Pete Townshend on rock and roll confusion: “Elvis only made one rock and roll album”
Rock and roll has been known for being reasonably elastic throughout its history. Even though the genre has never changed its name, it’s hard to look at what’s happening now with acts like Green Day and find much in common between them and the slick-backed hairdos from the early days of the genre. Pete Townshend always knew that there was a clear dividing line when true rock and roll died – and despite his own contributions to rock and roll – The Who guitarist thought some icons of the business never fully fitted into rock.
Because when looking at the kind of rock Townshend is talking about, it’s important to look back at where the genre started. There had been people like Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins that took the genre in different directions, but ground zero for the genre should be when blues got a pep in its step when artists like Bill Haley started making rockabilly tunes like ‘Rock Around the Clock’.
Even looking at how far the genre had gone in only a few years with The British Invasion, it was already miles different. Many artists were still playing the same Chuck Berry and Little Richard cover tunes, but when listening to a band like The Beatles use strange chords that no one had heard of, it was clear that they were getting a lot closer to the pop formula that many people knew.
Still, it’s hard to think of those pre-rock and roll days and not bring up Elvis Presley in some capacity. While he may not have been the first person to pick up a guitar and excite audiences, seeing him shake his ass up and down the stage and holding the audience in the palm of his hand was the model for everyone to follow once they started picking up guitars of their own and forming bands.
At the same time, Townshend saw through Presley’s music. Even though he was playing the same tunes that the old rock and rollers had been playing in the clubs, the world was already seeing the first generation of rock and roll being passed down and becoming secondhand.
Despite being known as the de facto king of the genre, Townshend thought that Presley’s effect on rock shouldn’t be as broad as he’s given credit for, saying, “The fact is that rock and roll itself lasted as long as the pundits said it would – a couple of years. I mean, Elvis only made one rock and roll album. They were buried by the emergence of bands like The Beatles, who actually took the song form back to its romantic and sentimental post-war origins.”
While Townshend doesn’t go into detail about which album Presley’s rock and roll opus is, his self-titled record is probably the best candidate. Aside from having his most iconic songs, this was Presley as a young and hungry kid trying to make the most out of his bluesy voice and a couple of rock and roll tunes in his arsenal.
But by the time The Who started, Townshend was already looking to move on to something different. The name of the genre hadn’t changed, but looking at what Tommy and Quadrophenia managed to accomplish, it’s safe to say that Townshend wanted to go beyond anything that rock and roll had been.
