There are many, many reasons why 2000’s “Almost Famous” is my favorite movie. One, rockin’ music. Two, journalism. Three, “I am a golden god!” Four, Jason Lee with a sweet beard and lovely, long locks. Five, the infamous “Tiny Dancer” sing-along scene.
But arguably the most important reason is this: six, The Who’s “Tommy.” When Anita Miller tells her younger brother William, the future teenage rock journalist, to “listen to ‘Tommy’ with a candle burning, and you’ll see your entire future,” I had to check out this fortune-telling album. That was a while ago, and my love for the album has yet to wane.
A British band, The Who first hit it big in 1964 as a mod band with “My Generation.” As the years went on, they developed their sound and became one of the most influential rock bands of all time. It is evident in 1969’s “Tommy” why this is so.
As a boy, Tommy witnesses his father kill his mother’s lover, and when he is told, “You didn’t see it. You didn’t hear it. You won’t say nothing to no one ever in your life,” he is psychosomatically made deaf, dumb and blind. Tommy goes through life being tortured, molested and “treated” for his problem. When he discovers pinball, it changes his and his family’s lives, and when a mirror breaks in the middle of the story, it results in something that changes their lives even more.
“Tommy” starts off with “Overture,” which works as a preview for the songs on the album. This is possibly my favorite Who song for the simple fact that it’s an album’s worth of fantastic and epic songs all rolled into one. It is just a small taste of the spectacular the listener is about to experience. “Tommy” is chock full of crazy Keith Moon drumming, soulful John Entwistle bass, killer Pete Townshend guitar, powerful Roger Daltrey vocals and even some surprising, but still rocking, horns.
“Amazing Journey” describes the world Tommy lives in. Cut off from most senses, he lives in a “quiet vibration land” and “each sensation makes a note in [his] symphony.” This song is followed by “Sparks,” and it is easy to interpret the song as Tommy’s symphony. If “Overture” is not it, ” Sparks ” is easily a candidate for my favorite Who song. It grooves like nothing else and is kind of a trip. It starts as one thing and evolves into another and truly takes the listener on one “amazing journey.”
Other notable songs are “The Acid Queen,” “Pinball Wizard” and “I’m Free,” and while I would absolutely love to tell any and everyone why these and the rest of the songs on the album are amazing and pure rock ‘n roll, this would end up as less of an article and more of a novel because there is still a huge part of “Tommy” that I have yet to mention: 1975’s “Tommy” the movie, complete with an all-star cast.
I haven’t really touched on just how creepy and dark “Tommy” is because I feel like knowing these parts of the album might ruin it. Suffice it to say, the movie is that much creepier than the album. As mentioned, Tommy is taken advantage of and mistreated in many different ways and seeing these things in a movie whose purpose, I am convinced, is to make people on drugs freak out, made me, not on drugs, freak out as well. Daltrey plays Tommy and Moon plays one of Tommy’s tormentors. Seeing Moon the Loon treat poor, innocent and incredibly dreamy Daltrey the way he did was enough to bring me to tears because while I watched, I couldn’t stop thinking how horrifying and confusing it must be for Tommy. This is only one freaky part of the movie. There are many more.
As far as the music in the movie is concerned, it pains me to say it is a little hit or miss. Being an enormous fan of the album, I can still dig the different versions of the songs, but I can see where someone who is not familiar with the album might be turned off in a few places. Unfortunately, many of these songs are in the beginning, and I hate that people might not give the movie a chance based on those songs.
Tina Turner as the Acid Queen and her version of the song are almost as scary as the torture scenes. She twitches like an addict in withdrawal and shouts the song instead of singing it. But Elton John as the pinball champion who Tommy competes against is genius. Even though he was 28 when the movie came out, he still has a very childlike quality that really works for the character. Even better, his version of “Pinball Wizard” does not disappoint. Paul Nicholas plays Cousin Kevin in his terrifying but great scene, and his version of the song is fantastic. He somehow remains almost charming while being a completely despicable human being. It is somewhat odd seeing Jack Nicholson as the doctor who tries to cure Tommy, and while it’s weird, it works.
Because of the absurdity of the movie, I wouldn’t recommend seeing it before listening to and loving the album. It’s impossible to fully appreciate the movie without hearing the album first. Knowing how incredible the album is puts the movie’s songs in a better perspective and makes one more willing to give them a chance.
The album is absolutely perfect. The movie has a few flaws. But as a whole, “Tommy,” the full experience, is kind of mind-blowing. I would love to say The Who were ahead of their time, as many fans have said, but that implies great music like theirs happened again at a later time, and, quite honestly, nothing rocks harder than The Who. Nothing even compares.