See Me; Feel Me; Touch Me; Heal Me.

It is hard to believe that forty-five years have passed since Tommy, The Who’s 1969 rock musical double-album, which was later adapted into a 1975 film broadcast on Brisbane television and simulcast on Brisbane’s FM radio, becoming a major television event of 1981. I still recall the event through the mist of time, and my reaction at almost twelve, when my late mother told me that Saturday afternoon, we were going to my late aunt’s house to watch a rock musical. “We’re going to do what?” was my inelegant response. My late mother repeated herself: “We are going to watch the rock musical, Tommy.” Now, I was even more intrigued. “What’s a rock muck musical?’ was my further inelegant query. By now, I was testing my late mother’s patience on two fronts: first, my inelegant speech, which challenged her erudition; second, my ignorance of rock musicals. Still, as she tried to do, until as an obnoxious boy I pressed her buttons too often, she calmly (on this occasion) explained to me that there was a film named Tommy, that it was a significant rock album of the late 1960s made into a film, and that while it was being screened on television that evening, the sound would be simulcast on radio. As a dopey child still watching cartoons on a Saturday morning, a rock musical was as enticing as getting a tooth pulled by the dentist. Still, I was almost twelve, so I had no say in the matter- I was going to watch a rock musical on a Saturday night, when normally I would be watching some mind-numbing rubbish on the television. Yet it was not any old rock musical- it was Tommy– it broadened my perspective on life.

Predominantly written by The Who’s guitarist, Pete Townshend, Tommy was The Who’s fourth studio album, released on 2 May 1969. Yet it was an album like none before, hailed by critics for its authenticity. Indeed, several writers have opined that it is an important and influential album in the history of rock music. Townshend conceived Tommy after he was exposed to the work of Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba, and he attempted to translate Baba’s ideas into music.

As previously stated herein, in 1975, the album was adapted into a film, and the plot of Tommy the movie highlights its uniqueness in the history of music. So please be patient and come for the ride. Tommy’s storyline is focused on a fictional character. Tommy Walker. British Army Captain Walker goes missing during an expedition and is believed dead (album song, “Overture”). His wife, Mrs Walker (played by Ann-Margret in the film), gives birth to their son, Tommy, on VE Day (the album song “It’s a Boy”). Five years later, in 1950, Nora begins a new relationship with Frank (played by Oliver Reed in the film), a holiday worker whom she and Tommy meet at a holiday camp. Tommy respects his “Uncle” Frank (“Bernie’s Holiday Camp”). On New Year’s Eve, Nora and Frank dream of their future (album song “1951” – What About the Boy?). Still, late that evening, the returning Captain Walker surprises the couple in bed, leading to a struggle where Frank kills Captain Walker (contrastingly, on the album Captain Walker kills the lover, yet how could the producers dispose of the late, great Oliver Reed so early in a film). Realising that Tommy has witnessed the murder through the reflection of a mirror, the couple coerce Tommy into believing he did not see or hear anything and will tell no one. This traumatic experience causes Tommy to enter a dissociative state where he outwardly appears “deaf, dumb, and blind”, though internally he finds himself experiencing the world through a psychedelia-like state (album song, “Amazing Journey”). Later, at a Christmas party, Nora is distressed that Tommy “doesn’t know what day it is” (“Christmas”). Subsequently, Nora and Frank make several fruitless attempts to bring the now-older Tommy out of his state, taking him to a faith healer (a song written by Sonny Bill Williams II in 1951, “Eyesight to the Blind”) and a drug dealer (album song, “The Acid Queen”). They become disillusioned and inert about Tommy’s recovery, placing him with some questionable babysitters (“Cousin Kevin”; album song “Fiddle About”) and eventually leaving Tommy standing at the mirror one night, allowing him to wander off. He follows a vision of himself to a junkyard pinball machine (“Sparks”) and begins to play. Frank and the media recognise Tommy as a pinball prodigy (“Extra, Extra, Extra”), which is even more impressive given his sensory impairment. During a championship game, Tommy faces The Champ (album song “Pinball Wizard”, which was also released as a single and reached number 4 on the charts) with the Who as the backing band, and Elton John singing, the video of which can be accessed at this link:

Nora watches and celebrates her son’s televised victory, which consequently becomes their success and luxury. Still, she finds she can’t fully enjoy it because of Tommy’s extreme condition (“Champagne”). Frank finds a specialist for Tommy (song, “There’s a Doctor”), who concludes that Tommy’s senses are functioning but blocked by an internal issue and explains that the only hope is to keep having Tommy face his reflection (album song “Go to the Mirror!”). Nora, who becomes frustrated, throws Tommy through the mirror (“Smash the Mirror!”), causing him to regain consciousness (album song “I’m Free”). Tommy reveals that his experiences have transformed him and decides to transform the world (“Mother and Son” / “Miracle Cure”). Tommy goes on lecture tours that resemble glam-rock gospel shows and spreads a message of enlightenment by hang glider, gaining friends and followers everywhere he goes (“Sally Simpson” / “Sensation”). Tommy, a more enlightened and elated Nora, and Frank welcome converts to their house, which quickly becomes too crowded. Tommy opens an extension for his religious campus (“Welcome” / “Tommy’s Holiday Camp”). The converts, confused about Tommy’s odd practices and his family’s commercial exploitation of the compound, wrathfully demand that Tommy teach them something useful. Tommy does so, artificially deafening, muting, and blinding everyone, only to provoke a riot inadvertently. The followers kill Nora and Frank and destroy the camp in a fire (album song, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”). Tommy finds his parents in the debris and mourns before escaping into the mountains at the beginning of the film. He ascends the same peak where his parents celebrated their honeymoon, celebrating the rising sun (written by The Who, “Listening to You”)

I know that was quite a prolix synopsis of the plot, but to the uninitiated, you must understand the entire storyline is music, good old rock music, performed with an artistic flair that The Beatles and The Rolling Stones could not rival. The album was also adapted into a stage musical in 1992, and it is set to return to Broadway this year. In 1998, Tommy was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

So, I return to 1981, and my moment of experiencing this extraordinary rock musical. It was a confronting yet also enlightening experience, and being a child who had not encountered a rock musical like Tommy before that evening, I subsequently became and still am a fan of The Who’s rock genius, and, in particular, the genius of Pete Townsend. Before I close the final chapter of my life, I want to revisit Tommy one more time and relive that sublime experience from 1981.