Tommy is an alternate version of Pink from The Wall.
In Tommy's version of events, the father survived the war in a POW camp and returned, only to engage his wife's new husband in a fight to the death, which traumatized Tommy and made him enter into a near-catatonic state. When cured of this state, he briefly becomes a quasi-religious figure, protected by guards that assault Sally Simpson when she tries to get up on stage with him. In Pink's version of the events, the father died, and Pink's many negative experiences led him to build a "wall" around himself to keep others out. As he descends deeper into psychosis, he imagines himself as a fascistic dictator. This sequence grew out of Roger Waters' concern at having once spit at a disruptive fan at a concert, similar to the incident with Sally Simpson depicted in The Who's rock opera. Tommy is Jesus and Frank is L. Ron Hubbard.
Tommy represents the traditional religion and its more philosophical aspect while Frank represents the corruption of religion to be rip out of soul, packaged and sold as another good. And what better example for it that making him L. Ron Hubbard? Cousin Kevin and Uncle Ernie are from Frank's side of the family.
There is no way in HELL that Kevin and Ernie are Nora Walker-Hobbs' blood relatives!- They could be. She was incredibly unhinged.
- In an interview, Pete Townshend stated that Ernie is not really related to the Walkers.
- The movie supports this; in that version, Ernie was apparently a friend of Frank's who worked for the Acid Queen.
The Local Lad/Champ is from a rich family and doesn't have a real job...But he's not an idiot.
It would explain how he had enough time and change to become the best pinball player on every machine "from So-Ho down to Brighton". Cousin Kevin is Uncle Ernie's son.
Kevin ended up the way he is because Ernie has been molesting him all his life.- When I first listened to Tommy I subconsciously assumed this was the case. The parents are in the habit of leaving Tommy with Kevin, but they're not sure if it's alright to leave him there when Uncle Ernie is home drunk.
Cousin Kevin and Uncle Ernie are the Lover's surviving family.
Kevin was the Lover's little brother and Ernie was the Lover's uncle who was stuck raising them both after their parents died. Naturally the mom knows them, since she had been with the Lover for a while before Tommy's dad came back. Plus, remaining close to them and calling them "cousin" and "uncle" keeps the town from finding out about the murder. Ernie is far too drunk and apathetic to either make the connection or care either way if he did. Kevin perhaps suspects that Tommy's dad killed the only person who protected him from Uncle Ernie's abuse, but he can't do anything about it, which is why he takes his anger out on Tommy. Note that Pete Townshend claimed Uncle Ernie was no relation to either of the parents.- That is a good theory, but that wouldn't work well for the movie adaptation since the lover is the one that lives as opposed to Tommy's father.
"Glow Girl" realizes the entirety of Tommy if the titular character were born a girl.
"Glow Girl" was a little known track that was intended for an unreleased album between The Who Sell Out and Tommy, but said album was shelved because the band were uninterested in working on it. Strangely enough, the song seems to tell the story of Girl!Tommy in reverse:- The very first lyrics are listing off things that belonged to her that her friends and family thought "identified" her. This verse ends with the line "A million little memories, a million little laughs", which is undoubtedly everyone grieving of her death.
- The next verse talks about a wing on an airplane catching fire. The way it's described sounds like everybody has already lost hope at this point, meaning that the death of everyone aboard is probably a given to the passengers. Seems a bit too sudden, doesn't it?
- ...well, that's where the next verse comes in, detailing how the plane is suddenly taking a dive, but eventually everyone just calms down and gives in to their fate.
- Finally, in a moment of brilliance, the last verse flashes back as far as possible, looking at the birth of Girl!Tommy. If you've ever listened to Tommy at all, you would be familiar with the "It's a boy, Mrs. Walker, it's a boy..." sung near the very beginning of the album. Guess what's chanted here? "It's a girl, Mrs. Walker, it's a girl..." - I rest my case.
