The guitarist David Gilmour considered one of his heroes: “He is incredible”
In terms of guitar prowess, David Gilmour has touched most people’s hearts through pure emotion whenever he straps on a guitar. Despite having the blues chops that could put many to shame, the key part of any great Gilmour solo is how much passion he puts into every single string bend, almost as if he took The Beatles song ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ to heart whenever he made his tunes. The Fab Four certainly profoundly impacted Gilmour, but he thought his true musical hero came when he heard Pete Townshend perform.
Whereas The Beatles were one of the main draws in the world of pop-rock music, Townshend never said that he was anything less than a rock and roll performer. The Who did have some pop songs in their arsenal, but the core of their sound was based around thundering power chords, which made the guitar scream in a way that made it sound almost animalistic.
In fact, The Who probably should get props for being one of the first true progressive rock bands. The entire mindset behind Townshend’s albums like Tommy and Quadrophenia was about expanding the palette of what rock and roll could do, and if ‘My Generation’ was the litmus test for heavy rock, then a song like ‘The Real Me’ or ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ is what happens when you give that same person an entire horn section and synthesiser to work with.
Gilmour may have started in Pink Floyd’s more psychedelic era, but he could appreciate why Townshend was so revered. Instead of singing about flowery meadows or the cosmic features associated with LSD trips, Townshend often focused on the bigger picture, striving to maintain the human connection between band and audience—a connection that often fades with fame.
While Pink Floyd went on a different track, Gilmour admitted that Townshend was half the reason he’s the guitar player he is today, saying, “Pete has always been one of my heroes. When I was very young, I hitchhiked from Cambridge to London to see him play at the Marquee Club. It was the very beginnings of the Who. He is incredible.”
It’s not easy to see too many similarities between an album like Who’s Next and Dark Side of the Moon, but the heart of both is trying to figure out what it means to be human. Townshend already had the vision for a concept album that was scrapped, but the idea of someone finding the meaning of life outside of sedentary life isn’t all that different from Roger Waters telling everyone to get off the neverending cycle of ‘Money’ and ‘Time’.
Despite Townshend rarely playing lead guitar, he still has some chops that Gilmour may have picked up on over the years. Since the most lead work he did on any Who album usually came from Quadrophenia, hearing Townshend follow the melody to the letter on ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ could have been a lesson for Gilmour to think melodically when putting together a lead break like ‘Comfortably Numb’.
In a world that was all about artists who were trying to make a quick buck, Gilmour and Townshend have both blossomed into artists who wanted to give a message to their audience. It wasn’t always pretty, but whenever they spoke up, legions of fans were more than willing to listen.
