# What is Tommy about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424 "2006-08-27T17:38:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/41 "2006-08-30T03:54:16Z")
[QUOTE=SmartAleq] My kids loved the album–I’d put both LPs on and crank up the old stereo to do housework. My daughter would see me pull the album out and start yelling “Tommy record, Tommy record!” when she was about three or four… Good times… 😛 [/QUOTE] Is that you, Mom? [QUOTE=SmartAleq] I wouldn’t let them watch the movie until they were well into their teens, though. Tina Turner was WAY scary, but not as scary as Jack Nicholson “singing.” :eek: [/QUOTE] Oh, I guess not. I went with my parents when it came out (I was six). Neither Nicholson nor Turner scarred me for life, but I might blame Roger Daltrey for ‘oversexualizing’ me. Rowr! ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/42 "2006-08-30T17:52:37Z")
“If the audience is stoned, it doesn’t matter that the play is stupid.” That’s also my explanation for “What is _Hair_ about?” ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/43 "2006-08-30T18:27:27Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] “If the audience is stoned, it doesn’t matter that the play is stupid.” That’s also my explanation for “What is _Hair_ about?” [/QUOTE] - same goes for “The Wall” which, when you think of it, has the same basic plot (if you can call it that) as “Tommy”. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/44 "2006-08-30T18:37:16Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Tommy served as nothing more than a vehicle for Tina Turner to scare the living shit out of me for years. Seriously, the Acid Queen scared me so bad when I saw her that\*\* I hated Turner for a decade\*\*. [/QUOTE] (bolding mine) So did the rest of the world, apparently, thus setting us up for her glorious 80s comeback… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/45 "2006-08-30T18:43:57Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I agree. Unfortunately, they changed it again. In the 1993 stage production, “…after the “Sally Simpson” scene, Tommy renounces his messianic role and returns to his family, embracing and praising the kind of “normality” that everybody else has and that he has been deprived of (significantly, the new version introduced lines such as “freedom lies here in normality” and excluded the earlier versions’ “Hey, old hung-up Mr. Normal, don’t try to gain my trust”).” [link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_%28rock_opera%29) How fucked is _that_? :smack: [/QUOTE] :eek: My step-nephew had a small part in the original production at the La Jolla playhouse, reason enough for me to avoid the musical. Having listened to the album from the time it came out, suffice to say I was not impressed by the movie. I think I’ll add both movie and play to the next list of works that never really happened. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/46 "2006-08-30T19:06:07Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] It has been a long time since I saw the film, but I seem to remember Tommy’s Mommy seeming seductive as she pleads with Tommy to come out of it. [/QUOTE] Well, yes, she was. But it was [Ann Margaret.](http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/54/039_70344~Ann-Margaret-Posters.jpg) . She couldn’t help it. She’d seem seductive peeling a potato! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/47 "2006-08-30T20:51:42Z")
What’s the deal with “21” as in “Got a feeling 21 is gonna be a good year”? Do they really mean 1921? Doesn’t it take place during and after WWII? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/48 "2006-08-30T21:04:45Z")
[QUOTE=sqweels] What’s the deal with “21” as in “Got a feeling 21 is gonna be a good year”? Do they really mean 1921? Doesn’t it take place during and after WWII? [/QUOTE] The album took place during WWI and “21” did refer to 1921. They retconned it when the movie was made - it took place during WWII and now “21” refers to her 21st year. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/49 "2006-08-31T12:48:39Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] The album took place during WWI and “21” did refer to 1921. They retconned it when the movie was made - it took place during WWII and now “21” refers to her 21st year. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Not quite. In the movie they changed it to '51. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/50 "2006-08-31T15:17:16Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Meir Baba (sp?) [/QUOTE] [Meher Baba](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meher_Baba) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/51 "2006-08-31T15:36:25Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Not quite. In the movie they changed it to '51. [/QUOTE] Damn, you’re right. It was the _stage play_ that kept (or changed back, depending on your perspective) the number 21, but now referred to her age, rather than the calendar (as it was set in and after WWII, like the movie). I’m starting to lose track here. Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/52 "2006-08-31T21:55:37Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] The album took place during WWI and “21” did refer to 1921. They retconned it when the movie was made - it took place during WWII and now “21” refers to her 21st year. [/QUOTE] Those are the 2 possibilities I’ve always considered. But it’s tough to square may of the album’s lyrics–especially pinball but also “Sally got married to a rock musician”–with a between-the-wars setting. As for Meher Baba, I used to think that “Listening to You” was a paean to him. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424/53 "2006-09-01T00:31:42Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Well, yes, she was. But it was [Ann Margaret.](http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/54/039_70344~Ann-Margaret-Posters.jpg) . She couldn’t help it. She’d seem seductive peeling a potato! 😃 [/QUOTE] Oh, yeah, baby! Mind the eyes, now. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-tommy-about/370424.md?page=2)