Pete Townshend reveals the three bands who filled The Who’s shoes: “They took the stadium audience that I had prepared”
Pete Townshend says Bruce Springsteen, Queen and U2 took over The Who’s role as stadium rock acts after the band split in the early 1980s. He believes The Who helped establish the audience for large-scale anthemic songs, and says the three acts carried that style to stadium crowds.
Townshend named “Baba O’Riley”, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and expansive versions of “My Generation” as examples of the music he had written for stadiums. He said it stung to see the other bands attract that audience, but he felt proud of them and became friends with their members. In the same interview, he also said he had reconsidered Led Zeppelin, whose music he had once dismissed partly because he saw them as rivals.
In short
- Townshend says Springsteen, Queen and U2 filled The Who’s stadium rock role.
- He believes The Who helped prepare audiences for anthemic stadium songs.
- He has since reassessed Led Zeppelin and praised their albums.
Explained simply
The Who are a British rock band formed in the 1960s, with Pete Townshend as their guitarist and main songwriter. Their long, dramatic songs and loud performances helped shape the idea of rock concerts as huge events for large crowds.
Bruce Springsteen, Queen and U2 became major live acts in the years after The Who split in the early 1980s. The comparison matters because it places The Who’s music in the development of stadium rock, and reflects how bands can influence the sound and scale of later concerts.