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TL;DR:

  • The Who’s Pete Townshend praised a Beatles album and a Beach Boys album.
  • He liked listening to the albums while he was high.
  • He felt neither of the albums had any political messages but they were important anyway.
The Beatles playing instruments
The Beatles | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The Who’s Pete Townshend said one of The Beatles‘ albums paved the way for the future. In addition, he heaped similar praise on a Beach Boys album. Notably, one of the albums became far more successful than the other.

The Who’s Pete Townshend compared listening to 1 of The Beatles’ albums and 1 of The Beach Boys’ albums to taking drugs

In his 2012 book Who I Am: A Memoir, Townshend said The Who listened to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band during a tour. “The shock-wave it caused challenged all comers; no one believed The Beatles would ever top it, or would even bother to try,” he recalled. 

Townshend compared Sgt. Pepper to The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. “For me, Sgt. Pepper and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds redefined music in the 20th century: atmosphere, essence, shadow, and romance were combined in ways that could be discovered again and again,” he wrote. “Neither album made any deep political or social comment, but ideas were not what mattered. Listening to music had become a drug in itself.”

The Who’s Pete Townshend wished he could hear ‘something important’ in the albums

Elsewhere in the book, Townshend discussed what he liked to do while he listened to Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds. “I loved smoking a little grass and listening to my two favorite albums, Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds, and every time I listened I heard something new, but I wish I could say I heard something important,” he recalled.

The singer felt the albums would be influential. “These two great albums indicated the future, but passed on no tools, codes, or obvious processes that would lead to a door,” Townshend remembered. “I ached for more than just a signpost pointing to the future, which is what these albums were to me.”

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How The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and The Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’ performed on the charts in the United States

Sgt. Pepper became a massive hit in the United States. For 15 weeks, the album topped the Billboard 200, staying on the chart for 233 weeks in total. Aside from Abbey Road, none of the Fab Four’s studio albums performed better on the chart.

On the other hand, Pet Sounds was a more modest hit. The album reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200, remaining on the chart for 47 weeks. While Pet Sounds is one of The Beach Boys’ most acclaimed albums, it was never one of their most successful.

Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds are widely considered classic albums — and Townshend was a fan.

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