The musician Pete Townshend thought could be “Poet Laureate”
As the creative figurehead of The Who, Pete Townshend has rubbed shoulders with some of the best in the business. Love or loathe him or his music, there is no doubt that Townshend is better placed than most to comment on the history of rock music, given that he played a significant role in its development.
Throughout his career, Townshend has provided several compelling accounts about his contemporaries, which include outlining with candour the complex relationship he had with Jimi Hendrix. Whilst The Who leader has noted the American’s unfettered brilliance, he also conceded that after he first saw him play, competitively, he knew that he needed to “fight back” with his own creative heights.
It’s this personal complexity that has always made Townshend such a fascinating figure in rock music. He might not always provide the most agreeable statements, but no one can criticise him for being afraid to stick his head above the parapet with his opinions. Furthermore, Townshend is not prone to sweeping statements. Although fans might not approve fully of what he says, they’re often well-considered opinions that prompt a great deal of deliberation.
When speaking to Time in 1995, The Who guitarist looked back on some of the groups he loved most in ‘Swinging Sixties’ London and effused about the work of The Kinks. He was so full of praise for their frontman, Ray Davies, that he revealed that the ‘Waterloo Sunset’ songwriter was worthy of being the “Poet Laureate”.
Townshend said: “The Kinks were much more quintessentially English. I always think that Ray Davies should be one day, be Poet Laureate. You know, he invented a new kind of poetry. A new kind of language for pop writing, which I think, influenced me from the very, very beginning. (It was) very strange that I should be so directly influenced because it was from sideways. We were moving forward together. But I was very influenced by him.”
It wasn’t just Ray Davies that Pete Townshend praised, either. He also said that he has a lot of time for the work of his brother, The Kinks’ guitarist, Dave Davies. He added: “I think that Dave Davies is also very underestimated. When we started I used to feel that. Well, it’s obvious that Dave couldn’t have done the kind of innovation that I did. Because I was with Jim Marshall building the bloody amplifiers. Somehow, The Kinks adopted some of that as well. They didn’t actually use the Marshall size amps that we used. But they were loud, they were raucous. The guitar sound was similar, there was feedback there”.
Watch the interview below.
