Tommy

This seems too focused as a one man obsession and while the band motifs can be heard it just doesn't come across as coherent. There are interesting ideas but the very good bits are well scattered.

Never really liked this album.

Pete Townshend's habit of playing lead as if it were an overamplified rhythm guitar irritates me no end. Then the prospect of three and half hours of this, between studio, demo and live versions was more than a little offputting. So I limited myself to listening to the studio versions. It started off OK, with keyboards, but quickly evolved into overentusiastic rhythm guitar as expected. Musically it didn't improve from there. As a narrative exercise in musical form, Tommy is reasonably impressive, but as music it is not. It is also quite evident from the streaming numbers on Spotify that many people have started listening to this but have given up after four or five tracks. The first five tracks all have 2 million plus streams but after that only Pinball Wizard, I'm Free and Christmas of the remaining 19 tracks mange to pass 2 million. I guess that there is only so much of The Who (and Townshend) that people can take in one go.

The Good - Ambitious approach to album making for it's time. A thoroughly thought out plot that is worthwhile and original. Some very catchy and musically interesting moments. Clearly influential. The Bad - Overly long, struggled to pay attention, especially during the instrumental passages. The lack of musical interest made the plot difficult to follow. Not a fan of the singer's falsetto. The Ugly - Controversial opinion time. I HATED the drumming on here. Understand that Keith Moon is regarded as a legendary drummer and whatnot, and maybe on another album he sounds better, but here the drums just sounded flat yet excessive and at times disruptive to the work as a whole. Summary - Respectable and important work, that alas is not for me, and I have no interest in revisiting. 2 pinball machines out of 5. 🕹️🕹️

Did not resonate with me at all. Rhythm is pretty boring.

Too long, not very interesting

The "Who" in "The Who" is finally explained with the release of "Tommy". Tommy is a person in this album that does things. Idk this album was ok. I think I'm just not a fan of The Who. Don't tell Peta, but i lied about listening to Quadrophenia so i could pretend I'm a music listener person. I only listened to about half way through before I got bored and switched to another album. A lot of this just felt.. idk... not my thing. I liked Underture.

Bro think he Genesis

Ok album not their best but yielded some good singles.

If this was Queen everyone would be pissing themselves, but it's The Who.

C'était absolument ignoble comme tout bon album des Who qui se respecte.

I am OK with the deaf dumb and blind kid playing pinball, but I am not OK with all of the familial abuse suffered by poor Tommy. I’d like to go back to before I listened to this. I will stick with the radio edits that came from this album and attempt to forget the rest. I guess because it was the first rock opera it should be on this list of albums to listen to before I die but I really wish it wasn’t. I hope Jesus Christ Superstar is also on this list.

The Who were so busy racing to develop rock opera technology, they never stopped to consider if they should. The story has always seemed kinda silly to me, so it's hard to take most of the songs with any degree of seriousness, even though many of them are enjoyable enough. Quadrophenia is a million times better.

I know it's blasphemy to many people (including my wife), but I just don't get it.

It's almost a joke how dumb The Who's lyrics are. Look, i like them well enough, but let's be realistic: any reasonably intelligent 5th grader could write more artful lyrics than their crap. Often the music is brilliant, but their lyrics have always made them sound like idiots. Everybody worships this album, and i just don't get it. It's ok! Not great, and not even close to their best.

It has some good songs, but I always thought that it was a bit pretenious and self-indulgent - my opinion hasn't changed.

I've always been a fair-weather Who fan, but have never listened to this album. I wasn't really that into it.

Man, the number of times I found myself bored listening to this was just, way too many times. 2/5

This album was a legend in its time. 43 years later I could hardly stand that sound. Far too artificial for me now.

couldn't finish

This is a PERSONAL rating - I acknowledge Tommy's place in musical history, but ... there's too much non-rock in there, and I didn't like most of it.

Not for me. I think The Who are one of those bands that I would just stick to a best of collection. Maybe I’ve come to them to late for it to mean anything to me. A couple of tunes on here but too long and meandering for me to really get into it.

Could not finish it, felt like I was listening to the same song continuously with no real changes to musical style.

Had some good moments, but for the most part it felt directionless.

Meh stressful

By this point I meet another The Who entry with complete contempt not because the music is bad but because I do this list to discover new music. The Who is the opposite of this because they’re neither a fun band to revisit like a Beatles album but they’re not interestingly bad. Like pinball wizard is a good song but not exciting like a Queen of Denmark or sparks

Underwhelmed by the lesser-known songs. Can’t get into it.

Meh

People really love this, but I can't get into it at all. I'm sure I'm missing something. I find The Who very hit and miss generally. Basically I quite like the tracks that have been on CSI franchises. So it's probably not for me.

eh

I understand the significance of it, still don’t like it. Read Townshend’s interview about it and he did too many drugs.

Meh

Eh

For a band that consistently wrote some absolute bangers this is a bit of a sprawling mess. There is probably a decent 11 track album in there somewhere but its just too long and bloated. 2/5

This is not the album that will make me a Who fan, that's for sure. A few good tracks here and there, but also a lot of filler, which is to be expected for an album that long. I guess seeing the film would help, but I'm not in a hurry to hear those songs again.

I mean, it goes on forever and all sounds the same after a while…

Way too long an album and I wasn't particularly impressed. 24 songs and nothing stood out. 5/10.

Nyt oli aika tylsää kekkulointia ja ei sytyttänyt. Levy 2 jäi ihan kokonaan kuuntelematta...

Paikoin todella hyvä, mut Who’s Nextin asettamalla rimalla kauas jäätiin

Yeah not bad

I don't think The Who is my style of music I do like pinball tho

2 stars mainly because of pinball wizard

It sounds a bit better whilst watching the film; although I didn't enjoy the film much either.

LoAd of nonsense. Pinball Wizard lifts it to 2 stars

Blijft lastig, iets te veel een rockopera voor mij

Met the Who heb ik een haat-liefde verhouding. Ze hebben een aantal toffe nummers, en ook het album Who's Next kan ik wel waarderen. Maar deze "rock-opera" trek ik echt slecht. Paar aardige tracks maar over het geheel veel te dik aangezet en echt te arty-farty voor mij. Next!

I like the concept, but parts of this have dated awfully, especially the "humourous" bits.

No more late 60s. Fuck. Off. 2/5.

The Who were so much better than this

Why, Who? Why?

This is more impressive in its scope and ambition than it is actually very enjoyable to listen to…

Jour 2 - Très ancré dans son époque. Les autres de the Who sont à mon avis meilleur J'ai juste pas aimé. 2

Musical theater in a bad way :/ much much much prefer the wall

A couple of good points but mostly background music.

the words "rock" and "opera" should always be separated by a great deal of lorem fucking ipsum

This album has no business being 75 minutes long. The guy yelling "Tommy can you hear me" on Christmas sounds like Charlie from It's Always Sunny. Really takes me out of it. Pete Townsend wrote this when he was like 23? What 23 year old sits down to write a rock opera??

* too instrumental. Great beats and riffs not backed by lyrics.

Tedious.

5/10

This may be one I would need to listen to several times to get into it. After spending the last week listening to Sondheim, this doesn't really measure up. If you told me that they made most of this up as they went along, I might buy that. Pinball Wizard is still a pip, but nothing else comes close to how strong that one song is. Whereas, like, Sweeney Todd? I mean, dudes. Sweeney Todd. It's a scary musical. The music... is actually scary. And sad. And funny. I'm not getting anywhere near that much out of this. It's not a fair comparison and I should judge this album on its own merits, but I don't wanna right now.

Tired of getting the same bands and music from the same decade. This shit random or not?

Meh

Pinball Wizard is a great song. Didn't love the rest.

I want to like The Who, I hate The Who

Who liked this? There are a few songs that are bangers but most of it is awful.

Meh. Not into concept albums, even less so rock operas. Pinball Wizard is a bop though, I do enjoy that tune. Props for the ambition with this album and it's amazing how they used to do the whole thing live, but I'm just not into it.

Hoewel ik een enorme progliefhebber ben, vind ik ‘vroege’ conceptalbums vaak wat moeilijk, zoals King Crimson’s eerste. Ik weet hoe invloedrijk Tommy is geweest, maar het raakt me niet. De muziek is wat te gekunsteld en het is voor mij meer behang dan een actieve luister.

What a drag.

THE FIRST ROCK OPERA?! Other than that it’s pretty lame, the bad songs to quality songs ratio is appalling. Would not listen again

too long

Had high expectations of this as a story based album, but the songs were boring leaving me not caring about the narrative.

not memorable, too british.

Meh. Late 60s, rock opera, double LP. Too long and most songs sounds very similar.

Not what I expected tbh, not a fan

I think I'm just not into Rock Operas. It has some good songs for sure, but it's more filler than killer.

Couple of good tracks, couple of pompous shit tracks, mostly average guff

Not a fan.

If you're into that sorta thing. I bet I could beat that deaf dumb and blind kid at pinball.

It would probably be of more interest to me alongside the stage play but I couldn't be assed with this as a stand-alone album.

3-4 absolute classics don’t hide the fact this is a bloated mess.

Ik vind het niet heel mooi. een tikkeltje te bizar

It's cool but not for 2 hours

I mean all Who jokes aside this one is kinda boring

What a stark difference between this and their prior album. I could not get into this one and I think that's because all my favorites are on the other album and besides those the Who kinda just feels like folksy UK music. Didn't even feel like rock music. Mixing between one minute songs and ten minute songs on an album with 24 total songs feels a lot like the preamble to Drake's Scorpion.

Listened to half. It felt so pretentious.

lukewarm

It was ok. None of the songs connected with me on the 2 play throughs.

1.5 i don't get it

Kind of got bored with this album for some reason.

really don’t like the who as much as I used to. 2.5

Definitely sounds like a rock opera.

Production: 8/20 Songwriting: 6/20 Innovation: 9/20 Bangers: 5/20 Emotional response: 5/20 =33 Booooooring

De este álbum conocía la canción de "Pinball Wizard". Nunca imaginé que la canción formara parte de una ópera, y conforme escuchaba la letra de las canciones entendí el por qué del nombre del disco. Me parece una idea muy genial y original. A pesar de lo original, y de haber escuchado el disco unas tres veces (por curiosidad), no me veo escuchándolo muchas veces en el futuro, excepto por Pinball Wizard. Creo que es un disco que "envejeció mal", lo cuál es una lástima.

Meh

-

Too long.

heeel medium, vond het echt niet zo leuk was een chore om naar te luisteren

Only knew a few of the songs but nothing really stood out to me on my first listen

Heard before?:❌️ Will listen again?:❌️

Some albums are simply all-time 5-Star classics. Discovering (or rediscovering) them has been one of the greatest joys of this project.

A one-hour and fifteen-minute-long semi-autobiographical double album containing 24 songs about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy who plays pinball by smell. Do I have that right? Have I grasped the concept correctly? Jesus fucking Christ. The self-indulgence. The excess. It’s like the crest of the wave of Boomerdom. No wonder they’re all so fucked in the head. Sitting in their four-bedroom houses, purchased for three thousand dollars, gin and tonic’ed up to the eyeballs, snapping their fingers along to this horseshit. That would turn your brain to wet candy floss too. Your very soul would become a lightning rod for the latest grievance. This album is the seed for the impending and deserved societal collapse.

Couldn’t get through it, an absolute chore

I actually put his project on pause for over a week because I absolutely could not face listening to another album by the Who so soon after the last one. Okay, this one was SLIGHTLY better than the other one. But no, the Who is still not for me. (Except Baba O'Reilly. Which has not been on either album I've been given so far. What's up with that?) Perhaps we could venture out of the '60s with the next album, dear random album generator? Other decades do exist.

I was never a Who fan and now I know for sure I am still not.

The Who were never my jam. Still aren't Though I was a Pinball Wizard at the right time for this song.

This is a bunch of bullshit for 2 hours twin.

fuck the who

Chaos Jonas vond het zo stom dat ik het moest afzetten

Nee

Most of the album is filler. Decidedly meh.

I didn't like it...

Basically unlistenable. There’s some musical elements and instrumental elements that could potentially bump this to a two but given how much interesting stuff at the time and how bad the lyrics and everything for this album is, cmon

Nobody is more up their own ass than those who make opera-rock.

The rock opera version of a late-period Tim Burton movie: horrific but not necessarily in a fun way. Imagine riding the bus, casually listening to "Cousin Kevin" and "Fiddle About" on your Beats...psychopathic behavior. Townshend, why are you fighting your god-given gifts? You're one of the great pop songwriters; this high-concept shit is smoke and mirrors! "Pinball Wizard" is so freaking good.

soo boring

If I never had to listen to The Who again, it would be too soon.

Mag ich nicht.

1.5/10 = honestly slop im sorry i just could not get into this at all and it felt like such a chore and the arrangements were all over the place to me and his voice was genuinely jarring i couldn't care less that it's a concept album at least make 2 or 3 good songs for me guys

The Who sucks.

I don’t like the label “dad rock,” but this is it right here. It’s triggering my Oedipus complex.

I wanted to like the idea of a rock opera, and I was with it the first two songs. But once we got into being molested a few times I was out. The circus cult ending only made it worse. I will not be able to listen to Pinball Wizard again now.

Rating: 3/10 I'm gonna be honest, I hated this album. At no point was I really invested in the music being played (sure it was adequate at least) and it just became increasingly painful to get through this 75 minute affair, just got more irritating and tiring. Props for it being maybe the first big rock opera? I'm not sure but probably is, but I was not a fan of the actual story in any way. Hot take I do not even care for Pinball Wizard. I consider Tommy to be highly overrated, if you like it good on you and clearly there is something that is fundamentally not clicking for me here. I doubt I will ever sit through this again to see if I 'get it' the second time around

meh. didn't listen from the get go

not my taste

I can see that they were trying to create this cohesive, operatic album with a big, dramatic sound. Instead, every song sounds like filler music in between songs at a concert. Remarkably unremarkable, especially for a 1969 album that really sounds more like 1965 than 1975.

This feels like the longest album I've ever heard in my life. It refuses to end. There is nothing I like about anything here.

Раніше їх нормально не слухав, але дуже сумніваюсь, що сподобається. Ні, це точно не моє. Ще й вокал досить дратуючий. Навіть не буду дослуховувати.

Interesting that Keith Moon claimed Led Zeppelin, one of the best bands of all time, would go down like a "lead balloon" when his own band was this awful

Fuck off The Who, ya boring. 1hr14 long and 24 songs and you can’t do one good one!? Only consolation, it was better than The Who Sell Out

3 hours of this?? Why?? Give me LTJ Bukem any day over this. Yuck!

yeah this sucks

i can't imagine putting so much effort into making an album and still having it come out so incredibly boring... 7 tracks in right now and i've felt absolutely nothing and you're telling me there's still 17 more to go was debating between 1 or 2 stars but fiddle about helped me make up my mind genuinely who listened to this and thought this is fire let's include it never felt so relieved as i did when it finally ended i think this is the worst out of all my 1 star albums

1. Overture: le son est ridicule, il a laché une phrase et j'ai juste l'impression d'écouter la BO d'un film random américain. 2. Je sais pas quoi dire le son est comparable à la taille de mon engin 3. Je rentre un peu dedans mais franchement oubliable 4. Pas dingue, on dirait juste que je pars tuer des indiens à dos de cheval armé d'un revolver 6 coups (me suis endormi un peu) 5. La prod la plus mid que j'ai pu entendre 6. Absolute Garbage 7. Tommy n'a pas l'air de t'entendre frérot (à chier le son) 8. Rincé 9. A ce niveau de l'album je sens que je vais rien aimer 10. C'est terrifiant à quel point y a pas d'âme dans la musique, c'est vide 11. Nul 12. Insupportable, Fiddle fiddle fiddle fiddle fiddle, vous voulez que je retrouve vos tombes et que je déterre vos ossements de saletés de fils de pute d'américain de merde ou pas les gars ? Parce que là j'en ai très envie 13. Seul son écoutable pour l'instant 14. Sympa sans plus 15. Ils ont quoi avec Tommy sérieux il doit leur devoir un sacré pactole le salopiaud (son à chier 2x) 16. Nul 17. Nul 18. Nul 20. J'ai encore entendu un nom que j'ai bcp trop entendu en seulement quelques heures. Faut lacher sa veste vraiment (son OK) 21. Ok sans plus, je pense que globalement ça manque de folie créative, c'est trop vu et revu les prods et les voix sont aussi banales, les paroles aussi sont claquées 22. C'est bad long et nul en plus 23. C'est extremement vilain, en fait je retire ce que j'ai dis sur la folie créative, faut juste arreter la musique là. 24. Tommy me rends DINGUE + Tellement lonnnnggggg

I don't really have a strong opinion of The Who coming into this album. I think of them as being a "jam band" but I have no idea if that is even accurate. I am a real sucker for albums that contain a narrative but this style of music doesn't do it for me. Christmas is an interesting track, I really like "how can men who have never seen light be enlightened" and ruminating on the idea of "how can he be saved? The subject matter here is just weird for me, it is a weird story. A disabled person getting abused by various people in his life.. like why??? It's dark and disturbing. What a bunch of weirdos

I know Tommy is considered a classic, but it wasn’t for me. The story felt bizarre, none of the songs stood out on their own, and much of the album sounded outdated and goofy.

I know this was a very influential album but I don't want to listen to a whole rock opera with a plot based on the torture of a child.

I don't get it! I just don't! Where is Keith Moon's drumming? Where are Roger Daltrey's impassioned vocals? Where is Pete Townsend's raucous playing? It feels like they took everything I love about the Who and just castrated it!! WHERE THE FUCK IS JOHN ENTWISTLE'S BASS PLAYING!!! THE BAND IS SO QUIET!!!! EVERYTHING BUT THE VOCALS ARE SO QUIET!!! Even though Christmas has interesting ideas about religion and disability in the kind of bite-sized contemplation that is great in song-format, it still just sounds like a bad Beatles song. What I find truly awful about this album’s first half is how little there is to take away from it aside from “Poor Tommy.” “What awful things to happen to Tommy.” Exploitation film levels in the grandiosity of cruelty that Tommy faces, but the content itself is so surface level I find it hard to empathize beyond pity. Tommy in the first half is less a character that listeners can imagine themselves as. Instead, he’s an object of atrocity. “Fiddle About” is one of the most disrespectful and gross depictions of CSA I’ve heard in song, maybe ever? How are you supposed to grapple with the story when _this_ is how you tell it? It’s clunk. It’s offensive. It’s DATED. How anyone was like WOAH THIS IS AWESOME in 1969 baffles me. I can’t imagine that this album inspired the creators of the great concept albums that followed (Read: David Bowie) with anything more than a with scoff and a frenzy at how staggeringly low the bar had been set right out of the gate for the “rock opera.”

God this list is tedious.

Absolute shit

never heard this and was very underwhelmed

1.5/5 Sure it's ambitious, but it's also very long winded and not overly interesting. There's probably 10-11 songs out of the 24 that were half decent. Get rid of the fluff and it would be a pretty good album.

Zzzzz

I found this really boring to listen to. Faded into the background, but not in a good way. Just a forgettable way.

Overrated band’s dumbest album.

I've never liked the who and I still don't

I generally like The Who but I just couldn’t get into this at all.

who? who? who? who? СКОЛЬКО ТРЕКОВ?????????????? Классические творожники на сковороде - это блюдо, которое идеально подойдёт для завтрака или полдника. Готовятся творожники очень быстро и с ними справится даже неопытный кулинар. В составе творожников нет муки, в ней они только обваливаются, и за счёт этого начинка получается очень сочной и вкусной, а сами творожники - воздушными. Приготовив раз творожники по этому рецепту, вы будете повторять их вновь и вновь. Творог - 200 г Мука - 2-3 ст.л. Манная крупа - 2 ст.л. Сахар - 2 ст.л. Яйцо куриное - 1 шт. Масло подсолнечное - 2 ст.л. Соль - щепотка Процесс приготовления Для того чтобы приготовить творожники из творога на сковороде нам понадобится мягкий сухой творог, манная крупа, сахар, соль, яйцо, мука и подсолнечное масло для жарки. Творог размять вилкой, добавить яйцо. Затем добавить манную крупу, щепотку соли и сахар по вкусу. Я добавила 2 столовых ложки. Тщательно размешать всю массу. Руками сформировать творожники и обвалять их в муке. Лишнюю муку стряхивать. В сковороде разогреть подсолнечное масло и выложить в него творожники, обжарить. Перевернуть и обжарить с другой стороны. По желанию прямо из сковороды творожники можно выложить на бумажные салфетки для удаления лишнего жира. Подавать творожники очень вкусно со сметаной, но вы можете использовать для этой цели мёд, сироп или варенье. Приятного аппетита!

- More pedos and Zionists to boycott. - The vocal melodies are really boring... so much of the same note over and over again so it's just like it's spoken. And, it's too boring to make me want to listen to the story, especially "spoken" in a singsong quasi-falsetto. There is really nothing here to hold onto, it just feels like supporting soundtrack music that can't stand on its own. - This album is so full of itself and definitely overstays its welcome very quickly. - I will never listen to this voluntarily again. Once was too much.

I admire their ambition. I admire some of the well executed operatic/ musical tropes. I can kind of get on with some of that who-style stubborn classic rock sound. The story seems wild but I don't think I'd let that bother me too much. It all just doesn't quite hit for me.

Not really keen on this rock opera… I thought it may be an average score but the more I listened the less I enjoyed…

They say seperate the art from the artist but boy, can a racist and a pedophile write some pretentious, fart sniffing drivel that just never fucking ends

i dont like this very much like its a vibe but not my vibe

A really, really hard listen - getting through this was a challenge

Pinball wizard, det hade räckt så, med en kanonsingel. Orkar inte ens med en hel lyssning, jag skippar igenom en del

Ett tålamodsprövande album. Jag har lyssnat igenom hela skivan två gånger. Av 24 spår hör jag bara ett par, tre riktigt låtar, med 1921 som bästa exemplet.

Den här har man ju hört talas om men aldrig lyssnat på. Det var helt klart bättre så. Jag gillar rock. Jag gillar opera. Men rockopera! Fy fan! Pete Townshend är ingen vidare låtskrivare och en usel sångare. Vid förra Who-albumet hyllade Fredrik Moons trumspel. Här kan jag instämma. Finns det någon behållning med plattan så är det Moon. Men du vinner inte VM med en bra mittback och ett uselt lag i övrigt.

Om man slår ihop proggrock och musikal, så blir resultat därefter.

Never again.

So cool off this.

What the hell type of janky-ass, thrown together rock opera was that? There are very few standalone interesting moments on this behemoth of an album. The story itself is meandering and seems to have a bad habit of spending far too much time in each phase of Tommy's life, then abruptly fast forwarding to the next phase with little warning. Most of the crap before Underture could be removed tbh. Underture itself was especially annoying because it was 10 mins of repetition with no buildup or pay off - nothing musically gained, nor learned which seems the antithesis of a LSD trip? Pinball Wizard is probably the only *good* song that is actually distinct on this record, but that makes it stand out significantly amongst the rest of the samey sounding tracks. Listen, I'm a man who enjoys a rock opera, but this was subpar and I'd be genuinely curious to hear a The Who stan's perspective on why this is good. For now, nope. 1.4/5 -> 1/5

boring

This really isn't very good is it? "Concept" albums rarely are, but the entire premise is just silly and most of the songs are, not to put too fine a point on it, crap.

Too much The Who. This album is fucking stupid. I'm not listening to over an hour of it. Pinball Wizard fucking sucks and is ridiculous. Fuck off!!!

Hmm a double concept album just a bit too much who to get through. I’m not of its generation but I don’t know that it’s aged all that well.

the hell

I really liked some of their hits like "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Riley", so I was actually looking forward to this, but wow, I was so bored throughout this. For what's apparently regarded as an essential rock album, this really has no bite to it at all. It's just okay to have on in the background and that's about it. Starting to think this early rock from the 60's just isn't for me.

I couldn't wait for it to end. I did not connect with this at all.

no

Also meh. Like not big on how these first two albums talk about women but you know how old music is

It was two hours of the same old sound; unfortunately, the songs didn't really grab me. So, one star for the effort.

Couldn't finish it. Rock opera bollocks

Eh. Not a whole lot fan.

This album only really gets going in the second half (presumably it's a double LP, so the second LP). On top of that only The Acid Queen jumped out at me, beyond the classics that we've all heard before. For these reasons I don't think it's worth listening to this album. I'm sure it was huge at the time, and there are some good tracks, but lots of it is forgettable. 1 - doesn't belong on this list.

Look, I recognize that this was basically *the* rock opera until the release of The Wall. But the problem is, I don't care for rock operas! And like, "here's a blind kid who plays pinball and starts a cult" isn't the most coherent basis for one anyway? Worst of all, though, is how seriously they take it. Like with The Who Sell Out, that was all a big joke, and it was absolutely perfect. But I don't hear much of that here. I'll just stick to hearing "Pinball Wizard" twice a day on the classic rock station, thank you very much.

Abject.

Just awful.

No.

Zero stars if I ever listen to this again I’ll know I’ve died and gone to hell

Extremely boring.

I never got into The Who, only heard some of their singles, which I didn’t particularly like. I was looking forward to actually listening to a whole album and see what awaited. There was nothing here for me. Not the lyrics, the voice, the instruments, nothing. The drums were cool, I guess

mid/25 = 0.2

1.5

….ok. I didn’t enjoy it but it was an interesting concept. After a couple I was just reading lyrics rather than listening to the whole songs It’s way too long they could have taken some stuff out. The Uncle Ernie stuff probably, like….

I did not like this very much. For its time, I can see how important it was. Very weird album and concept. For 1969 this would have been pretty unique I imagine. I just found it mostly boring. We all love Pinball Wizard but not a lot else I loved or liked or wanted to listen to again. I don't know The Who outside of singles so interested to see if any of their other albums land higher.

yessss snooze fest 😮‍💨 i skipped through this im ngl

The Acid Queen is cool. Also enjoyed Underture, Go To The Mirror and Welcome. We're Not Gonna Take It made me a little uncomfortable, the whisper part.. stressful! Not to even mention the 'gonna rape you' OMG SERIOUSLY!!!!! 1/5

A horrid concept album that fumbles through a nuanceless vision of disability, child abuse, sexual abuse and torture. Why was this made? Why must I listen before I die? And what is the moral of the story? That one must overcome their disability in order to achieve fame? That one's childhood traumas can, with the help of pinball and fame and a miracle cure, become irrelevant? Drivel. Horrible, harmful drivel. I can't believe it made this list. 1/10

This shit sucks, the vocalist sucks, the story is just stupid as well literally The Wall's failure of a cousin if he was blind deaf and stupid i bet most people who enjoy this are over the age of 50 reminiscing on their teen years lol

Daltry is a Brexit 🔔 🔚 and Townsend is a nonce. This is an insult to both rock and opera.

0/10 Pete Townshend is a pedophile.

Influental (for it's time)? Maybe...though it sounds like a lot of other music from this time. Good? No.

Outside of Pinball Wizard, this album is just not for me. Maybe meant for a different time but this does not endure to the 20th century.

not it that it was gonna be better didn’t finish tho

This was hard to plow through. There were just a couple of good songs buried in there, but it’s mostly painful to listen to.

Absolute ass

This one really didn’t do it for me.

apart from PInball Wizard, nope

I hate rock operas and this is worse than most. The lyrical content is weak and the music meanders as if lost, far from home. Oh, and then there's the sex abuse.

I love The Who, amazing band. Hate almost everything about this album though. Almost every track is filler and the story is super confusing and pretentious (not in the typical charming Who way)

Not a fan of concept albums. Yet to hear one I liked. Way, way, way too long. It's a 1 because I didn't finish it and I am not gonna put it on again.

Bailed after 9 songs, as I could see there were still many many more to come. I am not really a fan of 'Rock' or Opera, so that was never going to work for me. Pretentious without being interesting. Overblown.

Too long, overblown, a bit pompous, a bit tedious and a bit directionless. There are some cool instrumental licks interspersed here and there, and the concept surrounding the album is interesting at the very least, but the album never seems to have any idea of where it actually wants to go and I had to research/read into the concept whilst listening to make any sense of it. As soon as the album begins to build up a head of steam following a central idea, it falls into a perpetual loop of wanking itself into a coma - rinse and repeat.

It's a bore Mrs Walker it's a bore. The only song anyone knows from this is also shit

Tommy is a concept album telling the story of a disabled boy called, suprise suprise, Tommy. While the idea of the album is interesting, its 24 song, 1 hour 14 minute long length is perhaps too long for a mediocre rock opera. It is not bad, and has standout tracks such as "Overture", but the overall sounds feels repetitive and a little dry, with key features including vocal harmonies and drums front and centre. For a band with such a glorified history as "The Who", it is doubtless a little underwhelming.

This is one of those "classics" that's really overrated crap. Should have been a single with Pinball Wizard as the A side and Sparks as the B side.

At first I thought wow this will be an incredibly imaginative, instrumental exploration of what could have been a visual tale… but I couldn’t get through this and I’ll never try to listen to it again. Maybe having two concept albums back to back wasn’t helping my listening experience here, but this also 1000% felt self indulgent. Comes off like a strange drug trip narrative that a brain-fried friend tries to recount to you and no one could possibly know what he’s talking about except for himself. Favourite song(s): Least favourite(s): ^quite honestly I have no distinct choices it was all so bleh

Who wants to sit around listening to an hour of wank about uncles fiddling their nephews, cousins doing physical abuse and a 'gypsy' queen who foists drugs and sex on a kid? Is this fun for people?

Badly needed an editor. It felt like it kept going narrative verse, 30 secs instrumental, narrative verse, 1 minute instrumental. Irritating, meandering and bloated.

waste of time for me

This is just bad... Thin sounding. His voice doesn't fit this style at all. Instruments are boring. Most songs are boring as well. Tommy.. dude.. Just give up..

This was an absolute slog to get through, that's hitting skip partway through a few tracks. Gotta respect the rock opera concept album thing as a... concept, but nothing about the listening experience was enjoyable. Going in, I would have told you I liked "Pinball Wizard," but now I feel like I never want to hear it again—it's just going to make me relive the rest of this album and I'd rather not. Best: "Pinball Wizard" Worst: "Fiddle About"

When I first saw the song count, I groaned. I typically don’t like long albums so this had a high bar to reach. After getting into it a lot of the songs are shorter so while still a longer album not as much as the song list might imply. Before going into this, I knew the song Pinball Wizard. I also vaguely knew that they had made a play about the kid in Pinball Wizard. I didn’t know that the entire album basically is the self contained story of Tommy. Which is all really cool. However, this album is the first time so far in these listens that I have wanted to stop listening to the album. I dislike this album immensely. The lyrics do nothing for me and no much of it seems like a teenager wrote it and talented musicians performed it. I really liked the song Pinball Wizard before this and it did give me a brief respite in the middle of the album but ignorance was bliss because I like that song less after a full listen. This album has very few redeeming qualities to me, I do appreciate the concept album style of this but the story feels shallow at best. I fully understand why it is on the list but I never want to listen to these songs again.

Ive always thought of The Who as boring. This listen didn't change my mind at all. D'Angelo died yesterday. I'm gonna listen to Voodoo now.

Album 24/1001 You know a band must be taking themselves too seriously when they think producing a rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind kid is a good idea. 🤦 1 ½ / 5

I don’t like it.

Wow. Hated it. I was looking forward to experiencing this album, assuming that it would be track after track that I knew but didn't recognize from their titles. Nope! Knew 3 songs and didn't like the rest. Boo.

Pretentious rock opera ugh

I listened to as much of this as I could muster. Maybe seven songs? The word pretentious gets thrown around a lot and tends to be conflated with elitism. This album is pretentious in that it takes itself super seriously and it just doesn’t have the depth. The melodies are mediocre, the topics are so painfully boorish - it betrays the Who’s desire to appear as some kind of working class response to their contemporaries. I respect they were trying to do something; it’s just that they aren’t as smart as they think they are.

3 1/2 hours!? What could possibly be so important

Barely halfway through, and so far, it's okay. Exactly what you would expect from the 70s, I guess. Or late 60s, in this case. Kind of like a rock version of The Beatles. Kind of. Okay i didnt want to finish it. 3/10 i jus dont like it.

I disliked this immensely. Poor in concept and execution - long, pretentious and lacking any memorable songs to hang the concept around.

Too close to musical theatre for me

Its clear that all the bets were on the album concept. However, the execution was not great. It wasn't even decent. Too much abuse in the story, especially one of a sexual nature. What's the point? What does it contribute to the story, to Tommy's development? The narrative feels wonky and distasteful, the theme of sexual assault was not handled well. Musically, it was not too hard of a listen. Not enjoyable either. No song in particular stood out to me – they all seemed pretty dull. Will not listen again

Tommy by The Who? More like Who would recommend this album to me? Because it was bad. (Pinball Wizard is of course still a great song, but a deluxe album should have at least two?)

For the most part, the playing on this is great, especially Keith Moon's drumming. But it suffers from the lengths to which it goes to tell its story. The choruses on so many of these songs are simple and lame, presumably to make sure you know what's happening. The pacing suffers from multiple minute-long interludes and a 10 minute one that seems to only exist for the "Underture" wordplay. The story ranges from goofy to hard to take seriously. The worst moment is when we hear about abuse by Tommy's uncle in the painfully annoying "Fiddle About" chorus, which is quickly followed by a song about how Tommy is super good at pinball. Talk about tonal whiplash; there are themes here that are worth exploring, but they aren't treated with any care. The biggest problem is simpler though: none of the songs, even "Pinball Wizard," are really all that good.

Lots of meandering and forgettable chord progressions with few memorable melodies or hooks. Bloated and repetitive. Maybe it was culturally exciting for being a new way to present rock and roll music, but it doesn’t make it something I’d want to put on my turntable.

Given that I like a lot of songs by The Who, I am speechless at how utter dog doodoo that was. Awful.

I hated it. Like it actually had potential. I feel like it might be good music? But gosh I hated it. This had to be heavily drug influenced right?

Could not finish bleh

rated 30 on aoty july 18th 2025 i hate this

I hate it… The opening track Overture sets the scene on this overly bloated concept album. Described by the band as a spiritual opera, it feels more like a self indulgent drug fuelled wank fest. Underture stands at an outrageous 9 minutes and offers nothing, other than making me want this album to end. I appreciate the musicianship, however it offers little to no enjoyment to my ears. The song Fiddle About, is grim, I didn’t need a song about molesting a deaf, dumb and blind boy… The album has Pinball Wizard, which itself is a 5* tune, but can’t save the album.

I just can't with The Who- either it's some of the best music I have ever heard, or the worst dreck ever to befoul my ears.

Sorry folks, I don’t give a shit about some rock opera. This was absolute trash for me, and I couldn’t even get to song 4. I’m glad I bailed too, considering this slop is over an hour long. I really don’t get the love these classic rock groups get, especially when the singing is as bad as this.

Too weird and demented for me…

Not a Who fan, and that goes double for this cheesy, boring rock opera. Way too long, dull songs, completely uninteresting story, strange mixing choices. Just not at all a fun listen.

This is such a drawn out album. Genuinely hope I never have to listen to it again.

I appreciate that the Who took this impressive of a swing even if it resulted in as violent a miss as peak Prince Fielder trying to plant the ball in the right field seats. If there's one redeeming factor to this album it's that Keith Moon's drumming is epic enough to almost carry the opera piece of this. Unfortunately, the lyrics and story are about as awful and terrible as you’ll hear on an album. As a serious album it’s self-parody, and if it’s deliberately a parody the Who do not possess the lyrical prowess of a Randy Newman to properly deal with their chosen subject matter. If you’re going to be offensive you better be funny. The Who made great songs and great albums, and I appreciate their ambition here, but this album is a fucking atrocity.

What a load of rubbish. Soundtracks shouldn’t be allowed on this list.

I never cared for The Who.

No interest whatsoever.

Rock operas have never been a good idea. Never will.

FFS! Another load of white blokes. Is this a 'history of white male privilege as told through music' list or what? Oh and look whose up next, another old white dude. Jeez. Anyway, I let out a sneer when this Who opus came up and expected to instantly write it off as overblown rock opera shite. Then I got to properly listen to Overture, It's a Boy and 1921 and was mildly interested. Thankfully this blemish on my coolness (you knows it) was soon dispelled - I had no idea that Tommy of pinball wizard fame had endured bullying growing up at the hands of Cousin Kevin and then sex abuse at the hands of some weird uncle. Fiddle About has to be the most ridiculous and excruciating song about a horrific experience I think I've ever heard. Tommy's 'miraculous' rediscovery of his sight left me perplexed - was he kidding all along, or was it PTSD, or was it a miracle? Actually, I don't care. Thanks be to god that we only had to listen to the 1969 version and not the deluxe.

Agree with some of these posts about this hot garbage.

Crap. One good song in a 1 hour and 14 minute long album is a joke.

Two albums of The Who in a row? :D Seriously? The band itself is great, but I don't like it much. The vibes of The Beatles are in place. I like a few popular songs of The Who, but I don't enjoy anything else much.

Turned it off during “fiddle about” WTF? Changed times

This has got to be one of the most self indulgent albums I've ever hear. Seriously, nobody cares about your creepy little drunk uncle dude. Yeah there are some hits like Pinball Wizard, but by the time you get there you're already so fucking over these guys.

the opera has a nice story to it but what an awful album to listen to. Pinball wizard and go to the mirror are good songs.

So. Much. Padding. Dear Lord this whole album has one song.

.. no

All who albums are getting a 1 star for noncing.

1 i dislike it its just not my type of music i dont like the vibe its just not my style. the second one i dont really like either its just not my stlyle the third one i dont really like it just not my style of music i dont really like the chorus

'Who' gives a shit? See what I did there... Now stop reading this review and go listen to something enjoyable.

I have some friends who adore this album, but it left me absolutely cold and actually quite unsettled. I get the idea of it as an opera, and the need for short interludes, but it was missing something. I couldn't easily follow what was happening, it was just a disjointed sequence of sketches and ideas. When it did settle on an idea, it was images of child abuse set to fairground melodies. I started off wanting to give it a chance, and just got more and more disappointed as it went on. I know Pinball Wizard is a classic, but the album as a whole doesn't deserve it.

How was this a popular as it was?

Didn’t like this at all. Songs are not memorable, musicianship was very average

A double album I don't like by a band I don't like to start the week. 1001 Albums Generator, you do treat me.

lol

This is beyond disappointing. If anyone happens to read this before they have listened to Tommy, I would encourage them to check out the live performance of these songs from the Live 1970 album. The songs themselves are never great but at least on the live album there is a band chemistry that isn’t present on the studio version.

2/10 A jesu me udavili s ovim. Inace The Who mi ima super stvari, ali sjecam se da su mi uvijek bili hit or miss sto se tice albuma i/ili perioda. Ovaj mi je potpuni miss i zapravo zalim svake minute potrosene na njega jer mi je bilo gotovo neslusljivo. A i 75 minuta, calm your fuckin' tits sa svojom dosadnom rock operom.

Not a fan of songs that mention Christmas or has Christmas in the subject. Also songs with the g slur. Nice sounds, but it did feel too long of an album somewhere during the listen. Also, what is the line "gonna rape you" supposed to mean there in the last song,

Like this if you gaf about Tommy

Not for me, whacky to far out there. Like a crap Pink Floyd.

>be there when rock and roll was most popular >have guitar >form a band (random people) >strum guitar >???? >superstar

Was fairly ambivalent about The Who when I started this album. I almost turned off the album during Cousin Kevin. Then I DID turn off the album at Fiddle About. Music is trash, lyrics are worse.

Never really understood The Whos popularity,they have a few good hits but this was just bad from start to finish

Honestly, I just can't get on with the Who. I tried again but got 2 tracks in and just had to turn it off

Tommy by The Who is often hailed as a groundbreaking rock opera, but its ambitious scope sometimes results in a long, dull, and overindulgent experience. The production and arrangements, while innovative, sometimes feel excessive, overshadowing the emotional core of the album. While tracks like Pinball Wizard stand out as high points, the overall experience can feel weighed down by its own ambition. Tommy is a landmark in rock history, but its grandeur might make it a tough listen. NUMBER OF BANGERS - 1 STAND OUT TRACK - Pinball Wizard

I’ve struggled to write a review on this for some reason. Firstly, I don’t like musicals or ‘rock operas’ unless I like the story. And I really really really don’t like this story. Therefore the songs are just too hard to listen to. The vocals feel like they are forced in to tell the tale rather than something that makes a lovely song! This was all about Pete Townshend being too arty/clever/up his own arse.

feels like 70s summer, but also kinda boring. def didn't listen to whole thing. I like It's Hard 80s album better

oh god this is that fucking "rock opera" isnt it. *checks wikipedia* yep. I've heard this before and I thought it sucked horrendously, lets see if I still think that way. There's a good song called We're Not Gonna Take It but its not the one on this album Pinball Wizard is fine I guess but even it's wildly overrated. One star for being pretentious nonsense with almost no good SONGS in it, and only because this site will not let me rank something 0 stars

I understand now why the only song I've ever heard off this album already was Pinball Wizard and I'd like the time I spent listening to this back please.

60’s

Underwhelming. Pinball wizard is a really good track but the rest of the songs feel really under developed. Singer needs to sing in a lower octave it's v monotonous and forced.

absolutely atrocious

Mto grande nem ouvi

Self indulgent BS

I just can't get into this band. Favorite track: Pinball Wizard

Right, so the reason this doesn't work for me as opposed to something like The Wall is that it feels insincere. It's like they constantly started adding whatever bullshit they could think of in order to justify the length. There are a couple good songs on this album (as usual with the Who, way more a singles band than an album band), but as a whole it's just a slog to get through.

Sounds like it's been recorded in a bucket. Roger Daltrey's singing is appalling and the music mediocre. Absolute toch.

1. overture - 1 2. a boy - 0 3. 1921 - 1 4. journey - 0 5. zparkz - 0 6. the blind - 0 7. chriztmaz - 0 8. kevin - 0 9. acid queen - 1 10. underture - 1 11. alright - 0 12. fiddle about - 0 13. pinball - 1.5 14. doctor - 0 15. mirror - 1 16. tommy - 1 17. zenzation - 1 18. miracle cure - 0 19. zally - 1 20. im free - 1 21. uuelcome - 1 22. holiday camp - 0 23. take it - 1

O começo: detestei Meio: ainda tava ruim Final: já tinha desistido

Just an awful album

I absolutely hated this, wow. Disliked the vocals, they couldn't get my attention for the story, which would obviously be mandatory for such an album like this, and there is just generally very little to enjoy here. Oh and it just went on and on, I couldn't wait to be finished with this.

Self-indulgent crap. This is the first Who album I bought and listened to and basically wrote them off because of it. Who's Next is an absolute masterpiece. This? It's not enjoyable to listen to at all.

Etwas lame

Easily the biggest delta so far between the reverence most folks have for the album and the depths of my distaste for it. Roger Daltrey is unbearable both as a singer and a human being. The story is boring. The music is fine. I never want to hear it again.

Not a fan

Did not listen. Not a Who fan. I like behind blue eyes and pinball wizard and that's about it 1⭐

Regular

Just kept going and going and going

I am not a fan. Alot of the songs are rather long winded and mostly instrumental. Alot of the background band is really just noise; there are times where I can't hear a melody of any sort. This feels like a halfbaked album that could have been a weird 4-5 track EP. Also don't care for the range the singers hang in most of the time, very shrill.

i could stand 2 cuts

Terrible...just can't abide the Who. 1.5/5

This is terrible

nope

Awful

don't like the who

A meandering and overlong exercise in patience. No memorable songs.

Fuck Tommy.