Rock and Roll Hall of Famer says Taylor Swift ‘ruined music’
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer says Taylor Swift ‘ruined music’
Carsen HoladayTue, September 29, 2026 at 1:28 PM UTC
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’Taylor Swift is the apotheosis of mediocrity,’ according to Seventies rocker Todd Rundgren (AFP/Getty)
Seventies rock legend Todd Rundgren is lashing out at Taylor Swift for “ruining music.”
Rundgren, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, has never shied away from criticizing other artists. The singer produced Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell album in 1977 and said at the time that he agreed to work on the record because he wanted to make fun of Bruce Springsteen.
When asked which modern artist he would choose to make fun of in a recent interview with Vulture, 78-year-old Rundgren did not hesitate in answering: “Taylor Swift, of course.”
“There’s an argument to be made that she ruined music,” the rockstar said. “It’s an understandable phenomenon. It’s just that, to me, Taylor Swift is the apotheosis of mediocrity.”
Rundgren hypothesized that “it’s the era of the female artists” because in the Nineties, “boys stopped spending money on music and started spending it on video games,” leaving a market dominated by female listeners.
Rundgren (pictured in 2017) believes Swift ‘doesn’t do anything particularly great except grow hair’ (Getty)
“So you got Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, P!nk, and many artists of that ilk,” he said. “Lady Gaga, she’s a real musician. She’s a classically trained piano player.”
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Rundgren added: “Taylor Swift doesn’t do anything particularly great except grow hair. She’s not a great singer. She’s not a great songwriter. She’s not a great dancer. She’s a role model for what was a very young generation of women, and now for those women’s daughters as well, because it’s mothers and daughters going to Taylor Swift shows.”
The Independent has reached out to Swift for comment.
A founding member of the band Nazz, Rundgren shot to fame with his breakthrough solo album Something/Anything? in 1972.
He is known for his progressive rock songs like “Hello It’s Me,” “Can We Still Be Friends?” and “I Saw the Light.” He has also been recognized as a producer for artists including Meat Loaf, Hall & Oates, Badfinger and the Patti Smith Group.
Patti Smith, his decades-long friend, inducted him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at his October 2021 ceremony.
However, Rundgren famously skipped the ceremony and stated publicly that he did not care for the Hall of Fame, saying, “true halls of fame are for retirees and dead people.” Instead, he chose to continue on his tour at the time, The Individualist, A True Star Tour.
Swift is not alone in the list of artists who have drawn Rundgren’s ire. In addition to her and Springsteen, other musicians who Rundgren has insulted include Kanye West, Robbie Robertson, George Harrison and, famously, John Lennon, who responded to Rundgren’s remarks with a satirical open letter addressing him as “Sodd Runtlestuntle” and “Turd Runtgreen.”
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
