As a solo artist, Todd Rundgren was a sonic
innovator, as well as a pioneer of the power pop genre. But despite his prolific output, the "Hello
It's Me" singer remains a mystery. Here's what you may not know about Todd Rundgren. During his senior year at Upper Darby High
School, Todd Rundgren experienced his first taste of heartbreak. Rundgren told The Wall Street Journal, "She probably liked me because I was the only
guy in school with long hair. We became close and hugged and kissed a lot
at parties." But it was his long hair that brought their
romance to a halt — his girlfriend's parents saw it, decided he was bad news, and ordered
her to end it. Rundgren recalled, "Just like that, she stopped talking to me
and wouldn't take my calls. I adored her and was heartbroken." The following year, in 1967, he wrote his
first song, "Hello, It's Me," about the experience. According to The Wall Street Journal, Rundgren
first recorded the song as a slow ballad with his band Nazz in 1968. Then, in 1971, he recorded a more upbeat version
of the song for his solo album Something/Anything? In 1973, the song became Rundgren's biggest
solo hit, charting for 20 weeks. He later recalled how, 30 years after the
heartbreak, his ex-girlfriend called him, but he kept his tone "businesslike." Rundgren told The Wall Street Journal, "Our lives had gone in two different directions
and we really had nothing to say to each other. I think I also wanted to hold onto the image
I had of her in high school. I never told her she was the inspiration for
the song." Todd Rundgren recorded his album Something/Anything?
in 1971, just months after Carole King released her best-selling album Tapestry. During his 2017 commencement address for the
Berklee College of Music, Rundgren said, "People started referring to me as the male
Carole King, and I was a Carole King fan but it bothered me, being compared to somebody
else." In a way, the comparisons turned out to be
a blessing in disguise, as they pushed Rundgren in a more original direction with his music. Rundgren said, "I was writing like a hypocrite and so I made
this crazy record called 'A Wizard, A True Star,' on which I threw out all the rules
of record-making [...] The result was, as I mentioned, a complete loss of about half
of my audience at that time." While the change in direction was not successful
from a commercial or critical standpoint, Rundgren saw it as a personal victory: "I have a special pride for what essentially
was my act of tyranny after having achieved commercial success, and this became the model
for my life after that." Eric Clapton's Psychedelic guitar, also known
as the "Fool," has a special place in rock 'n' roll history. Clapton played the guitar in Cream, including
on the albums Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire. What truly embedded the axe in the eyes of
rock 'n' roll fans was the paint job, which was the handiwork of Dutch design collective
and onetime band the Fool. The resulting design depicted a winged sprite
on a cloud, among stars and flames and alongside a grassy, mountainous landscape. According to Gibson, Todd Rundgren first admired
Clapton's guitar on March 25, 1967, while Cream was playing at the RKO Theater. Shortly thereafter, Clapton left the guitar
with George Harrison, who loaned it to fellow musician Jackie Lomax in 1968. In 1972, after bumping into Rundgren in a
Woodstock, New York recording studio, Lomax sold the guitar to Rundgren for just $500,
with the condition that Lomax had the option to buy it back. He never returned for the guitar. Rundgren repaired it, and continued to play
it as his primary guitar until the late '70s. Then, in the 1980s, a Japanese fan gave Rundgren
a handmade replica, which Rundgren told Vintage Guitar was, quote, "a bit better-sounding
than the original." Rundgren sold the original guitar at a Sotheby's
auction for $150,000 in 2000. Years later, the Fool was re-sold for half
a million dollars. In a 1974 interview with Melody Maker magazine,
Todd Rundgren made a stab at John Lennon. Rundgren said in the interview, "John Lennon ain't no revolutionary. He's [an] [...] idiot, man. Shouting about revolution [...]" In response, Lennon wrote an open letter to
Rundgren, titled "AN OPENED LETTUCE TO SODD RUNTLESTUNTLE," in which he made multiple
lighthearted jabs at Rundgren. Lennon concluded the letter with, "However much you hurt me darling; I'll always
love you." Rundgren was asked about the so-called feud
during a 2013 interview for The Guardian. Rundgren told the outlet, "That was more of a stunt, really, cooked
up by the paper so they could splatter the acrimony across their pages like blood! Ultimately, though, John and I realized we
were being used and I got a phone call from him one day and we just said: 'Let's drop
this now.'" The Lennon-Rundgren dispute was dug up once
more after Lennon was shot by Mark David Chapman - he was actually wearing a Rundgren t-shirt
during his assassination of Lennon. Rundgren told The Guardian, "If you're going to get seriously down with
the muck of the human experience, you're going to have to deal with other people and all
the weirdness that comes with them." Despite bearing a striking resemblance to
her biological father, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, actor Liv Tyler thought Todd
Rundgren was her father until she was 11 years old. "Well, I have two fathers, kind of, yes. I was raised by Todd Rundgren." Tyler told Wonderland, "Todd basically decided when I was born that
I needed a father so he signed my birth certificate. He knew that there was a chance that I might
not be his [...] I'm so grateful to him, I have so much love for him. You know, when he holds me it feels like Daddy." Rundgren had decided that assuming the role
of Liv's father was the responsible thing to do. In a 2018 interview with Variety, Rundgren
had this to say: "I could have called up Steven and said, 'Hey,
you're involved in this,' But from my knowledge of the people involved, I for some reason
concluded that the only choice I had was to get involved." Even beyond his split from Liv's mother, Bebe
Buell, and Liv's discovery of the truth, Rundgren remained a father figure for Liv. Liv told The Guardian in 2017, "I'm so grateful to Todd for choosing to be
a father figure to me. It's a big thing for a man to say, 'I know
this kid might not be mine, but I still want to be her father.' Although he and my mom weren't together, he
was always a very stable, loving force in my life." Despite his producing talents, Todd Rundgren
has a track record for being a little difficult in the studio. In the book, A Wizard, A True Star: Todd Rundgren
in the Studio, Paul Myers wrote, "[The word that] most frequently came to the
lips of [Rundgren's] clients and associates [...] was 'genius.' The second most frequent, however, was 'sarcastic,'
with 'aloof' running close behind." In a 2010 episode of Rundgren Radio, Waymon
Boone recalled briefly working with Rundgren on the debut album of his alt-rock band, Splender. Boone recalled that he and the band had a,
quote, "angry, negative experience" while making the record with Rundgren. Boone also said that the band fired Rundgren
after three weeks. In an interview with the Star Tribune, 12
Rods member Ev Olcott described a similar experience. Olcott told the newspaper, "All he would do was press the 'record' button
and go back to doing crossword puzzles." Todd Rundgren produced the 1971 debut album
of pop-rock duo Sparks, and the band's members, brothers Ron and Russell Mael, have since
credited Rundgren with launching their career. Rundgren told biographer Paul Myers, "The record was a curiosity but had no real
commercial success. It would take them a few years, and probably
a few tours, to start connecting with a broader audience." Talking to Myers for the Rundgren biography
A Wizard, A True Star, Russell sang Rundgren's praises: "It may sound corny, but if it hadn't been
for Todd, there might not have been a Sparks, so we owe him the whole thing. [...] There are a few people in our past that
you would really like to say nasty things about, but we don't have anything nasty to
say about Todd." Fifty years after their initial collaboration,
Rundgren reunited with the band Sparks for their 2021 single "Your Fandango." Todd Rundgren was a trailblazer with his use
of — and in some cases, invention of — new technologies. The late '70s to early '80s were a particularly
innovative time for Rundgren. According to Sound on Sound, Rundgren organized
and performed the first ever interactive concert broadcast through television, which involved
audiences choosing the songs they wanted to hear. The following year, he opened his multi-million-dollar
Utopia Video Studios. "At this point and time I'm looking forward
to exploring areas that are pretty much virgin territory." In 1980, Rundgren created the world's first
color graphics tablet, the Utopia Graphics Tablet, which was licensed to Apple His many
notable innovations also include the world's first interactive CD, New World Order. Rundgren told Bohemian, "I guess the common element in all of those
projects is a certain sense of adventure [...] It's my own need to hear and to experiment with
things that are different or new to me; to constantly absorb new influences." Todd Rundgren married dancer and backup singer
Michele Grey in 1998, on his 50th birthday. Prior to that, he had been decidedly anti-marriage. In a 2018 interview with Variety, Rundgren
had this to say about his previous views on marriage: "I would go to the receptions or the parties,
but I would never attend the actual weddings, because I knew that they were standing up
there promising to do something that they kind of had their fingers crossed about." Rundgren went on to add: "I thought that that whole exercise of getting
up in front of people and making this 'till death do us part' declaration was an exercise
in a certain kind of hypocrisy. [...] [S]o I [was] just determined never to
do that." Rundgren's eventual marriage was born partly
out of his contrarianism. Rundgren told Variety, "It was my 50th birthday and I had done pretty
much everything in the world and I said, 'Well, what can I do that I've never done before,
that will really shock my friends?' I decided: Get married!" Although the union was an act of rebellion,
Rundgren admits he's had a tamer existence ever since, telling Variety, "The reality is, my life has been a lot more
boring. My kids became more the focus of my life. I moved to Hawaii and started living this
sort of pastoral existence, and I don't run into celebrities or anything anymore, unless
they happen to be out here on the island." "I hear Todd's song and I don't understand
why he's not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What's the deal with that, Todd?" In 2021, after being nominated for the third
straight year, Todd Rundgren was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside
the likes of Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, and Carole King. It's likely that Rundgren wasn't totally bowled
over by the overdue honor, as he has been vocal about his indifference to it in the
past. In a 2016 interview with the Charleston City
Paper, Rundgren said this about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: "This is an institution that arose within
my lifetime. If I told you about how they actually determine
who gets into the Hall of Fame, you'd think that I was [messing with] you, because I've
been told what's involved [...] It's very weird [...] and that's why I don't care." He echoed these sentiments to Billboard following
his 2021 nomination. Rundgren told the music outlet, "It's no secret that I don't care about it. It doesn't matter how many times they nominate
me. It's not gonna make me care." Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite
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