“They’re so easy”: The band Pete Townshend thought had a perfect sound
Any artist looking to make a perfect record right out of the gate should pack it before they start. No band can make something “perfect” for as long as they live, and even some of the greatest artists of all time still talk about how they need to fine-tune certain parts of their sound to the present day. Although Pete Townshend can justifiably claim to have masterpieces in his catalogue nowadays, he knew it was all because he studied under some of the best.
When Townshend first began writing, though, it wasn’t clear if he would be a master of the three-minute single or something a bit more grandiose. ‘My Generation’ certainly did its job by bringing something different to the table, but as soon as The Who became one of the loudest bands in the world, what point was there in trying to get louder? If Townshend wanted to move people, he needed to do it with the music first.
And by making albums like Tommy and Quadrophenia, he knew the best way to work was for him to take the audience with him through the creative process. Not many people had heard of the idea of a rock and roll opera, and while some of the pieces weren’t exactly the easiest to latch onto for any casual listener, tunes like ‘Go to the Mirror!’ and ‘Pinball Wizard’ had all the flourish of an opera in bite-sized pieces.
That kind of adventurousness wasn’t only Townshend’s brainchild. He was a product of the ‘Summer of Love’, and that was all about trying to make different records that didn’t fit traditional rules. Whereas most labels saw the format as a collection of singles, other bands were getting massive hype from what they could translate live.
After all, the biggest mark of a great artist is being able to dominate onstage, and while not every band was blowing up amplifiers and breaking guitars over their head, there were people like The Moody Blues who were concerned with bringing some sophistication into the mix, like throwing in a string section in songs like ‘Nights in White Satin’.
“I still dig to watch a group like the Young Rascals, who just walk on with their incredibly perfect sound and their incredibly lovely organ.”
Pete Townshend
Acts like The Beatles may have abandoned the road for good, but by comparison, the Young Rascals had their unique sound going for them. Despite being considered a relic of the British invasion, the power-pop icons took the basis of what bands like the Fab Four were doing and created an entirely new sound around it, focusing on pop hooks rather than expanding everyone’s horizons whenever they sang.
Townshend was onto something, but he could certainly appreciate what the band was doing when performing live. In a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone, he said, “I still dig to watch a group like the Young Rascals, who just walk on with their incredibly perfect sound and their incredibly lovely organ and they’re so easy, the way their numbers flow out, just to watch a group stand and go through their thing so beautifully. I dig that.”
It’s easy to appreciate a good song being played, but that wouldn’t be enough for him going into the 1970s. Listening to an album like Live at Leeds, he was willing to bring the house down in whatever way he could, usually throwing in thunderous riffs that read as the beginning of heavy metal years before Black Sabbath came about.
If anyone’s remotely interested in the idea of songwriting, though, the Young Rascals were as full of fluff as everyone considered them to be. They were far from the hitmakers that everyone else was in their prime, but listening to how their instruments work off each other should be mandatory listening for anyone wanting to understand the ins and outs of making a great pop tune.
