Pete Townshend has issued a statement about the One Direction Twitter storm, which has seen fans of the boyband take to the social networking site to defend claims that One Directionโ€™s new single, โ€œBest Song Everโ€, sounds like The Whoโ€™s โ€œBaba Oโ€™Rileyโ€.

Responding to unsbstantiated claims that The Who are planning to take action against One Direction, Pete Townshend said.

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โ€œNo! I like the single. I like One Direction. The chords I used and the chords they used are the same three chords weโ€™ve all been using in basic pop music since Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and Chuck Berry made it clear that fancy chords donโ€™t mean great music โ€“ not always. Iโ€™m still writing songs that sound like Baba Oโ€™Riley โ€“ or Iโ€™m trying to!. Itโ€™s a part of my life and a part of popโ€™s lineage. One Direction are in my business, with a million fans, and Iโ€™m happy to think they may have been influenced a little bit by The Who. Iโ€™m just relieved theyโ€™re all not wearing boiler suits and Doc Martens, or Union Jack jackets. The funniest thing is that in Canada this year I met with Randy Bachman once the leader of GUESS WHO who told me that he not only copied Baba O Riley for their hit You Ainโ€™t Seen Nothing Yet, but he even called his band after us. Why would I not be happy about this kind of tribute?โ€

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