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Re: Pinball Wizard An Embarrassment?



Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2003 19:02:47 -0500
From: "Kevin O'Neal" <kevinandt@gmavt.net>

Agreed.  But regarding Tommy, it is the laxative to help the masses take
their needed medicine.
Sad, but true.  Artists shouldn't play down to their audiences.
"Pinball Wizard", and the concept of having Tommy become a pinball master, is an essential part of both the album and its success. The pinball skill, although arguably meaningless, is a bright spot in his life, and brings him to the attention of an adoring public. Structurally, it offers the opportunity of showing Tommy's fans' rejection of his pointers toward enlightenment and lets the listener think about Tommy's reaction to that rejection. Without pinball, Tommy's a much less interesting one-note linear story of a wounded child who is eventually healed.

And, if it needs to be restated, pinball skill is a direct analogue to Pete's guitar-playing skill. Exactly like pinball, it's derided by those who don't "get it" as a meaningless pastime, and revered by the fans who are entertained and inspired by it. Pinball is essential to understanding Tommy as autobiography.

Finally, I love the track on the album, for its production as much as the music and lyrics. The echoes on the vocals and the enormous power of the guitar chords, although muted by the mix, do it for me every time.

It's the fact that Pete blatantly was masturbating the masses to get them to
accept Tommy.
*That's* what people have a problem with.  It's so obvious, it now detracts
from the whole album.
He was doing it to masturbate Nik Cohn, if anyone. The masses came (heh) later. And if he HADN'T added in pinball (or something equivalent), there's a serious question whether the masses would have given a monkey's about Tommy. And if the masses hadn't bought Tommy in truckloads, The Who would have ceased to exist in the late '60s and we'd have nothing but The Stones to talk about.

 >Who gives a shit if Pete wrote it so Nick Cohn would give the album a de-
cent review.  It works, it fits, it rocks.
There's more to that than just Nick Cohn.  Pete wrote it to grease the skids
of Jane and John Doe public.
You keep saying that. What evidence do you have? Everything I've read states clearly that he wrote it at Nik's suggestion. It's no stretch to imagine that Pete even thought it was a GOOD IDEA, that it added to the album's concept. At worst, he could be accused of doing it to get a good review from Nik Cohn, and I still don't think he would have done even that if he'd thought it was against his artistic vision for the album.

Dude, a pinball wizard?
Come on.
How many bands do you know today that are coming up with stuff like 'The PS2
Gu-ru", or....X-box rocks, or........Sponge Bob Square Pants, ...rants???
If they aren't, it's because they don't have the wit and talent. That's exactly Pete's genius idea, to pluck the X-box of the day out of a thousand stupid pastimes and elevate it to heroic status. To illuminate and mock the pop culture that will follow someone for being a champion of just about anything -- to mock (even subconsciously) The Who's audience for following something as supremely silly as loud anarchic rock music -- to lead us the audience to realize we're being mocked -- and then let those of us who will, realize that if we can get so much out of rock music, perhaps masses cheering a pinball champion isn't so stupid or silly after all.

Cheers,
--
Alan
"That's unbelievable, if that's true"
-- Howard Stern, 5/25/00