TOMMY - A HISTORY AND EXPLANATION OF THE ALBUM

Tommy (1969) is the first of The Who's two full-scale rock operas (the second being Quadrophenia), and the first musical work explicitly billed as a rock opera. In some older publications it is called Tommy (1914–1984). The opera was composed by Who guitarist Pete Townshend, with two tracks contributed by Who bassist John Entwistle and one fictitiously attributed to Who drummer Keith Moon, though actually written by Townshend. An earlier song by blues artist Sonny Boy Williamson II was also incorporated into the opera. Playing time is 74 minutes.

Synopsis

Characters
Tommy Walker: The protagonist of the story.
Captain Walker: Tommy's father.
Mrs. Walker: Tommy's mother.
Uncle Ernie: Tommy's "wicked uncle", a child molester.
Cousin Kevin: Tommy's cousin, the "school bully".
The Hawker: The leader of a cult religion.
The Champ: The reigning champion of a pinball tournament, until Tommy defeats him and takes the title of "Pinball Wizard"
The Acid Queen: A "gypsy" who deals in hallucinogenic substances who attempts to heal Tommy
The Doctor: A doctor who attempts to heal Tommy and finds out that his disabilities are all in his head.
Sally Simpson: One of Tommy's "disciples".

Story - in chronological order
"Overture"/"It's a Boy" - British Army Captain Walker is reported missing in action during World War I, and is not expected ever to be seen again. Shortly after his wife, Mrs. Walker, receives this news, she gives birth to their son, Tommy.
"1921" - Seven years later, Captain Walker returns home and discovers that his wife has found a new lover. An enraged Captain Walker confronts his wife and kills her new lover. To cover up the crime, Tommy's mother and father tell him he didn't see it, didn't hear it, and he will never say "nothing to no one ever in [his] life". A traumatized Tommy takes this literally, becoming deaf, dumb, and blind.
"Amazing Journey"/"Sparks" - Tommy's subconscious reveals itself to him as a tall stranger dressed in silvery robes with a golden floor-length beard, and the vision sets him on an internal spiritual journey upon which he learns to interpret all physical sensations as music.
"Eyesight to the Blind (The Hawker)" - Tommy's parents take him to a the church of a cult religion to try and cure him. "Eyesight..." is the cult leader's song.
"Christmas" - Tommy's parents worry that his soul is at risk of damnation, since he is unaware of Jesus or prayer.
"Cousin Kevin" - Tommy's parents become complacent and leave him in the care of a babysitter, his cousin Kevin. Kevin takes the opportunity to bully and torture Tommy without fear of anyone finding out. He ultimately gets bored with Tommy's limited reactions.
"Acid Queen"/"Underture" - Tommy's parents once again try to cure him, this time by placing him in the care of a woman who tries to coax Tommy into full consciousness with hallucinogenic drugs. "Underture" is an extensive instrumental representing Tommy's experience on acid.
"Do You Think it's Alright?"/"Fiddle About" - Tommy is left in the care of his uncle Ernie, an alcoholic sexual deviant who takes the opportunity to abuse Tommy without fear of anyone finding out.
"Pinball Wizard" - Tommy is discovered to have a talent for pinball, and quickly defeats the game's tournament champion. This propels Tommy to international celebrity status. "Pinball Wizard" is the reigning champion's song.
"There's a Doctor"/"Go to the Mirror!" - Tommy's parents find a medical specialist to once more try to understand and cure his symptoms. After numerous tests, they are told that there is nothing medically wrong with him, and that his problems are psychosomatic. However, as they are trying to reach him, Tommy's subconscious is also trying to reach out to them.
"Tommy Can You Hear Me?"/"Smash the Mirror" - Tommy's mother continues to try to reach him, and becomes frustrated that he completely ignores her whilst staring directly at a mirror. Out of this frustration she smashes the mirror.
"Sensation"/"Miracle Cure" - The smashing of the mirror snaps Tommy out of his unreceptive state. Tommy's cure becomes a public sensation and he attains guru-like status. Thereafter he assumes a quasi-messianic mantle and tries to lead his fans to an enlightenment similar to his own.
"Sally Simpson" - One of Tommy's 'disciples', Sally is a young reverend's daughter who sneaks out of her home to attend one of Tommy's sermons. She ultimately attempts to touch him, only to be thrown from the stage by security and receive a gash on her face.
"I'm Free" - Tommy attempts to spiritually enlighten those that are listening to his sermons.
"Welcome"/"Tommy's Holiday Camp" - Tommy opens his own home to anyone willing to join him, and urges them to bring as many people with them as they can. His house is quickly filled though, so he builds a holiday camp to try to accommodate everybody.
"We're Not Gonna Take It" - Tommy demands that his followers blind, deafen and mute themselves in order to truly reach their spiritual height, but the heavy-handedness of his cult and the exploitation of its followers by his family and associates cause his followers to revolt against him. Abandoned by his followers and worshippers, Tommy gains a new enlightenment.

OR

"We're Not Gonna Take It" could be a metaphoric representation of people "not taking" such rigid, religious and capitalistic, views that society forces upon us. The people agree with Tommy's philosophy that we should put in our ear plugs and put on our nightshades when society attempts to train us in such ways. We should thus, ultimately, follow our own insight, as Tommy did/does throughout this story. Therefore, the people see that "looking at you" (looking at Tommy) they see the "music" (they see/understand the beauty of it all). They see that enlightenment stems from within yourself, and often not from what you have been taught is true.
In its original album version, the story is quite sketchy, and details were often filled in post facto by Townshend in interviews. As other adaptations of the album appeared, some details were filled out and others were changed (for example the time frame was changed to World War II and 1951 in some later versions and in the film version, the lover kills the husband rather than the converse).

Analysis and history
When Tommy was released, critics were split between those who thought the album was a masterpiece, the beginnings of a new genre, and those that felt it was "sick" and exploitative because of its dark theme. The album was banned by the BBC and certain U.S. radio stations. Ultimately, the album became a huge commercial success, as did the Who's frequent live performances of the rock opera in the following years, arguably launching the Who to an essentially new level of prestige and international stardom.

Although Tommy is conventionally described as a rock opera, author and Who historian Richard Barnes points out that this definition is not strictly correct, since Tommy does not utilise the classic operatic formulae of staging, scenery, acting and recitative. According to Barnes, Tommy could be more accurately described as a "rock cantata" or a "rock song cycle".

Musically, the original album is a complex set of pop-rock arrangements, generally based upon Townshend's acoustic guitar and built up with many overdubs by the four members of the band using many instruments, including bass, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, organ, drumkit, gong, timpani, horn, three-part vocal harmonies and occasional doubling on vocal solos. Despite this instrumental richness the sound tends to be very "stark", especially in comparison to the band's later work. Many of the instruments only appear intermittently -- the ten-minute "Underture" features a single toot on the horn -- and when overdubbed many of the instruments are mixed at low levels that require careful listening to notice. Townshend mixes fingerpicking in with his trademark power chords and fat riffs, and in some delicate moments his guitar sounds almost like a harpsichord. Moon's drumming is controlled with a few dramatic moments; Entwistle's bass provides support and effectively takes the instrumental lead in several cuts. Daltrey swaggers as lead vocalist, but shares that role with the others on a surprising number of tracks. Townshend's later interest in synthesizers is foreshadowed by the use of taped sounds played in reverse to give a whistling, chirping sound on "Amazing Journey."

"Amazing Journey" can be interpreted as the central pivot of Tommy, since its lyrics are essential to understanding what the opera is about (beyond the facile story line). "Go to the Mirror" is the climax of the opera both musically and dramatically; tradition holds that when the band was touring the show live the audiences would spontaneously stand up during "Go to the Mirror" and remain standing until the end—listening in silence, unlike the customary behavior of Who fans. "We're Not Gonna Take It / See Me, Feel Me / Listening to You" is the denouement, with its ambiguous return to the earlier state of the story reinforced in concert by returning to the riff from "Overture" and "Go to the Mirror" at the very end rather than the long fade from the studio recording. Various themes are repeated in different songs in order to give the opera a coherent feel.

The tracks "Overture", "Pinball Wizard", "I'm Free", and the "See Me, Feel Me / Listening to You" reprise were released as singles and got a decent amount of airplay. "Pinball Wizard" reached the top twenty in the U.S. and the top five in the UK. "See Me, Feel Me / Listening To You" landed high in the top twenty in the U.S. and "I'm Free" reached the top forty. The tracks "Overture", "Christmas", "I’m Free", and "See Me Feel Me" were released on an EP in late 1970. The "Overture" was also covered by a band called The Assembled Multitude and received a lot of airplay. Tommy was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

The child abuse that features so prominently in the story caused a good deal of outcry when it was first released. It has often been claimed that the basic idea of the Tommy story was lifted from The Pretty Things' 1968 concept album S.F. Sorrow, and Townshend himself later admitted that he listened to the Pretty Things LP extensively and that it was a major inspiration for Tommy. Steve Marriott also claimed that some musical elements in Tommy were "borrowed" from the music of The Small Faces. Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman, in his official biography, states that "Pete Townshend credited Larry's own rock-opera, The Epic, for inspiring the rock-opera, Tommy, recorded by The Who". Notwithstanding the numerous outside influences, several structural precedents for Tommy exist in Townshend's own work, including "Glow Girl" (1968), "Rael" (1967), and the sectional work "A Quick One While He's Away" (1966).

A couple of years before the album came out Pete Townshend explained his ideas and apparently actually thought out some of the structure of the opera during a famous Rolling Stone interview. John Entwistle claimed years after the release that he had never actually listened to the album because he was so sick of it after the endless takes and re-takes.

Personnel
Roger Daltrey: Lead Vocals, Harmonica
Pete Townshend: Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals
John Entwistle: Bass guitar, Horns, Vocals
Keith Moon: Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Paul Townshend (Pete's brother): Backing Vocals
Simon Townshend (Pete's brother): Backing Vocals

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