The Who’s Tommy
Many people when hearing the name The Who, instantly associate the group and the efforts the band contributed to the rock music scene in the 1960’s. Although that is extremely accurate the band who was made up of the following: Pete Townshend, lead guitarist and songwriter, Keith Moon, drummer, John Entwistle, bass guitar, and Roger Daltrey, lead vocals, did much more than just playing music and acquiring an enormous following. Along with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, The Who completed the trinity of great British rock trio’s. The group had a number of singles that were hits in the mid sixties. After releasing its fourth album Tommy in 1969, the double album was coined as a “Rock Opera.” This not only coined their double album but also coined a genre and performance style that has affected today’s theatrical scene.
During this time, the mid sixties, the bands manager and them were hanging around listening to a comedy album and there were characters in the album that were chanting sounds that came across as sounding like “rock opera, rock opera.” This sound or words had never been said or heard before…so the band laughed and thought it might be cool to make one. This was one of the influences for the album. Another influence for the album Tommy came from lead guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend. Townshend was a believer and a follower of Meher Baba as a part of his religion. Meher Baba was an Indian spiritual master who said and acted as an Avatar, the human form of God. Townshend found this way of life inspirational and acted on it using his own self-discovery and meditation through Meher Baba as a part of his lyrical writing.
The story of Tommy follows the tale of Tommy Walker a boy who is challenged with the fault of being deaf, blind, and dumb but uses his spiritual connection to music to find and fight his way through life…
-Brennen Reeves