“I Was Counterfeit”: Pete Townshend’s Shortlist of Authentic Rock Stars and the Modern Pop Star He Thinks Fits the Bill

Many rock stars have staunch opinions about who else is in their club. Rock, more so than any other genre, has very specific parameters. As the years have gone on, there are fewer and fewer obvious choices for the next generation of rock stars. Classic rock fans have long touted that rock is dead. But perhaps they are looking in the wrong place? Pete Townshend thinks so.

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Townshend once made a list of some pretty shocking names while discussing the next generation of rock stars. Find out who his highly controversial choices were below.

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Pete Townshend’s Shocking Take on Which Modern Artists Should Be Considered Rock Stars

Townshend would be, in many people’s book, the perfect example of a rock star. He doesn’t think so, though.

“I’ve had my moments, which have been gloriously recorded and exalted–but brief–when I’ve felt: I’m going to try and do this job. I’m going to try to be a proper rock star,” Townshend once said. “Then I would do it, and it wouldn’t work. I was counterfeit. There are very few people truly authentic to the cause: David Byrne. Mick Jagger. Neil Young. Joni Mitchell. Deborah Harry.”

That alone would be a shocking comment from The Who guitarist, but he took things further.

Modern Rock Stars

Townshend went on to name a handful of artists that he considers modern day rock stars. He expanded the traditional definition of rock, arguing that it isn’t dead–perhaps we’re all just too short-sighted to see it.

“But what is rock,” Townshend continued in the same interview. “Rock is hip-hop. Rock is probably Taylor Swift,” Tonsheend said. He continued, “Rock is, dare I say it, Adele and Ed Sheeran. They’ve dared to take on that mantle, and they have to deliver. They’ve got to do something spectacular as performers. Not just as recording artists. They’ve got to do something amazing, and if it includes dancers if it includes too much video, then they’re cheating. They know that. We know that, and the audiences know that.”

Though many rock fans would likely shudder to call Swift a rock star, we get where Townshend is coming from. If the definition of a rock giant is “unparalleled performer and expert songwriter”, these artists certainly fit the bill.

What do you think? Do you agree with Townshend? Or do you count yourself among the group that thinks rock is dead?

(Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)