re: Pete Townshend vs. Keith Richards

Page ? Nope. JP was a session man for years before Pete even strapped on a les Paul.

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Not to mention seminal for prog rock: he wrote A Quick One While He's Away, the Tommy and Quadrophenia albums, hell Baba O'Riley was a massive contribution of itself.

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No question that The Who (along with Pink Floyd and, to a degree, The Hollies)) were the lead in/starting point for a lot of progressive rock of the 1970s - and there is also no questioning that The Who's attitude and Pete's guitar technique inspired and informed a lot of punk. In the context of this thread, the irony shouldn't be lost that punk rock was all about attitude and musical ability *cough* Sex Pistols *cough* was "optional" in the genre (with all due respect to The Clash, who were fantastic musicians).

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Uh, that´s his trademark solo on Donovan´s Hurdy Gurdy Man.

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While I applaud his efforts in praising Pete Townshend (I'm certainly a fan), his bias in slamming Page's ability is palpable. Call Jimmy Page a thief? There's plenty of support for that. Say he made a habit of showing up stoned and/or with out of tune guitars for more than a handful of high profile live performances? Guilty as charged.

But, to deny that he was a great, innovative and influential lead guitar player - in the argument for GOAT in that category (despite, again, not quite the technical skill of some of his peers, but I would say that, technically, Page was better than Townshend or Richards, to keep it on point with this thread) is just hipster snobbishness, trying too hard to be cool and edgy (IMHO).

Pete

Proof that The Who is the greatest Rock Band in the World

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I love the Who, but Townshend is not very seminal for punk.

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Meh. I agree in part and disagree in part. Punk largely drew its entire vibe from the way The Who put on a live show - loud, distortion, hyperkinetic, destructive - that defined what punk sought to project as attitude replacing musicality (by design).

While Pete, personally, may not have been directly influential on the punk sound, certainly indirectly, as the guitarist for The Who, he did inform and influence the English and American punk bands that followed. I tend to agree with Howe as being the traditional rock guitar player that the punk players looked up to as an individual musician.

I will grant you loud and destructive, though I think the Who were always grandiose and larger than life, which is an anathema to punk, which believed in no separation between the artist and the audience. Actually, Keith fits in pretty well with the punk aesthetic as he is perhaps the only great guitar god who just plays the fricking riff. Keef's simplicity is a guiding light for punk rock guitarists.

Though the Steve Howe thing is weird, right?