I remember hearing Boris the Spider for the first time as kid and thinking this is wild and different. The whole song is being driven by the bass guitar and the harmonics from the bass are kind of taking over the role of a guitar. I also remember a later interview with Townshend where he talked about meeting Hendrix for the first time. Hendrix dug The Who greatly and expressed his admiration to Pete. Pete made the mistake of asking Jimi what his favourite Who song was. Pete's feelings were hurt a little when Hendrix replied, "Boris the Spider," a Entwhistle tune. In light of the discussion in the interview above of both Entwistle's and Hendrix's technique and their extension of the function of their instruments, I can see why Jimi would have loved Boris.
Randy Bachman had a show on CBC radio called Vinyl Tap. He played tunes, talked, and sometimes played guitar to illustrate a point. On one show, he talked about Pete Townshend being forced by necessity into becoming one one of the world's greatest rhythm guitarists. Bachman said that Townshend can play lead guitar very, very well, but in The Who, with its lead bass player, Entwistle, and its lead drummer, Keith Moon, there was no space left for lead guitar. If you go back and listen to Who records, this will make sense. Everywhere, where with a normal bad, you would hear lead guitar fills, you will hear lead drums and/or lead bass fills.