“If I told AI, ‘Write a load of Pete Townshend songs like he used to in 1973,’ a lot of Who fans would be really pleased”: Pete Townshend threatens to turn to AI if fans don’t stop asking him to play The Who’s hits

Pete Townshend plays a red Fender Stratocaster onstage during The Who's 2023 show at the Royal Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, UK.

Pete Townshend has hit out at fans that are “irritated I won’t just play Who hits till I die” and has mused that AI impressions of his work may satiate their hunger for more music from the band.

The Who are by no means dead and buried, but in 2025, the guitarist has his fingers in various other pies – he opened a teaching and creative centre, the Townshend Studio, at the University of West London in Ealing late last year, and a solo career to keep him occupied. Not to mention that Quadrophenia is now a ballet.