend latest comments on the Beatles

[chumsicles]

The Who is not in the same league as The Beatles and that's Real

This x1000. I bet if the Who weren't so prominently featured in Rock Band, people wouldn't be overrating them so much. They're a good band, but not nearly as good as the Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, or even CCR

I wouldn't go that far at all. Quadrophenia beats anything the Beatles ever did in musicianship and songwriting. Let's face it Entwistle and Moon were almost like gods on their respective instruments while Roger was an amazing singer from Tommy and on. I can't really judge Townshend's guitar playing, because he mostly played rhythm while Entwistle played the melody on his bass, but I can say his songwriting is better than the Beatles songwriting individually at least.

I disagree, Quadrophenia not only isn't anywhere near as good as anything the Beatles ever did, it's pretty far down the list of Who albums for me. Way too overblown and exaggerated to have any emotional resonance whatsoever.

[iAmtheWalrus]

They're a good band, but not nearly as good as the Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, or even CCR

They are as great as the middle 3, but man.. CCR... what a great band.

FYI, I love The Who.

[vcalzone]

I disagree, Quadrophenia not only isn't anywhere near as good as anything the Beatles ever did, it's pretty far down the list of Who albums for me. Way too overblown and exaggerated to have any emotional resonance whatsoever.

The Who's recorded work peaked with The Who Sell Out. Every track on that is a classic. Everything after Tommy started to devolve into self-important nonsense. Don't get me wrong, I like Who's Next, but... I like Kill Bill, too. That doesn't mean it isn't the beginning of Quentin Tarantino's artistic decline.

And let's be honest, without Keith Moon, The Who would have been long forgotten.

OK, I really need to stop, because I am totally moving into troll territory. I like The Who, but there are a number of aspects of the band I really dislike.

[mercury11]

The Who is not in the same league as The Beatles and that's Real

well In my unpopular opinion The Who is a better band

[mazeltomtom19]

I never said that he wasn't right... My favorite Beatles albums happen to be the last four, and I would've liked to see more. I guess it comes down to this... My dad saw Townshend in concert and halfway through it, he stops playing, says "This sucks" and walks off the stage and never came back. I just thought it was funny that he of all people is talking about maturity. 'Tis all...

[Dr._Frasier_Crane]

Quadrophenia beats anything the Beatles ever did in musicianship and songwriting.

I agree. While the Beatles are my favorite band of all time, IMO they never put out an album that was as good as a whole as Quadrophenia.

But when Townshend called "I Can See For Miles" really wild, McCartney knew it was fairly tame, then made Helter Skelter to show them how it's done.

From what I've read, McCartney read a review of The Who Sell Out calling "I Can See For Miles" a heavy and wild song, and that inspired the writing of "Helter Skelter." It was nothing that Townshend said. And to be fair, by today's standards "I Can See For Miles" is fairly tame, but at the time it really was a heavy song (just listen to the bass and drums).

While "Helter Skelter" is a good song (and heavier than "I Can See For Miles"), to me it doesn't even come close to being as good as ICSFM. It's all a matter of opinion I know, but HS is a song that is purposely heavy and doesn't have much substance to it. ICSFM is a masterpiece that just happens to have ended up "heavy." Townshend has even called it one of the best songs, if not the best, he ever wrote.

[sonicnerd23]

The Who is not in the same league as The Beatles and that's Real

In my opinion, the Who are the better hard rock band. Seriously, have you ever heard Live at Leeds? That's much heavier than anything the Beatles have ever done.

In terms of experimentation though, I like the Beatles better.

[cutmaclass]

Because The Who's music is sooooooo mature....

Sounds like he's still jealous. The Beatles' music became "mature" in Rubber Soul.

[Dr._Frasier_Crane]

You guys are completely misinterpreting his quote.

#1)You people do realize that there is more than one meaning to the word "mature" right? http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mature?jss=1

#2) The OP did not even provide a link. Common sense tells you to understand where information comes from before jumping to conclusions:
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stori...ot-again/?arts

#3) He didn't mean that the Beatles were "babies" or anything ridiculous like that. What he meant was that the Beatles stopped making music together before they got old and their music didn't sound fresh anymore. It says in the article right before Townshend's quote:

The Beatles have remained perpetually fab and youthful to their original audience of baby boomers and to subsequent generations of listeners.

You'd think Beatles fans of all people would know the problems that happen when you try to analyze a quote out of context.

[SisterRay]

That statement is not very clear. What I think Townshend means by "more mature" is "more progressive rock". The Beatles did some progressive stuff at the end of their career like with You never give me your money or I want you, but they were not a progressive rock band. They wrote tunes. Art-pop-rock tunes but tunes.

In my opinion, they stopped at their peak really. They could have made one more terrific album with songs like Imagine, Jealous Guy, How?, Maybe I'm amazed, Junk, Every Night, My Sweet Lord, Isn't it a pity, What Is Life, I don't come easy, but after that point, their best years were behind them really.

Most of the early progressive rock acts were actually influenced by the Beatles and Robert Fripp of King Crimson actually went into rock music after hearing "A Day in the Life" which is in my mind is a progressive rock song. Many of their songs like some Pepper songs sound simpler than they really are, i.e. Fixing A Hole subtly shifts between major and minor, Mr Kite changes key mid-verse, Good Morning Good Morning uses three time signatures (which impacts the melodic phrasing), Within You Without You features an extended and irregularly shaped melody, Lucy In The Sky is in three keys and it goes back and forth with different time signatures. While not technically great except for McCartney they knew how to make the complicated sound pretty easy.