(Yahoo!) – “I hope I die before I defend a boy band accused of ripping off one of my classics.”

Those weren’t quite the Pete Townshend-penned lyrics included in the Who’s 1965 classic “My Generation.” First of all, that’s much too wordy to fit nicely in a song. Also, back then, the Who — along with the Rolling Stones and the Beatles — could have been described as “boy bands” themselves.

Fast forward to current times, and believe it or not, Townshend is actually defending One Direction from accusations they ripped off another one of his classics — the Who’s 1971 hit “Baba O’Riley” — in their current hit “Best Song Ever,” after a raging debate over the alleged song-theft turned up on Twitter.

Townshend said the Who aren’t planning to take any legal action against One Direction. “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 in basic pop music since Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran andChuck Berry made it clear that fancy chords don’t mean great music – not always,” he explained.