History Music / Tommy

Eventually, he gains, or regains, his senses after a cathartic moment in which the mirror in which he glimpsed the original murder is smashed. Free to speak for himself, Tommy becomes a [[TheMessiah spiritual leader]] to the fans he's gained through his pinball, and seeks to create a new religion to teach the world about the revelations he acquired during his blindness. Tommy gradually discovers that his disciples are more interested in a quick fix than spiritual enlightenment; he warns them that they can't follow him through drinking, getting high, or dropping acid, and when they beg him to give them ''some'' kind of easy spiritual key he forces them to play pinball while wearing blindfolds and earplugs. In the end, the masses rebuke and abandon him - and it is then that Tommy, broken, alone, and possibly dying, finds {{God}}.

Eventually, he gains, or regains, his senses after a cathartic moment in which the mirror in which he glimpsed the original murder is smashed. Free to speak for himself, Tommy becomes a [[TheMessiah spiritual leader]] to the fans he's gained through his pinball, and seeks to create a new religion to teach the world about the revelations he acquired during his blindness. Tommy gradually discovers that his disciples are more interested in a quick fix than spiritual enlightenment; he warns them that they can't follow him through drinking, getting high, or dropping acid, and when they beg him to give them ''some'' kind of easy spiritual key he forces them to play pinball while wearing blindfolds and earplugs. In the end, the masses rebuke and abandon him - and it is then that Tommy, broken, alone, and possibly dying, finds God.

Eventually, he gains, or regains, his senses after a cathartic moment in which the mirror in which he glimpsed the original murder is smashed. Free to speak for himself, Tommy becomes a [[TheMessiah spiritual leader]] to the fans he's gained through his pinball, and seeks to create a new religion to teach the world about the revelations he acquired during his blindness. Tommy gradually discovers that his disciples are more interested in a quick fix than spiritual enlightenment; he warns them that they can't follow him through drinking, getting high, or dropping acid, and when they beg him to give them ''some'' kind of easy spiritual key he forces them to play pinball while wearing blindfolds and earplugs. In the end, the masses rebuke and abandon him, and the only people left to stand by Tommy are the dysfunctional family he was having trouble with in the beginning.

[[caption-width-right:320:The front cover of the original album.]]

* OneSceneWonder: Music/EltonJohn's appearance as the Champion/Local Lad in TheMovie is one of the most talked-about parts of the film (he even got third billing after Daltrey and Ann-Margret), and he barely even gets five minutes of screen-time. It probably didn't help that it was released in the UK the day after his twenty-ninth birthday.

* VillainSong: [[CreepyUncle "Fiddle About"]], [[MiserAdvisor "Tommy's Holiday Camp"]] [[DisneyAcidSequence "The Acid Queen"]] and [[TeensAreMonsters"Cousin Kevin"]].

* VillainSong: "Fiddle About", "The Acid Queen" and "Cousin Kevin".

-> ''Listening to you I get the music, gazing at you I get the heat''
-> ''Following you I climb the mountain, I get excitement at your feet''
-> ''Right behind you I see the millions, on you I see the glory''
-> ''From you I get opinions, from you I get the story''
--> Tommy, "Listening To You" ([[ArcWords and "Go to the Mirror!"]])

And of course, being something that delivers plot through music, you have to make some allowances, and read into it in some places. That said, it has more continuity than many examples of RockOpera, and has a very definite plot arc embedded in the catchy tunes. The story is heavily inspired by Pete Townshend's then-recent conversion to [[NotChristianRock the teachings of Meher Baba]] and his subsequent rejection of psychedelic drugs, a theme he would continue to explore in later albums.

It's BetterThanItSounds. And of course, being something that delivers plot through music, you have to make some allowances, and read into it in some places. That said, it has more continuity than many examples of RockOpera, and has a very definite plot arc embedded in the catchy tunes. The story is heavily inspired by Pete Townshend's then-recent conversion to [[NotChristianRock the teachings of Meher Baba]] and his subsequent rejection of psychedelic drugs, a theme he would continue to explore in later albums.

* BittersweetEnding[=/=]DownerEnding: "Sally Simpson", and the album as a whole. [[YourMileageMayVary Your mileage WILL vary.]]

** And after that the song turns into him listing all the assorted things he could do ([[YourMileageMayVary is doing?]]) to Tommy (burning his arm with a cigarette and dunking his head underwater (and spraying him with a fire hose outside from upstairs in the film version), among others).

* FauxSymbolism: In the film, it's quite apparent that director Ken Russell has never met a piece of symbolism he couldn't beat his viewers over the head with.

* TooDumbToLive: Tommy's parents, who can't find a (competent) doctor for him until 3/4ths through the story. And said doctor ''lives in the same town they do''. They take him to [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel the Acid Queen]] before that!

A RockOpera by TheWho. [[MagnumOpus Their best-known and most influential album]], its 1969 release [[TropeCodifier introduced the world to the concept]] of RockOpera, made the Who into a household name in Britain and the US, and propelled what had previously been a little-known Mod band into the annals of rock history.

* WalkingShirtlessScene: Tommy himself in the movie, after he gets his senses back. Though, granted, it's more like running shirtless ''underwater and on the lava from an active volcano.''
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome[=/=]SeriousBusiness: {{Pinball}}. In the film, he doesn't wear a blindfold/earplugs, so it appears his massive following is simply based on being the pinball champ regardless of disability.

* BlackSheepHit: "Pinball Wizard" was added to the album as an afterthought, supposedly to gain the favor of New York Times music critic Nik Cohn, who was noted to be a fan of pinball. Pete Townshend even admitted that it was "[[ExactWords the most clumsy piece of writing I'd ever done]]"; he refused to believe there was ''any'' merit to it until the producer and the rest of the band said it sounded like a hit.

* BreakawayPopHit: "Pinball Wizard" served as this for both the original album and the 1975 film.
* BreatherEpisode: "Pinball Wizard". Wonder if that has anything to do with the above?

* HotMom: Nora, in the film. Comes with the territory of being played by Ann-Margret. ''Especially'' during "Champagne;" ooh-la-la, you're telling me she has a son in his ''twenties''?
* IAmNotLeonardNimoy: You'd actually be surprised to find out how many people think that Music/EltonJohn is really playing ''himself'' in the movie and not just a character that was always going to be in it whether he agreed to take the part or not. To be fair, most if not all of the small parts he's had in movies before and after this have had him as himself and the outfit does have the kind of style he was into at the time, but still.

* NoEnding: The movie, though a case can be made for WhatNowEnding.
* OneSceneWonder: Music/EltonJohn's appearance as the Champion/Local Lad in TheMovie is one of the most talked-about parts of the film (he even got third billing after Daltrey and Ann-Margret), and he barely even gets five minutes of screen-time. It probably didn't help that [[ShownTheirWork it was released in the UK on March 26, 1976, the day after his twenty-ninth birthday.]]

* RockOpera: [[TropeMakers The first one, in fact.]]

* SympatheticPOV: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] during "Pinball Wizard" where the POV switches to a pinball champion that Tommy defeats. The character himself isn't very important to the plot, but when comparing his character to all of the people singing the {{Villain Song}}s, it makes the villains singing them seem far, far worse. Though for [[MisaimedFandom some reason]] [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation some of]] [[FanDumb the fandom]] seems to interpret it as if said pinball champ is merely a SissyVillain.

* A 1972 recording by the London Symphony Orchestra, with members of the Who singing various parts along with other vocalists including Music/RingoStarr, Music/RodStewart, and Sir Richard Harris.
* A 1975 [[TheMovie film]] directed by KenRussell, which manages to be even more trippy and incoherent than the original album. Like the [=LSO=] recording, a number of guest musicians were featured, including Music/EltonJohn (whose recording of ''Pinball Wizard'' became a radio hit), Ann-Margret as Tommy's mother Nora, Music/EricClapton and Arthur Brown as the [[PreacherMan high priests of the church of MarilynMonroe]], OliverReed as Tommy's "Uncle Frank" Hobbs (who in this version kills Tommy's father rather than the other way around), and JackNicholson, in his only singing role, as Tommy's doctor. LighterAndSofter than the album, with gratuitous quantities of synthesized instrumentals and lots of LargeHam moments.

* DisneyAcidSequence: Most of the movie, especially the Acid Queen's scene. [[NightmareFuel And]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cKCGgmaSIEit isn't a good trip...]]

* DisneyAcidSequence: Most of the movie, especially the Acid Queen's scene. [[NightmareFuel]]And it isn't a good trip...

* DisneyAcidSequence: Most of the movie, especially the Acid Queen's scene. [NightmareFuel]And it isn't a good trip...

* NoEnding: The movie, though a case can be made for WhatNowEnding.

* A 1972 recording by the London Symphony Orchestra, with members of the Who singing various parts along with other vocalists including RingoStarr, RodStewart, and Sir Richard Harris.

* EpicRiff

* OneSceneWonder: EltonJohn's appearance as the Champion/Local Lad in TheMovie is one of the most talked-about parts of the film (he even got third billing after Daltrey and Ann-Margret), and he barely even gets five minutes of screen-time. It probably didn't help that [[ShownTheirWork it was released in the UK on March 26, 1976, the day after his twenty-ninth birthday.]]

* RecycledSoundtrack: "Sally Simpson" and "We're Not Gonna Take It" started out as unrelated pop ballads that Townshend re-worked to fit into the story - the former was originally a story about a groupie at a rock concert featuring a [[TheDoors Jim Morrison]] {{Expy}}, while the latter was a ProtestSong about fascism. The group wanted to put a cover of Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues" in but couldn't find a place to make it fit.
* RockOpera: [[TropeMaker The first one, in fact.]]

Fiddle about, fiddle about, fiddle about\\

* ShoutOut: In the film version of "Eyesight to the Blind", a religious cult led by PreacherMan EricClapton brings out a statue of MarilynMonroe in her pose from ''TheSevenYearItch'' hoping that her touch can cure Tommy. This whole scene is pure, unadulterated FauxSymbolism.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Played straight with lover Frank at first in the 1975 film adaptation, but then [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] at the end of the film when the angry mob kills him and Nora Walker.
* SummonBackupDancers: [[AvertedTrope Averted.]]

* A 1972 recording by the London Symphony Orchestra, with members of the Who singing various parts along with other vocalists including Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, and Sir Richard Harris.
* A 1975 [[TheMovie film]] directed by Ken Russell, which manages to be even more trippy and incoherent than the original album. Like the [=LSO=] recording, a number of guest musicians were featured, including Music/EltonJohn (whose recording of ''Pinball Wizard'' became a radio hit), Ann-Margret as Tommy's mother Nora, Music/EricClapton and Arthur Brown as the [[PreacherMan high priests of the church of Marilyn Monroe]], OliverReed as Tommy's "Uncle Frank" Hobbs (who in this version kills Tommy's father rather than the other way around), and JackNicholson, in his only singing role, as Tommy's doctor. LighterAndSofter than the album, with gratuitous quantities of synthesized instrumentals and lots of LargeHam moments.

* RecycledSoundtrack: "Sally Simpson" and "We're Not Gonna Take It" started out as unrelated pop ballads that Townshend re-worked to fit into the story - the former was originally a story about a groupie at a rock concert featuring a [[TheDoors Jim Morrison]] {{Expy}}, while the latter was a ProtestSong about fascism.

* A 1993 Broadway musical, composed by Pete Townshend and Des [=McAnuff=]. The musical changes the song order from both the album and the movie versions and takes a completely different tack in the finale -- here, it's Tommy's fans who want him to lead them to enlightenment, while all Tommy wants to do is play pinball and believes that normality is the greatest gift one can have.

* A 1975 [[TheMovie film]] directed by Ken Russell, which manages to be even more trippy and incoherent than the original album. Like the [=LSO=] recording, a number of guest musicians were featured, including Music/EltonJohn (whose recording of ''Pinball Wizard'' became a radio hit), Ann-Margret as Tommy's mother Nora, Music/EricClapton as the {{preacher man}}, OliverReed as Tommy's "Uncle Frank" Hobbs, and JackNicholson, in his only singing role, as Tommy's doctor. LighterAndSofter than the album, with gratuitous quantities of synthesized instrumentals and lots of LargeHam moments.

Born at the end of WWI (WWII in the movie and Broadway versions) to a war widow, Tommy Walker is an ordinary child growing up in postwar Britain until his father, BackFromTheDead, comes home, finds his wife with her new lover, and kills him in self-defense before Tommy's eyes (In the Broadway version; the movie version has the new lover kill the husband in self-defense, and the album itself leaves the nature of the event deliberately ambiguous). Traumatized by the experience, and his parents' exhortation that "You didn't hear it, you didn't see it, [[ConfusingMultipleNegatives you won't say nothing to no one ever in your life]]", Tommy is struck deaf, dumb (i.e. mute), and blind.

It's BetterThanItSounds. And of course, being something that delivers plot through music, you have to make some allowances, and read into it in some places. That said, it has more continuity than many examples of RockOpera, and has a very definite plot arc embedded in the catchy tunes.

* A 1975 [[TheMovie film]] directed by KenRussell, which manages to be even more trippy and incoherent than the original album. Like the [=LSO=] recording, a number of guest musicians were featured, including Music/EltonJohn (whose recording of ''Pinball Wizard'' became a radio hit), Ann-Margret as Tommy's mother Nora, Music/EricClapton as the {{preacher man}}, OliverReed as Tommy's "Uncle Frank" Hobbs, and JackNicholson, in his only singing role, as Tommy's doctor. LighterAndSofter than the album, with gratuitous quantities of synthesized instrumentals and lots of LargeHam moments.

* ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt: In "Miracle Cure", and in (what else?) "Extra Extra" from the 1975 film adaptation.

* FauxSymbolism: In the film, it's quite apparent that director KenRussell has never met a piece of symbolism he couldn't beat his viewers over the head with.

* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Actually played with quite interestingly. He's so inspirationally disadvantaged that an entire religion forms around him, and he has a legion of followers who want to be just like him. It turns sour when they realize that to be just like him and learn all he's learned they would first have to suffer just like him. After that they... Well, they aren't too happy. Played in an inverted fashion in the stage version, where Tommy's followers ''want'' to be like him, but he ''doesn't'' want them to; his ridiculous requirements of them are played more obviously as a (successful) attempt to turn them off.

* MessianicArchetype: Played with. Tommy is convinced that his experiences gained from his self-imposed exile from reality have given him some sort of spiritual insight into reality and gathers a small cult about him. His family tries to make money off of his cult, and his followers largely miss the point and ultimately reject his message.
* MinorCharacterMajorSong: "Pinball Wizard" is a popular song that gets talked about a lot, but you'd be lucky to find someone who knows that the real name of the minor character who sings it is officially credited as the Local Lad.

* OneSceneWonder: EltonJohn's appearance as the Champion/Local Lad in TheMovie is one of the most talked-about parts of the film, he got third billing after Daltrey and Ann-Margret, and he barely even gets five minutes of screen-time. It probably didn't help that [[ShownTheirWork it was released in the UK on March 26, 1976, the day after his twenty-ninth birthday.]]

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Played straight with lover Frank at first in the 1975 film adaptation, but then subverted at the end of the film when the angry mob kills him and Nora Walker.
* SummonBackupDancers: Averted.
* SympatheticPOV: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] during "Pinball Wizard" where the POV switches to a pinball champion that Tommy defeats. The character himself isn't very important to the plot, but when comparing his character to all of the people singing the {{Villain Song}}s, it makes the villains singing them seem far, far worse. Though for some reason [[FanDumb some of the fandom]] seems to interpret it as if said pinball champ is merely a SissyVillain.

Born at the end of WWI (WWII in the movie and Broadway versions) to a war widow, Tommy Walker is an ordinary child growing up in postwar Britain until his father, BackFromTheDead, comes home, finds his wife with her new lover, and kills him in self-defense before Tommy's eyes (In the Broadway version; the movie version has the new lover kill the husband in self-defense, and the album itself leaves the nature of the event deliberately ambiguous). Traumatized by the experience, and his parents' exhortation that "You didn't hear it, you didn't see it, [[ConfusingMultipleNegatives you won't say nothing to no one ever in your life]]", Tommy is struck deaf, dumb (meaning he doesn't speak), and blind.