While bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple are traditionally credited with forging the dark, thunderous architecture of heavy metal in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Roger Daltrey is setting the record straight on who truly got there first. On Friday, May 29, 2026, the iconic lead singer of The Who explicitly laid claim to the heavy metal crown, asserting that his band laid down the sonic and visual blueprint for the entire genre more than six decades ago.
The 82-year-old rock legend shared his provocative thoughts during an extensive new retrospective interview with Rolling Stone. When pressed on how he views the sweeping legacy of The Who and what separated them from their mid-60s peers, Daltrey didn’t hold back.
“We were just different than everybody else,” Daltrey stated candidly. “Americans don’t really know The Who from the early ’60s, but as the drummer of Deep Purple [Ian Paice] said recently in a magazine, ‘The Who started it all.’ We were the first heavy metal band.”
The Marshall Stack and Stage Violence
To back up his monumentally bold claim, Daltrey pointed to the literal technical innovations and performance milestones engineered by the band during their formative era. He credited the physical birth of high-volume rock amplification directly to the demands of his bandmate, guitarist Pete Townshend.
“Jim Marshall invented the 4×12 [speaker cabinet], 100-watt stack for Pete Townshend,” Daltrey explained. “All the guitar smashing that Jimi Hendrix became famous for, in his style, was basically copied from Pete Townshend, first of all. And the first rock opera, of course, we elevated rock to be maybe up its own ass in a way, you could say it. We were doing it before anyone, but it’s not important in the long run.”
Daltrey’s perspective aligns closely with recent commentary from Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice. Speaking on the Metal Sticks podcast alongside Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain, Paice admitted that while Deep Purple helped orchestrate “the second coming” of heavy metal, it was The Who who pushed the boundaries first.
“Everything else, the band that did it first—The Who did it before everybody,” Paice recalled on the podcast. “They were the first on the big amp; they were the first to push rock ‘n’ roll beyond pretty little pop songs. Let’s not forget the importance of The Who. They just changed everything for kids who wanted to do something a little more violently.”
An Ongoing Historical Argument
Daltrey isn’t the first member of the legendary Acton-formed rock group to suggest they authored the genre. Back in December 2019, guitarist and principal songwriter Pete Townshend echoed a nearly identical sentiment during an interview with the Toronto Sun, pinpointing one specific record as the catalyst.
“We sort of invented heavy metal with [our 1970 live album] Live At Leeds,” Townshend claimed at the time. “We were copied by so many bands, principally by Led Zeppelin—you know, heavy drums, heavy bass, heavy lead guitar and some of those bands, like Jimi Hendrix for example, did it far better than we did. Cream, with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, they came along in ’67, same year as Jimi Hendrix, and they kind of stole our mantle in a sense.”
A Legacy Set in Stone
Whether purists accept The Who as the true genesis of heavy metal or categorize them strictly under hard rock and proto-punk, their place at the absolute summit of music history remains untouched.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, Daltrey and Townshend have amassed a staggering list of honors, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 and the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in 2008. Beyond his historic work with hits like “My Generation,” “Pinball Wizard,” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” Daltrey continues to remain highly active. He recently announced his 2026 U.S. solo tour, dubbed “A Great Night Out,” which follows his highly praised semi-acoustic outings and foundational charity work curating the Teenage Cancer Trust concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.
For Daltrey, heavy metal isn’t just about a modern subculture—it was born from a group of British kids in the 1960s trying to make rock ‘n’ roll louder, heavier, and more dangerous than anyone thought possible.
