Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1948, Rundgren's first gigging band was a local blues outfit called Woody's Truckstop. In 1968, Rundgren came to national attention as guitarist with Nazz, Philly's answer to England's mod groups, which recorded three albums (now collector's items) before Rundgren went solo in 1970.
   Todd's first solo effort, 1970's Runt, turned quite a few heads in the music industry, largely due to the fact that Rundgren wrote all the material, played all the instruments, sang all the vocals, and engineered the whole show.
   S'absequently, he was sought after as engineer, producer, songwriter, and session man by artists such as the Band, Paul Butterfield, Jesse Winchester, Grand Funk, Janis Joplin, Hall & Oates, Fanny, Sparks, Buzzy Linhart, the Four Tops, Johnny Winter, David Clayton Thomas, the New Seekers, James Cotton, Foghat, New York Dolls, Badfinger, American Dream, and Felix Cavaliere. Todd became as adept at playing the control board as at playing the guitar. His virtuosity with and knowledge of electronics make him the guitar's nearest equivalent to the keyboard's Keith Emerson.
   Today, Rundgren has seven solo albums under his belt, as well as two major hit singles-"Hello, It's Me" (a hit first by Nazz, then later by Rundgren) and "We Gotta Get You A Woman," and

  WHAT were some of your early musical influences?
  Most of those relating directly to my guitar playing were English guitarists-most notably Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck- and American white blues players, like Mike Bloomfield and Harvey Mandel. I was never directly affected by black guitar players, only by derivative white musicians. I was really just influ enced by the radio. And the kind of radio in Philadelphia prob ably had more black music than in othe~ parts of the country. That's probably why Philadelphia has a much more distinctive sound than other cities. When I started writing songs, what got to me the most was English music, like the Beatles. But when I started writing, it didn't come out that way, because I guess I have more deep-seated influences. Light classics and stuff my parents used to play when I was younger had a greater, more lasting effect on me than even the Beatles. But actually, most of the stuff I write doesn't resemble any of that-it's more classical-or jazz- or possibly R&B-oriented.
  What was your first experience with the guitar?
  The first time I ever came across a guitar was when I was very young, and I didn't know what to do with it. It was my father's guitar. He had it down in the basement and never touched it. I didn't know what it was for. The action was terrible, and I used to think that the way to play it was to saw it with a coat hanger as if it were a violin. One time t was trying to tune it-I don't know to what key, or why I was trying to tune it-with a pair of pliers and snapped the neck off. When I was eight, my parents started me on guitar lessons. Those lasted the minimum amount of time required to get a good deal on a guitar. You know, they give you a $25 guitar for $15 if you take so many lessons. Anyway, that didn't appeal to me. Then I got an electric guitar for Christmas, but I didn't get an amplifier. The electric guitar was unplayable without an amp, so I just messed around on it for a while and got rid of it.
  When did you try again?
  I got a Japanese acoustic guitar when I was 16 years old. One day, I went to audition for a band, and coming home from the bus station, I met this guy. I was really gullible, and this cat told me that he had a gig to play and needed a guitar. He said he'd bring mine right back when he was done with it, and I believed him. He took it, and I never saw him again. That was the end of my Japanese guitar. I didn't have a guitar of my own again until I left school and got my first band, a local blues band called Woody's Truckstop. That was a totally sapping experience. We went to Boston and spent some hungry days there eating Cream of Wheat, stealing butter from stores, having trouble getting food the whole time. It was really weird. In those days I was using a Les Paul that I'd bought for $85. It was nothing fancy-I bought it because Mike Bloomfield used one. I came back to Philadelphia and was successful for awhile. Then the group got into acid, and they wanted to go to the country and get back to nature. So I split and started Nazz, and that lasted 18 months. Then I produced