Pete Townshend has revealed on his blog that The Rolling Stones and Smokey Robinson inspired The Who's 1966 hit "The Substitute." The song was one of The Who's first hits, but it wouldn't have happened without a little help from the Stones' manager Andrew Oldham. Oldham played a demo of The Stones' famous song "19th Nervous Breakdown" for Townshend.
Townshend explains, "My song ['The Substitute] began as homage to Smokey Robinson inspired by The Rolling Stones."
Townshend also spoke about the possibility of a collaboration with Mick Jagger:
You know, he's asked me to work on several records with him and I've very much enjoyed doing it. But he's never suggested that we write together.
His ex-wife Jerry (Hall used to say all the time, "You and Pete should write together." And we would kind of go, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." It may happen, it may not.
