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{{work}}
{{quote|''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" ([[Arc Words|and "Go to the Mirror!"]])}}
A [[Rock Opera]] by [[
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, [[Back
As Tommy grows from a boy to a young man, his disability leaves him [[All of the Other Reindeer|despised by his peers,]] and even his own family turns against him -- he's beaten and tortured by his cousin, molested by his uncle, and his parents consider institutionalizing him. The only things keeping Tommy sane are his memories and his "visions" -- a sensation of a spirit guide showing him the true nature of the universe, which eventually manifests itself, as far as Tommy is concerned, in the most mundane of leisure activities -- [[Pinball]]. He becomes a "Pinball Wizard"; even though he cannot see the machine nor hear it, he can ''feel'' the vibrations of the table under his hands, which enables him to outplay and outscore anyone. He develops a [[Fandom]] because of this; his celebrity making his family rich and famous.
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In addition to the original LP and several live recordings by the Who, a number of adaptations have been produced, including:
* A 1972 recording by the London Symphony Orchestra, with members of the Who singing various parts along with other vocalists including [[
* A 1975 [[The Movie|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 [[
* 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 Tommy believes they ''shouldn't'' put themselves through what he had to suffer, and believes that normality is the greatest gift one can have.
* No idea when it came out (somewhere in the 70s) but the salsa record company Fania made this a Salsa Opera called Omi (
See also ''[[Quadrophenia]]'', [[
----
{{tropelist}}
* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The [[The Movie|1975 movie]] and the 1993 [[The Musical|stage musical]]. For instance, in the movie Mrs. Nora Walker's new husband is the one who murders Tommy's father, rather than the other way around, and the mysterious figure that guides Tommy during "Amazing Journey" is replaced with his (dead) dad, reducing the overall number of characters. In the stage version, on the other hand, the actor who plays the adult Tommy doubles as the spirit guide.
* [[Adaptation Expansion]]: The movie has quite a bit of new music, and gives Nora Walker's second husband a good deal more characterization, shows more of their relationship, and even has him as an employee at a [[Foreshadowing|holiday camp]].
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* [[Arc Words]]: "See me, feel me, touch me, heal me..."
* [[Author Appeal]]: The plot and theme of the opera was heavily influenced by Townshend's conversion to the teachings of Meher Baba and his simultaneous rejection of psychedelic drugs.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]/[[Downer Ending]]: "Sally Simpson", and the album as a whole. [[Your Mileage May Vary|Your mileage
** In the film version of "Sally Simpson", this is averted by giving Sally an obviously fake scar, making her husband a [[Frankenstein's Monster]] lookalike, and at the end, having her shrug the whole thing off while dressed in expensive furs and jewels.
* [[Blind Seer]]
* [[Breather Episode]]: "Pinball Wizard". Perhaps this is part of how it became a [[Black Sheep Hit]].
* [[Brick Joke]]: The seemingly unrelated "Pinball Wizard" later becomes important as a path to enlightenment.
* [[BSOD Song]]: This is what "See Me, Feel Me" becomes when
* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]: "I'm your wicked Uncle Ernie..." And let's not forget:
{{quote|
''The classroom cheat
''The nastiest playfriend
''You ever could meet
* [[Concept Album]]: One of the early ones.
* [[Confusing Multiple Negatives]]: In "1921": "You didn't hear it, you didn't see it, you won't say nothing to no one ever in your life."
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** [[The Cover Changes the Meaning]]: In both the album and the 1993 musical, a pimp who calls himself a "hawker" (i.e., a peddler) says that there is a prostitute of his (eventually the Acid Queen/Gypsy) whose sexual prowess can heal Tommy. In the 1975 film, however, the Hawker is replaced by a preacher and a priest of a "religious" cult of [[Marilyn Monroe]] who claims that her movie-acting fame, sexual prowess, and "saintly" nature can cure Tommy on the touch of her idol statue (even though she is dead).
* [[Creepy Uncle]]: Uncle Ernie, an alcoholic pedophile. Even creepier is that, aside from his number "Fiddle About", the part is usually played as dark comic relief, with the 1975 and 1993 versions. (The movie in particular, as it casts Keith Moon as Ernie and he spends his entire time on camera [[Ham and Cheese|completely hamming it up]]. Credit must also be given to Ringo Starr, who similarly hammed it up as Ernie in the London Symphony Orchestra recording.)
* [[Cue the Sun]]: During the band's performance at [[Woodstock]], the climactic moment of ''See Me, Feel Me'' happened to coincide precisely with [[
* [[Death
* [[Disability Superpower]]: One interpretation is that Tommy can feel things as music, hence the [[Rock Opera]] part.
* [[Disney Acid Sequence]]: Most of the movie, especially the Acid Queen's scene. [[Nightmare Fuel|And it]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cKCGgmaSIEit isn't a good trip...]
* [[Disposable Fiance]]/[[Asshole Victim]]: In the 1993 musical, the boyfriend talks about getting married with Tommy's mother. However, when her husband comes back home from the war, the mother feels surprised and relieved that he's alive after all, and the boyfriend soon becomes a [[Jerkass]] by acting hostile toward Tommy's parents and attempting to kill the father. Fortunately, the father disposes of him by shooting him dead in the struggle.
* [[Dysfunction Junction]]
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* [[Evil Laugh]]: There's some in "Tommy's Holiday Camp" on the ''Live at Leeds'' version.
* [[Evil Uncle]]: Ernie. He molests Tommy, and then exploits his cure, and later his fame, as well as his fans.
* [[Extra! Extra! Read All About It!]]: In "Miracle Cure", and in ([[Captain Obvious|what else?]]) "Extra Extra" from the 1975 film adaptation.
* [[Fan Disillusionment]]: In-universe.
* [[Fandom]]: Has one in-universe and something of one in [[Real Life]].
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** There's also a bit of it in [[The Movie]] with the holiday camp near the beginning.
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: The whole point of the story. It's about a boy who is traumatized and checks out for most of his life. When he wakes up he continues to act in a way that suggests that he is still not fully connected to reality.
* [[Hollywood Tone Deaf]]: In the film version, Keith Moon's [[Creepy Uncle|Uncle Ernie]] tone-deaf "singing" sounds as if he [[Talk Like a Pirate|talks like a]] [[The West Country|West Country]] [[
* [[Hot Mom]]: 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''?
* [[Inspirationally Disadvantaged]]: 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. [[Inverted Trope|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.
* [[Ironic Birthday]]: Inverted in the 1993 musical: As 4-year-old Tommy, his mother, and her new lover celebrate her 21st birthday, her presumed-dead husband arrives and breaks up by engaging in a fight between him and the boyfriend that soon leaves the boyfriend dead... all the while the mother tries turning Tommy away from the fight toward the mirror... with which he witnesses said fight by looking at it, after which the parents soon get surprised by what they see before the father gets arrested. Whoops!
* [[Kids Are Cruel]]: Cousin Kevin.
{{quote|
''To find me it would take you a week
''But tied to that chair you won't go anywhere
''There's a lot I can do to a freak
** And after that the song turns into him listing all the assorted things he could do ([[Your Mileage May Vary|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).
*** Songwriter John Entwistle was inspired by his childhood experiences with a bullying neighbor kid, with whom his parents inexplicably left him on a regular basis (John eventually beat up the bully when he realized he'd grown tall enough to look the other kid in the eye).
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* [[Leitmotif]]: In the form of [[Recurring Riff|Recurring Riffs]], appropriately enough for a [[Rock Opera]].
* [[Lyrical Dissonance]]: More subtlety in most cases, but it's there.
* [[Messianic Archetype]]: [[Playing
* [[Minor Character, Major Song]]: "Pinball Wizard" is a popular song that gets talked about a lot, but you'd be lucky to find someone outside of the Tommy fandom who knows that the real name of the minor character who sings it is officially credited as the Local Lad.
* [[Miser Advisor]]: Tommy's adoptive dad in the movie, as well as uncle Ernie in both versions.
* [[Movie Bonus Song]]: A few of them: "Bernie's Holiday Camp", "Extra Extra" (set to the tune of "Miracle Cure"), "Champagne", "Mother and Son", and "TV Studio".
** Although not Movie Bonuses, a few new songs are included in the musical: "We've Won", "I Believe My Own Eyes", and "Sally's Question".
* [[Mundane Made Awesome]]/[[Serious Business]]: [[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.
* [[No Ending]]: The movie, though a case can be made for [["What Now?" Ending]].
* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: [[
* [[Only Sane Man]]: The doctor in "Go To The Mirror!". He's the one person who finally deduces that Tommy's condition is psychosomatic, and he (briefly) considers the sort of isolation shock that recovering his senses will cause.
* [[Papa Wolf]]: Captain Walker in the 1993 musical. And he's not very happy when he discovers his wife and son with her new [[Jerkass]] lover on her 21st birthday!
** Tommy's stepfather in the film. Despite him being responsible for the Boy's father's demise and causing his trauma to begin with, he tries his hardest to try to help Tommy. He tries to get him to participate in normal kid activities and when he seems to catch on at what Ernie did to Tommy, he sets Ernie's newspaper on fire. While he and Tommy's mother exploited Tommy's talent for Pinball for fame and fortune, they use said fortune to find a doctor to cure him. When Tommy is finally cured and decides to share his cure with the world, they exploit his image for merchandise, but when a riot breaks out and the rioters try to attack Tommy, the stepfather of all people is shown fighting them off one by one until they overwhelm and kill him.
* [[Parental Obliviousness]]: Tommy's parents, who only offer token concern at leaving him alone with his [[Complete Monster|cousin Kevin or uncle Ernie]].
* [[Pinball]]: [[Captain Obvious|"Pinball Wizard", of course.]]
* [[Recurring Riff]]: And all of them appear in the first track - "[[Foreshadowing|Overture]]"
* [[Recycled Soundtrack]]: "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 [[The Doors
* [[Rock Opera]]: [[Trope
* [[Rock Opera Plot]]: Though with more [[Nightmare Fuel]] than usual...
* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: The film version at least. It turns very cruel very quickly in the last ten minutes.
* [[Shotacon]]: Uncle Ernie.
{{quote|
''Fiddling about, fiddling about, fiddle about
''Down with your bed clothes, up with your nightshirt
''Fiddle about, fiddle about, fiddle about...
* [[Single
* [[Spared
▲* [[Single Issue Psychology]]: After years of attempts to treat him, all it takes to snap Tommy's trauma-induced catatonia is for his mother to smash the mirror he saw the murder in. Then he's instantly cured and can talk again.
▲* [[Spared By the Adaptation]]: Played straight with lover Frank at first in the 1975 film adaptation, but then [[Subverted Trope]] at the end of the film when the angry mob kills him and Nora Walker.
* [[Summon Backup Dancers]]: [[Averted Trope]].
* [[Sympathetic POV]]: [[Playing
** Also "Sally Simpson
* [[Taking the Bullet]]: Tommy's mother Nora takes a knife slash directed at Tommy near the end of the movie.
* [[Teen Pregnancy]]: Mrs. Walker at the beginning of the 1993 musical, who is pregnant at age 16 during [[World War II]].
* [[There Are No Therapists]]: See below.
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Tommy's parents, who can't find a (competent) doctor for him until
** [[Fanon|Some might interpret it]] as a criticism of the anti-psychiatry movement of [[The Sixties]].
* [[Unnamed Parent]]: Both of Tommy's parents are unnamed in both the album and the 1993 musical, though in the film version his mother has a name: Nora Walker.
* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: "Fiddle About
* [[Villain Song]]: "Fiddle About", "The Acid Queen", and "Cousin Kevin".
** Note that Kevin and Uncle Ernie's songs were written by John Entwistle -- Pete Townshend gave John the responsibility because he felt he himself didn't have the guts to be sufficiently sadistic.
* [[Walking Shirtless Scene]]: 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
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:The Sixties]]
[[Category:Films of the 1970s]]
[[Category:Tommy]]▼
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Multiple Works Need Separate Pages]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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