Pete Townshend Joins List of Rockers Praising Taylor Swift
Pete Townshend is one of rock’s greatest songwriters, so when even he weighs in in support of Taylor Swift, that really means something.
Townshend discussed his admiration of Swift on the What It Takes podcast. To begin with, Townshend expressed his admiration of the great songwriters, from ” … my father’s era” to ” … the great songwriters of today, past The Beatles and all the rest of them to Taylor Swift.”
Townshend said he loves what Swift does and explained, ” … Not that she’s necessarily absolutely always to my taste, but I just love the fact that she seems to love it, that she seems to be having so much fun. That’s what I identify with.”
Another surprising source of Swift praise came in July from Slayer guitarist Gary Holt. In an appearance on the Scandalous podcast, Holt talked about how he loves listening to pop music in the car and has a fondness for George Michael. He expressed how much he loves Swift and enjoys her songs. Holt also doesn’t understand why the massive pop star is a target for hate, particularly with how hard she works and how she’s “f—ing nice to everybody.” Notably, he cited how Swift issued over $55 million total in bonuses to every worker employed on her record-breaking Eras Tour.
Taylor Swift Really Digs ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ by The Darkness
Speaking of Swift and the rock world, the pop superstar made headlines recently thanks to her love for “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” by The Darkness.
Earlier this month, Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, attended the men’s final of the US Open. During a stop in play, the PA system played “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” and Swift and Kelce were spotted jamming and singing along to the track.
This moment eventually made its way back to Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins, who happened to have recently attended one of Swift’s Eras Tour shows in Zurich, Switzerland. In the TikTok below, Hawkins talks about taking his daughter to the show.
“The hospitality they showed us was extraordinary,” began Hawkins. ” … They put us in a lovely VIP area. I had Chris Rock on one side, Roger Federer on the other side. I was just ‘Dad of the Year’!”
But wait…it gets even better for Hawkins.
He adds, “To make matters even more spectacular, Taylor Swift actually sent me a lovely letter, which was waiting for me in the VIP section, talking about how much she loves the song ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love.’ I was ‘Dad of the Year,’ maybe ‘Dad of the Century,’ because all of that was a big surprise.”
Hawkins continues, “Speaking of big surprises: I woke up this morning, and everybody forwarded me some footage of ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ being played at the US Open, and Taylor Swift and her partner, Travis, dancing along to it and really enjoying the music. So, it was really a heartwarming moment for me and my little girl can’t wait to tell her friends at school … That’s really lovely start to the day.”
