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Pete Townshend: 'The Who Almost Became Led Zeppelin'

During difficult Who period...

  • by Jason Gregory
  • Monday, November 05, 2007
  • Photo by: Sharjo
  • filed in: Rock
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The Who’s Pete Townshend has said that his former Who bandmates Keith Moon and John Entwistle were almost the original members of Led Zeppelin.

Speaking on the Johnnie Walker show on BBC Radio Two, Townshend said that both Moon and Entwistle were ready to form a band alongside eventual Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck when The Who were in difficulties.

"When we chucked him out, briefly I thought 'Oh this is great, y'know, it's gonna be my band now,’” explained Townshend.

He contiuned: “And what actually happened was Keith and John went off and left Me behind, they were gonna go and form a band with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page called Led Zeppelin."

Townshend also revealed that is was Moon that came up with the name Led Zeppelin, adding that the only reason the band didn’t materialise was because he found out about the others’ plans.

"I heard about this and that threw me to be honest, cause I thought; 'Well, y'know, what do I do now?' And I was going to form a band with three guys from Liverpool or something,” he said. “It was all very very difficult, and then, y'know, we decided to put the band back together again."
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  • I love the Who, but thank God that Moon and Entwistle went back to the fold so that Peter Grant and Jimmy Page wound up with the raw material for rock’s greatest band.ie Robert Plant/John Bonham/John Paul Jones.

    ~ by Bobby 11/5/2007

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  • Hey Bobby, you mean rock’s greatest ”studio” band, don’t you? ;-)

    ~ by Jim 11/6/2007

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  • No, he got it right. Rock’s greatest band, Led Zeppelin!

    ~ by Raul 11/6/2007

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  • Jeff Beck also wound up with a pretty reasonable Group with Rod Stewart,Ron Wood and Micky Waller. This first Jeff Beck Group certainly set new standards and gave Led Zeppelin the Truth album to guide Led Zeppelin 1. However unlike others Jeff Beck is still creating new musical guitar standards

    ~ by Bruce from New Zealand 11/7/2007

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    • yeah i hate you... The Who is amazing

      ~ by Thad 2/9/2009

  • they were and are still the band to beat, the who sucks!!!!!!!

    ~ by gary 11/16/2007

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    • Too bad the Who provided the foundation for Hard Rock, and had a better rhythm section than LZ.

      ~ by RayK 7/6/2008

    • u fucking suck!!!!!! i'm pretty sure led zeppelin would not say such a thing about led zeppelin!!!!!! zeppelin was actually influenced by the who!!!!!! besides, led zeppelin was at keith moon's funeral and paid tribute to him, robert plant and jimmy page were great friends with keith moon and moon was the only drummer who john bonham allowed on stage to play with!!!!!! how many more examples do u want idiot?????? rock is not for posers like u bitch!!!!!!

      ~ by Rajdeep Lahiri 9/28/2009

    • go listen to the jonas bros or miley cyrus, maybe u'll like them more, legendary hard rock drummers like keith moon and john bonham are not for u!!!!!!

      ~ by Rajdeep Lahiri 9/28/2009

  • This is an idiotic comparison. Having seen both live and with original band members, both are fantasic live acts. As a musician you have to respect what Pete Townsend was doing with the guitar in 1965. Four and five chord prograssions, more than one modualtion, the power chord(which Townsend virtually invented although Link Wray was probably the midwife in that birth,)narrative songs of more than 3 minutes. If Zepplin ruled the roost in the 70’s, I would rank the Who right with them.

    ~ by Bill 11/19/2007

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  • Fuck you gary! Led Zeppelin was a very talented band, but were also avid plagiarists. Zeppelin I are full of blues covers that were credited to Plant and Page, when anyone who knows anything about music before 1969 knows that they didn’t write those songs. The Who on the other hand are arguably the greatest rock band of all time, (Beatles and Beach Boys also come to mind.) Tommy, Who’s Next and Quadrophenia trump anything Zeppelin could ever dream of doing. Originality is the key.

    ~ by Kevin 11/20/2007

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  • i have seen the who and zeppelin live in the 70?s,and although i think zeppelin were the best album band ever,the who were definitely the best live band

    ~ by preston holloway 11/21/2007

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  • Over the years Pete Townshend’s envy and dislike of all things Zeppelin have been on full display. The Who were supposed to pick up the torch from the Beatles and Stones and big the biggest thing ever... Never happened. Zeppelin blows the Who away. While the Who does have it’s moments, the Zeppelin catalog casts a long, long shadow. Perhaps only Elvis and the Beatles have had as great an impact on music as Led Zeppelin.

    ~ by Tony, Sacramento, CA 1/7/2008

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  • Wouldn't say the Who sucks, thats pushing it a bit far.. But to me Led Zeppelin were far more influential.. In terms of musicianship & recording styles, i don't hear any guitar music today that doesn't at least owe something to Led Zeppelin.. Well either Led Zeppelin or the Beatles.. Led Zeppelin brought together everything that was pure & good about rock & roll up to that point.. They could be the greatest band ever live (on a good night) imo..

    ~ by Jeff B 11/11/2008

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  • An old tired argument IMO. Both groups were unbelievable in their prime. I would say Led Zeppelin were more polished, more bluesy, while The Who had more of a rock hard pop music sound, more elemental as well. Live, I give the edge to The Who, in studio Zeppelin ruled. But really, it's who you liked better, there is no absolute winner or loser.

    ~ by Adam in Philly 12/1/2008

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  • funny how it's always zep vs. the who, two great bands, who cares who's on top? Great music whatever you like: Zepplin if you like straight-on rock and roll, great guitar and vocals; Who if you like teenage angst, great songwriting and need to let off some steam; bon jovi if you're masochistic and want to punish yourself ;-) it's all good (except bon jovi)

    ~ by jim 1/18/2009

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  • the who were doing that loud blues rock long before Zeppelin, listen to bootlegs round '68

    ~ by TheWho 4/12/2009

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  • Love the Who and Jeff Beck, but love Zep the most!!!

    ~ by terri 9/29/2009

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