One of the most important bands of the 1960s “British Invasion,” The Who was formed in London in 1964, two years after the Rolling Stones were founded. Keith Richards, the guitarist and co-founder of the Stones, was among their peers who discussed their music over the years.
What is Keith Richards’ opinion on The Who
In addition to being a phenomenal guitarist and songwriter, Keith Richards is renowned for never holding back when expressing his genuine thoughts about other musicians, even when he doesn’t particularly like them. Richards stated to Rolling Stone in 2015 that he has always felt The Who is a crazy band and that Roger Daltrey is “all flash.” The Who is one of these bands.
“I always thought (Roger) Daltrey was all flash. And I love Pete Townshend, but I always thought the Who were a crazy band, anyway. You would say to (Keith) Moon, if you were in a session with him, “Just give me a swing,” and he (couldn’t) … He was an incredible drummer, but only with Pete Townshend. He could play to Pete like nobody else in the world. But if somebody threw him into a session with somebody else, it was a disaster. There’s nothing wrong with that; sometimes you’ve got that one paintbrush, and you rock it.”
He added, “I just was never really interested in that many English rock & roll bands actually, at all. I mean, I usually like guys like Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, and that was before I was even recording. But there was something (about) the Yeses and the Journeys and all them that just left me a bit cold.”
Roger Daltrey called The Stones a “Mediocre Pub Band”
Roger Daltrey referred to The Stones as a “Mediocre Pub Band” in a 2021 interview with Coda Collection, praising just Mick Jagger: “You can not take away the fact that Mick Jagger is still the number one rock ‘n’ roll showman up front. But as a band, if you were outside a pub and you heard that music coming out of a pub some night, you’d think, ‘Well, that’s a mediocre pub band! No disrespect.”
He made the remark in reference to Paul McCartney’s then statement for which he later apologized to Keith Richards that the Stones were a Blues cover band. McCartney claimed that the statement had been taken out of context.
What Pete Townshend said about The Rolling Stones
In 1989, Pete Townshend gave the induction speech for The Rolling Stones into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. “Keith Richards once told me that I think too much. The truth is that I think that generally I talk to much. But I don’t think first. Faced with injecting the Rolling Stones this evening I realized that thinking is not going to help me very much.”
“I can’t analyze what I feel about the Stones because I am a really absolute Stones fan, always have. They early shows were just shocking. Absolutely riveting, stunning, moving and they changed my life completely. The Beatles were fun, no doubt about that, I’m talking about they’re live shows, I’m demeaning them in any way.”
Pete continued, “The Stones were really what made me wake up. On the Beatles shows there were a lot of screaming girls and at The Stones were the first to have a screaming boy. The sheer force of the Stones on stage and that perfectly balanced audience: 1000 girls and me (laughs), it kind of singled them out.”
“They are the only group that I’ve ever really been unashamed about idolizing. So much of what I am I got from you, The Stones and I had no idea most of it was already secondhand (Laughs). No more gags, the Stones are the greatest for me. They epitomize British Rock for me and even though they are now my friends, I’m still a fan.”
Tonwshend cracked several jokes throughout the speech, one of which was that The Rolling Stones had plagiarized a number of Rhythm & Blues musicians. The Rolling Stones, one of the greatest rock & roll bands of all time, have sold over 200 million records worldwide.