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Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Alex Lifeson on Pete Townshend in May, 2011 issue of Classic Rock

Wed, May 4, 2011@11:12PM | comments removed/disabled

The May, 2011 issue of the UK's Classic Rock magazine is a special collector's edition featuring the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time as chosen by rock's greatest songwriters including Rush's Alex Lifeson. Lifeson's choice was The Who's Pete Townshend:

... "The Who were always a major influence on everything that Rush ever did, from the very start. While I'd never question the Beatles' right to be regarded as the greatest songwriters in history, nonetheless what Townshend did with the Who made more of a mark on us. What he's generated is an amazing body of work, with songs so diverse yet also connected by the fact that we're dealing with a man who wasn't ever afraid to give us a glimpse into his world, his thought process, [and] the way he dealt with his problems." ... "[He] made me aware that it was OK to for a great musician to prove he wasn't infallible. That's great quality we've never forgotten in Rush... It's so hard to choose just one song to represent what he's all about... The choice would come down to Pictures Of Lily, I Can't Explain, or Run, Run, Run. They're all so different, yet also have that unmistakable strand of Townshend running through them." ...

Thanks to RushFanForever for the heads up.

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