Roger Daltrey, lead singer for The Who, played the lead character Tommy. In 1975, Tommy was converted into a major motion picture by director Ken Russell. Over the decades, it was nearly always included in Who concerts. Nevertheless, Pinball Wizard remained a favorite song for The Who. “the most clumsy piece of writing I’d ever done”. Pete Townshend was not thrilled with his lyrics for Pinball Wizard. Meanwhile, Roger Daltrey provides his rocking vocals and Keith Moon wallops his drum kit with all his might. Performing before an audience of roughly 700,000 people (to put this into perspective, the entire population of the Isle of Wight is about 100,000), Pete Townshend flails away on his guitar, while John Entwistle chimes in on bass guitar. The Who are at their hard-rocking best here. This took place at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, just about a year after Woodstock. Here are The Who performing Pinball Wizard live. Pinball Wizard recounts the experience of a pinball champion called “Local Lad.” To his amazement, he loses a crucial match to young Tommy. Despite his handicaps, he is still able to play pinball at an incredibly high level. Tommy experiences only vibrations, such as arise in music. Tommy is a youth who has suffered a traumatic experience that has rendered him temporarily deaf, dumb and blind. This was the music to a rock opera composed by Pete Townshend. The Who a major hit there, and they were also one of the stars of the Woodstock concert film.Īt Woodstock, The Who played several songs from Tommy, the double album they had released three months earlier. They were elevated to world superstardom after their performance at Woodstock in August, 1969. In the late 60s, The Who were famous in Britain but much less well known outside the U.K. They are one of the most long-lived rock bands. Silly me! The two surviving members Pete and Roger are still touring, over 50 years later. They seemed to stress aggression and sheer volume over craftsmanship, and I predicted that they would rapidly burn out. Pete Townshend would fling himself about the stage – leaping in the air and kicking his legs apart twisting his body around and showcasing his legendary ‘windmill’ style where he would swing his right arm in a gigantic circle, passing over the guitar at exactly the right instant to strike a power chord.Īfter attending a Who concert and trying to re-gain my hearing, I pegged The Who as primarily a novelty act. And the manic antics of Pete Townshend on guitar and Keith Moon on drums were spectacular. At that time The Who were pioneers in the use of those gigantic Marshall amplifier stacks that are now staples of rock music.įurthermore, the use of feedback and distortion were also rather new to me. They made a vivid, lasting impression on me.įirst off, the volume of the music, the ferocity of the playing, and the showmanship were unlike anything I had seen. The Who were one of the first groups I saw after I arrived in England as a graduate student in October 1965. From L: Keith Moon Roger Daltrey Pete Townshend John Entwistle. They are appearing on the TV show “Pop Go the Sixties,” in Dec. The group then began to establish themselves as a cutting-edge British Invasion band.īelow is a photo of The Who. Daltrey concentrated on vocals, while Townshend moved to lead guitar and also started writing all of their songs. Three of the band members – lead guitarist Pete Townshend, lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, and bassist John Entwistle – had been classmates at Acton County Grammar School.Īfter a few early personnel changes, and a change of name to The Who, in spring 1964 the band settled on Keith Moon as their drummer. The Who evolved from a band, The Detours, originally organized in 1959 by Roger Daltrey. Following is a brief summary of their history. We have featured The Who in a number of earlier blog posts see here here here here and here. The Who have also inspired any number of hard-rock or punk-rock groups that followed them. Since their inception over 50 years ago, they have produced an exceptional body of work. The Who have been one of the most durable and influential rock bands of all time. We will review a second cover of that song by the British pop group McFly. One cover of that song was performed by Elton John in the movie Tommy. We will then review the movie Tommy, and discuss the importance of Pinball Wizard in that film. We will start with a brief review of The Who. It was featured in the 1975 movie Tommy, directed by Ken Russell. This is a great hard-rock song composed by Pete Townshend. Hello there! This is the sixth installment in our new feature: “Tim’s Cover Story Goes To The Movies.” In these posts, we discuss a famous song that makes an important contribution to a movie.
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