Unlikely influence: the hip-hop producer that Pete Townshend is obsessed with
Though he is often praised as a musical icon, Pete Townshend doesn’t get the full-blown recognition he deserves. He wasn’t just the guitarist for The Who; he’s the man responsible for changing the way that many people looked at albums. It’s not that concept albums didn’t exist before The Who, but they didn’t have the mainstream appeal that the band managed to give them.
With the likes of Tommy and Quadrophenia, Townshend was able to create an album that felt like it had stakes. Listeners were taken on a real journey, one laced with emotion and a variety of characters that people loved and hated in equal measure. However, amongst these aspects, the band still had a lot of hits in their catalogue. It’s hard to imagine that tracks like ‘Pinball Wizard’ slot into a bigger picture, but they do.
Of course, to achieve these kinds of exciting sounds, it was important that Pete Townshend listened to an exciting range of music. He draws from multiple styles and sounds when putting his work together, and a lot of them you might be able to predict. For instance, he has spoken openly in the past about how much he loved both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, both of whose influence can clearly be heard in The Who’s catalogue.
“I can’t analyse what I feel about The Stones because I am a really absolute Stones fan, always have been,” he said while talking about how the band changed his life, “Their early shows were just chocking. Absolutely riveting, stunning, and moving. They changed my life completely. The Beatles were fun, no doubt about that, and I’m talking about their live shows. I’m not demeaning them in any way, but The Stones were really what made me wake up.”
There are some Pete Townshend influences; however, that might come as a shock to many people. One of them was revealed in a recent interview with Questlove, where he spoke about how he and The Who guitarist spoke on the phone for over 20 minutes about J Dilla, the famous hip-hop producer responsible for the work of bands such as Common, D’Angelo, The Pharcyde, and The Roots, as well as his famous solo record Donuts.
When discussing his conversation with Townshend, Questlove confirmed that The Who guitarist was “A legit Dilla head… almost past me.”
Townshend isn’t the only rock musician to be moved by Dilla’s work, either. The producer’s ability to navigate rhythm and create a beat that people could dance to while also breaking new ground in terms of time signatures has inspired a number of different musicians. For instance, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers once said, “I just love J Dilla; I just think he’s an absolutely transcendent phenomenal musician.”
