Todd Rundgren says Taylor Swift ‘ruined music’

Rock veteran Todd Rundgren used a wide-ranging interview to take aim at Taylor Swift, calling her the “apotheosis of mediocrity” and arguing she has done lasting damage to popular music.

The comments came during a conversation with Vulture writer Devon Ivie that touched on Mr. Rundgren’s decades in the music business, including his production work on Meat Loaf’s 1977 album “Bat Out of Hell,” which Mr. Rundgren has said he approached partly as a send-up of Bruce Springsteen. Asked which artist he would target if he made a similar record today, Mr. Rundgren didn’t hesitate.

“There’s an argument to be made that she ruined music,” Mr. Rundgren said of Ms. Swift.

He went on to credit — or blame — the pop star for reshaping the industry’s audience, floating a theory that male listeners drifted toward video games in the 1990s and left labels chasing young female fans instead. Mr. Rundgren singled out Lady Gaga as a “real musician” and classically trained pianist by contrast, before returning to Ms. Swift. According to the interview transcript, he dismissed her singing, songwriting and dancing outright, framing her instead as a generational role model rather than a musical talent.

Ms. Swift, meanwhile, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame earlier this year, joining a 2026 class that also includes Alanis Morissette and KISS’s Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, and her catalog — from “1989” to “folklore” and “evermore” — has drawn sustained critical praise over the past decade.

Mr. Rundgren, 78, is no stranger to unfiltered opinions; he skipped his own Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2021 after years of criticizing the institution, saying it would be “hypocritical” for him to make a show of participating. Ms. Swift, notably, performed at that same ceremony to induct Carole King.