Why Pete Townshend Never Saw The Beatles as a Rock and Roll Band

What genre would you call The Beatles? Would you call them pop, rock, psychedelic, or doo-wop? Or, would you say they encompassed all of those genres? Personally, I believe they encompass all of those genres, but some famous musicians view The Beatles merely as a pop group, and one of those musicians is The Who’s Pete Townshend.

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One cannot argue that The Beatles didn’t make pop music. In their earlier years, The Beatles notched enormous No. 1 pop hits with singles such as “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “She Loves You”, and “Love Me Do”. However, by 1965, The Beatles had significantly altered their sound, leaning toward experimental rock ‘n’ roll with the release of Rubber Soul. And after that, they continued to push the limits of rock ‘n’ roll with albums such as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album, and Let It Be.

Despite The Beatles’ invaluable contributions to rock ‘n’ roll and its subgenres, Pete Townshend didn’t consider them a true rock band. Rather, he viewed them “as a big pop phenomenon.”

The Rolling Stones Were Rock and Roll, Not The Beatles

In a 1982 interview with Rolling Stone, Pete Townshend candidly revealed why he didn’t believe The Beatles were a rock ‘n’ roll band. Townshend started off his point of view by stating, “You know, I could sit down and have a conversation with Paul about rock ‘n’ roll, and we’d be talking about two different things.”

“To me, rock was The Rolling Stones, and before that, Chuck Berry, and before that, maybe a few people who lived in fields in Louisiana, but I can’t really include the Beatles in that. The Beatles were over with Herman’s Hermits. That’s not rock ‘n’ roll,” continued Pete Townshend.

In essence, Townshend viewed The Beatles as “a big pop phenomenon” who created “light music with occasional masterpieces thrown in.” This quote in particular is a hot, hot take, to say the least. Still, when viewed through Townshend’s lens (and when one compares The Beatles’ music to that of The Who, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones), they aren’t black-and-white rock ‘n’ roll in the slightest.

But, does that mean you can’t call them rock ‘n’ roll at all? Instead, couldn’t you say they reconceptualized rock ‘n’ roll? Nevertheless, we all now know Pete Townshend’s thoughts on the matter.

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