The Who produced a variety of iconic, enduring songs during their heyday. Baba O’Riley particularly has only continued to increase in popularity since its release in 1971, having prominently been featured in numerous popular films and TV shows (particularly as the theme of CSI: New York). Meanwhile, the members of One Direction have enjoyed a staggering rise in popularity, backed by one of the most vocal and active Twitter fanbases.
When the younger band released their new song Best Song Ever - yes, that is its actual name - back at the end of July, it received almost 11 million views in 24 hours. Somewhere along the line, someone noted some similarities between its synth-driven intro and that of Baba O’Riley. Here’s a sample:
The similarity went barely noticed for a few weeks, but earlier this week the suggestion was raised that perhaps the surviving members of The Who should sue the young upstarts of One Direction for copying their classic song. When One Direction fans - dubbed Directioners by some - got wind of this possibility, Twitter basically exploded.
Using hashtags such as #donttouchbestsongever, fans wondered aloud who exactly this The Who was, and vowed to defend Best Song Ever with every character they had (140, to be exact). Things got very passionate very quickly, with the Directoners effectively vowing “we’re not going to take it” as The Who themselves once did in a more musical form:
#donttouchbestsongever here is a sum up of what i think of this story. pic.twitter.com/QHFS8Jb8fn
— Zaynophile ✌ (@realmofzayn) August 15, 2013
THIS FANDOM WON FIERCEST FANS CATEGORY AT RADIO DISNEY AWARDS DO U REALIZE WE WON AN AWARD FOR BEING PSYCHOTIC AND DELUSIONAL IM SO PROUD
— ☆ (@nomstyles) April 28, 2013
The Who’s hardly inconsiderable fanbase, even armed to the teeth with ironic ‘teenage wasteland’ references, could not hope to match the sheer force of millions of rattled Directioners.
Only The Who’s own Pete Townshend could settle things down. His respectful, calm statement declared he had no intention of suing the band, admitting “I like the single. I like One Direction. The chords I used and the chords they used are the same three chords we’ve all been using in basic pop music since Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and Chuck Berry made it clear that fancy chords don’t mean great music – not always... One Direction are in my business, with a million fans, and I’m happy to think they may have been influenced a little bit by The Who.”
#donttouchbestsongever is still managing dozens of tweets an hour, but things have calmed down considerably after confirmation that One Direction are safe to sing another day, and can seemingly add one rock legend to their fanbase.
