In perhaps the biggest backlash against an unfamiliar artist since that whole "Who is Arcade Fire?" thing, One Direction fans took to the Web this week to defend their favorite band against The Who. Rumors swirled that the classic band wanted "Best Song Ever" banned for its similarity to "Baba O'Riley," but The Who's Pete Townshend stepped forward quell their fears.
Directioners were stirred into a frenzy, reportedly after Click Music wrote in July: "We find the 1D team resorting to plagiarism once again as The Who's 'Baba O'Riley' is sterilised and repackaged for fans who probably don't know any better." The author called for readers to report copyright infringement on the 1971 jam to the U.K.'s Trading Standards.
Fearful that The Who would take punitive action against "Best Song Ever," Directioners took to Twitter to express their distress using the hashtag #donttouchbestsongever.
Some, like @karlea2001, begged with the powers that be: "#donttouchbestsongever they worked hard on it!! Don't you dare remove it!" said. Others, like @sairaomar2, attacked The Who — who were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 — implying that they are irrelevant: "then at ur funereal, nobody will show up bcuz everyone will be like the whos? who dat? #DontTouchBestSongEver."
But Who band member Pete Townshend put an end to the dustup, issuing the following statement:
No! 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 ...
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