The one band Eddie Vedder said no one could replace: “More than anyone in rock royalty”
Every music fan has those sacred pieces in their record collection that could never be equalled. While they might not feature the best playing and might not even have songs that are perfectly in tune, the feeling of rock and roll is always about making the most authentic statement possible, and it is most important to hear the person behind everything. Eddie Vedder had his own personal favourites in his record collection, but he knew the difference between a band he liked to listen to and a band that enriched the genre as a whole.
For instance, a band like The Beatles is more responsible for shaping how everyone listens to music. Despite not everyone being a fan of their music, everything that has come after them has helped to shape what pop music will sound like for generations to come. And that kind of qualifier isn’t exclusive to rock and roll bands, either.
Run-DMC took rap to places it had never been before, and as rock and roll was still finding its feet, Ray Charles’s blend of blues, gospel, and R&B helped give birth to soul music in the late 1950s. While The Beatles seem like a no-brainer to hold that title for rock music, there were a lot more bands that fit the bill there.
The Rolling Stones already have the reputation of one of the longest-running touring acts of all time, and regardless of how many times people try to outdo a Led Zeppelin riff, they’re all going to come back to the initial jolt that they had when hearing ‘Whole Lotta Love’ for the first time. But even Jimmy Page wouldn’t have thought to make things louder and more aggressive without Pete Townshend blowing the doors wide open when The Who started.
The band may have looked like any other Mod group at the time, but Townshend had a vision that went well beyond the British R&B clubs. He knew there was some innate power in the way music made people feel, and through albums like Tommy and Who’s Next, he laid out all of his personal feelings for the world to see, almost like he was reaching through the speakers and talking to the listener directly.
Although Vedder had many reasons for becoming a frontman, he knew that nothing could top what Townshend did for rock and roll, saying, “Pete has been through and survived more than anyone in rock royalty. The songwriter-listener relationship grows deeper after all the years. He saw the connection could be profound. For myself and so many others (including shopkeepers, foremen, professionals, bellboys, gravediggers, directors, musicians), they won’t be replaced.”
Regarding audience interaction, The Who deserves more credit than the Fab Four in some respects. The Beatles dared everyone to dream bigger in their time, but Townshend knew that his position as a rockstar gave him an outlet to connect with someone on a deeper level than a simple pop song.
Looking at the vast body of work Townshend has worked on, everyone from the original punks to grunge bands has taken his rebellious attitude into different areas. The guitarist believed that rock and roll could change people’s thoughts, but perhaps his most proud statement was when he made everyone realise that he wasn’t the only one capable of shaping the world around him.
