Who – Tommy (1969)

From you, I get opinions 

From you, I get the story

Every once in a while, something reminds me that I am very, very old.

For example, I recently came across a comment on Reddit from someone who had just purchased the two-record vinyl version of the Who’s Tommy:

[I] was confused by how the tracks were laid out.  One record contained sides one and four while the second record contained sides two and three.  I was wondering if this was the way it was meant to be laid out or if this was some sort of misprint?

If you’re a member of my generation, you know why that is because you know how record changers work.

But if you’re a member of the current generation, record changers – like pay phones and Polaroid cameras – are like artifacts of an ancient civilization.  You may have heard about such items from the village elders, but it’s unlikely that you’ve ever seen or used one of them.     

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Tommy is generally considered to have been the first “rock opera.”  The Pretty Things’ S. F. Sorrow – which can’t hold a candle to Tommy – is the other primary contender for that honor.  (If you’ve never hear of S. F. Sorrow, you’re not alone – it failed to chart in either the U.S. or the UK.)

The Tommy album cover

The rock opera is a pretty rara avis.  (The Who somehow managed to produce a second one – Quadrophenia – four years after giving birth to Tommy.)    

I think Jesus Christ Superstar deserves to be called a rock opera, and I wouldn’t argue with you if you called Hazards of Love by the Decemberists a rock opera.  

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Don’t confuse the Decemberists and the Decembrists.

The Decemberists are an indie band from Portland, Oregon.  

The Decembrists were the Russian noblemen and military officers who fomented an unsuccessful uprising to overthrow Tsar Nicholas I in December 1825.

My oldest son is named Nicholas, but he wasn’t named for Tsar Nicholas I.  Nor was he named for Tsar Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar.  

My younger son is named Peter, but he wasn’t named for Peter the Great – it’s a coincidence that my two boys share first names with Russian emperors.

My daughters are named Caroline and Sarah.  There have been more Queen Carolines than you can shake a stick at – the two most famous ones were the wives of the English kings George II and George IV, but there were also Queen Carolines of Bavaria, Denmark, Hungary, Naples, and Saxony – but my daughter wasn’t named for any of them. 

Caroline of Ansbach, who married
King George II and became Queen
Caroline of England and Ireland

The only queen named Sarah I’ve been able to find was Sarah of Turnovo, the second wife of Tsar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria (who ruled from 1331 to 1371).  

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I could go on and on like this, but it’s getting late.  Time to wrap things up!

Click here to listen to Tommy.

Click here to buy that album from Amazon.