Tommy, can you hear me?

[chelseagirl]

Okay. I'm old. I knew this, but reading tv_elf's post about watching Tommy and how it would be weird for folks who knew Roger Daltrey first as Fitz on Highlander . . . damn. I'm old.

I had the Who's album -- okay, years after it was released, but shortly before the movie came out. I used to sit at my *record player* and listen to my *double album*. I knew all the words, from "It's a boy, Mrs. Walker, it's a boy," straight through to "Listening to you, I get the music, etc." In fact, since this was before Daltrey discovered his chest voice, and both he and Townshend were singing in their head voices, they were square in my alto range. (As opposed to Quadrophenia, where I often had to go up an octave in my sing-alongs.)

I've never rented it; I don't think I've seen the movie since the four or five times my friends A and D and I saw it in the the theater as kids (and I'm now all nostalgic about D's dad piling us in his station wagon to go down and see it in Manhattan since it was weeks away from hitting our Hudson Valley theaters yet), though I've been thinking about buying the DVD. When I saw it was on IFC last night, I was so there.

Man. I was 12, so I can understand my reaction, but I'm a bit worried for Pete Townshend for actually thinking the pseudo-Freudian twaddle and the indictment of commercialized Messianism contained any level of profundity whatsover, since he must have been in his mid-20s at the very youngest when he wrote the bloody thing. Pete, dude, simplistic much? I suppose it would be kindest to hope it was the drugs, assuming he was doing lots of them at the time.

Ken Russell added a lot of silliness, a lot of splash, and an additional indictment of post-WWII British culture. Tommy on a hang-glider during I'm Free? Elton John's glasses threatened to swallow not only his face, but the rest of him, as well. I was disturbed that I kind of sort of almost *got* Oliver Reed's gross yet rakish charm this time -- yuck! grownup germs! And there was a time Jack Nicholson wasn't a beached whale.

But you know what? Musically boring, dramatically naive and badly-paced, but I'm buying the DVD. This was the first time I appreciated the earthiness of Tina Turner's version of "Acid Queen" equally with the more ethereal version on the Who album (which I've also got to pick up, my turntable being long gone and my records long scattered). There are still moments when it has a transcendant quality, primarily Tommy's repeated refrain of "See me, Feel Me," and his mountaintop experience in the closing frames. (So what happens after that? Is he translated into another sphere of existence? Does he climb back down again, cut his hair, and get a day job? I wanted to know then and apparently I still do.) And now I remember why that funny-looking guy who guests on Highlander and just about every other genre show out there, except for the really good ones, was once my, uh, first major sexual fantasy. It's nice to remember there was a time when if skinny guys were fit they were permitted to run around shirtless without being shoved into the gym to pump up. And yeah, when he was young, the hair worked.

Okay, M., who is eight years less old than me, said, "Well, I always preferred Quadrophenia", and as far as both music and film go, he's right. But it's all about the nostalgia for me, and I feel like I just saw an old friend.

And in breaking news, saw this in bethynyc's journal and couldn't resist:

You're a Velvety-Mopey-Goth! You're wardrobe isn't
condusive to heat, water, or the natural range
of human movement. People may think you're
cheesy, but you know it's just because their
infantile minds can't fully comprehend the
insurmountable anguish of your existence.


What kind of Goth would you be?
brought to you by Quizilla

Comments

[carocrow.livejournal.com]

Ah, c'mon. Do you really think there's a lot of hot brain cell action going on in a group of people who will sing "I hope I die before I get old?"

I'll bet they cringe when they hear that now ;-)

Thankfully, most of my teenage idols like Andy Gibb had the grace to overdose and die so I can maintain them as youthful fantasies forever.

Sort of like Rod Stewart when he hears "Tonight's the Night"... there are some songs that should not have ever been written, and they certainly shouldn't be sung by anyone over the age of twenty (eg, "You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful, and You're Mine")...

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

Hey, it was the zeitgiest. (Actually, I'm even more entertained listening to Patti Smith's cover of same, as she's aged rather well, imo.) Well, two out of the four died, Keith Moon of his personal excesses and John Entwistle of illness; I guess Pete Townshend still has his elder statesman of rock status, while Roger's kind of . . . a funny looking actor.

But it's on again this afternoon and I'm taping it as we speak. ;-)

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

My first husband was 18 years older than me (or I, if you really want to be annoying), so I was aware of who Roger Daltrey was (and had heard Tommy a few thousand times), but I must say, I really preferred him as an Immortal.

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

You're *not* helping with the old thing. ;-) (I'm 42; the best I can do is say I didn't buy the album when it first came out. I was probably listening to the Monkees or the Archies at that point.)

Wow, did I think he was hot when the movie came out. I cringe whenever I see him as Fitz -- great character but hardly the stuff my youthful fantasies were made of.

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

Would it help if I told you that you're only six years older than me? Ergo ipso facto e pluribus unum, you can't be old.

I'm just not a fan of "classic" rock, so never paid much attention to any of it.

[ajinamoto.livejournal.com]

Albums? I can hear your bones creaking from here! *g*

Okay, I had the double set too, and sang with it while locked up in my room. But I have no desire to buy it in CD or buy a DVD of the movie. I'm embarrassed to admit I had a thing for Jack Nicholson at that time.

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but have you seen it again? I hadn't seen it in . . . eep . . . 2004 minus 1975. It was like getting a piece of my adolescence back -- marvellous!

Everybody thought Jack Nicholson was cool back then. Alas, he still thinks he is.

[nycdeb.livejournal.com]

any guy who would go to Ojai, California (which always makes me think of the Bionic Woman for some reason) and lock himself in a room with Bob Rafelson, Mickey Dolenz, Davy Jones and Mike Nesmith with nothing but a tape recorder and a pile of pot IS - by definition of the times - cool.

Sadly, the result of that smoky, hazy jaunt is NOT cool as anyone who has seen the movie "Head" can attest (though Jackis hilarious in his "don't blink or you'll miss it cameo").

[msb66.livejournal.com]

This whole discussion just struck a chord with me. I can remember when the film of Tommy was shown on UK TV. I don't know if it would be the first time it had ever been on TV but it was the first time that the BBC was doing a synchronised broadcast on TV and radio - so you could turn the TV sound off and listen to it in stereo (wow, just think of that, stereo sound almost from your TV. It'll never catch on!!).

I am 38 and it was at some stage of my teenage years when this all occurred. I can remember knowing that Tommy had been thought to be controversial etc and so wanted to watch it. I can also remember that my Mum and Dad left me to watch on my own (The Who not being their scene) so maybe I was 15ish?? I may have had a portable black & white tv in my room by then, but obviously no stereo.

I thought it was fantastic. I loved everything about it including the weirdness. It must have been near Christmas I think as I know I used vouchers I was given for Christmas to buy the double album on tape. I still have this tape but haven't listened to it for years - it is going on the machine this afternoon while I iron! Like you I knew all the words (retention of this knowledge will be tested this afternoon). I did see the film again about five years ago on TV. While the initial impact had gone I still enjoyed it, I think mainly because it brought back the memories of that first watching.

As for Roger Daltrey - he is one of the few people in the media who I feel has genuinely improved in looks with age (Rod Stewart being another). He was far more fanciable in his 30's/40's than as a youngster for me. But then I am not a skinny chest girl - I am a muscle fancier. He did do quite a few films in the late 70's/early 80's, most memorably McVicar. This was about a real life criminal. I haven't seen him doing anything for ages. Is he old and wrinkly now?

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

I found him most fanciable when he was in his late 20s-early 30s -- Tommy and shortly after. Certainly his pictures on covers of 60s Who albums are really off-putting. ;-) Now he's become kind of a goofy character actor specializing in genre shows; he had a recurring comic role in Highlander, was on Witchblade once, and he was pointed out to me the other day when the tv was on and someone who is not me was watching a Sliders rerun.

But to be fair, when I saw Tommy in the theater, his skinny chest did not put me off at all because I was 13 and he was probably built more like a guy closer to my age, you know? Built was probably more than I could handle back then. ;-)

My husband has mentioned repeatedly that he wants to show me McVicar. He actually found and interviewed the real McVicar for a school project once upon a time. But it is not out in the US and it's not on DVD in the UK yet, or wasn't when we last checked. (We have a DVD player that will play British DVDs but in the US multiregional VCRs are very expensive and require a special tv set.)