First time hearing The Who "Baba O'Riley" Reaction | Asia and BJ

[@davidhapka5410]

About a month after 9/11, The Who performed at the Madison Square Garden concert honoring NYC Fire and Police. Watching those middle aged fireman and cops pumping their fists to Baba O'Riley like they were 16 again was epic 😎🎸

[@teri7398]

Yes, I noticed that watching the 9/11 concert. Was that the one Paul McCartney set up? Anyway yes I thought they were like teenagers again for a moment. I always just thought of this as a great rock song. Daltry has a great voice. I didn't really understand the back story to the song.

[@stevedrums1675]

I was there at that show!! And The Who’s performance that day ranks to my mind as one of the great and emotional shows ever.

[@davidhapka5410]

@@stevedrums1675 I watched it on tv...I can only imagine the energy inside MSG

[@francoisdelpeuch8527]

Yeah, and they stole the show, as always. Never try to go on stage after these guys...

[@davidhapka5410]

@@francoisdelpeuch8527 Exactly....from Roger Daltry spinning that microphone to Pete Townshend's windmill on his guitar, it's all killer!

[@chrisgrethlein6196]

Released in 1971, this was one of the first songs ever to use electronic music. People were wowed by the opening of the song. It's one of the Who's greatest hits.

[@Music-Is-Real-Love]

Thank you for this comment.

[@iliketowatch.]

So true. Pete Townsend was one of the first (even before many prog rockers) to learn to use synths and sequencers within a rock song.

[@OnlyGoodMusic_]

space oddity by bowie may be the first (speaking of song, not of experiments or instrumentals)

[@AuxesisHyperbole666]

​@OnlyGoodMusic_ The United States of America, recorded December '67 probably the earliest most eclectic use of synths in Rock.

[@deanhills6745]

It's songs like this that made me spend more than a thousand dollars on my stereo system back in the early 70's

[@centuryrox]

Now you're prepared to do "Won't Get Fooled Again", featuring Roger Daltry's amazing screeeeeam...the best scream in Rock n Roll history!

[@stevedrums1675]

Should be the Kilburn concert version.

[@mzondi1970]

What's not forget rain on me and one of my all-time favorites the magic bus.

[@KentBalzer]

The Bargain has the best drum work from Keith Moon.

[@stefantsarev4442]

Horatio Caine approves this comment.

[@marleybob3157]

The Who's songwriter and lead guitarist, Pete Townshend, said the song was about "the absolute desolation of teenagers at Woodstock, where audience members were strung out on acid, and 20 people had brain damage. The irony was that some listeners took the song to be a teenage celebration: 'Teenage Wasteland, yes! We're all wasted!'" Lead singer Roger Daltrey said in a recent interview that “‘Teenage Wasteland’ speaks to generation after generation. The bridge - ‘Don’t cry / Don’t raise your eye / It’s only teenage wasteland’ - if that doesn’t say more about the new generation, I don’t know what does.”

[@loosilu]

It's so funny. The Who's performance at Woodstock was iconic. The band members absolutely hated it, because the conditions were so terrible.

[@michaelasay8587]

I never heard that

[@craigwhip]

Back then, when I first heard this song, I took it be be a war setting where most soldiers were/are teenagers, and the "teenage wasteland" was the battlefield.

[@juliemanarin4127]

@@craigwhip back then I took it as a generational thing.

[@brianshockledge3241]

Nothing to do with Woodstock it was the Isle of Wight Festival in England sorry to disappoint but not everything is about the states particularly from an iconic English group.

[@charlesf2804]

I heard this all over the dorm in college.Very popular, the whole album. "Won't Get Fooled Again" is another big song off this album. The album's title is "Who's Next." The sound at the start was an ARP synthesizer.

[@fingolfin4269]

actually a tweaked, arpeggiated organ with tremelo effect - same difference I suppose :P

[@Straydogger]

@@fingolfin4269 Definitely an ARP.

[@charlesf2804]

@@fingolfin4269 I got the ARP synth factoid from something I read well back in the day. It could, however, be what you're describing. Your "same difference" comment leads me to believe that the two sound similar. Is that right?

[@66zoot]

It's actually a Lowrey organ using marimba repeat.

[@vanhouten7377]

at their age now they need the aarp synthesizer

[@keef7224]

The song goes from minimalist futuristic synthesizer to full out rock to an Eastern European violin folk dance. Brilliant.

[@grannysgonerabid7425]

The speed with which Keith Moon's drum fills rev up underneath that violin at the end is staggering.

[@linnhtut584]

I feel bad for his wrist😢

[@unclephil7650]

Best rock and roll drummer ever, hands down.

[@salmuscles]

Keith moon on drums is just amazing in this song

[@DawnSuttonfabfour]

Keith Moon : Some day, all drummers will be this way.

[@chrishepburn1503]

The Who is one of my favorite bands but I do find Keith over plays sometimes. He doesn't sit in the pocket as much as Bonzo.

[@DawnSuttonfabfour]

@@chrishepburn1503 I know...but that's why we love him, right? And he does it in such an entertaining way. I always forgive him because everyone knows all drummers are mad bastards.

[@chrishepburn1503]

@@DawnSuttonfabfour You're right. I guess he wouldn't be Keith Moon if he didn't over play lol.

[@DawnSuttonfabfour]

@@chrishepburn1503 That's the spirit Chris!

[@knuscru]

Saw them twice in the late 70's and can honestly say one of the best live bands I've ever heard. Just incredible .

[@knuscru]

@Vern Sherris Kenney Jones. Both shows were at the Los Angeles Forum. So I guess it was 1979/80?

[@surlechapeau]

Asia and BJ, Their "Won’t Get Fooled Again", "Love Reign O’er Me" and "5:15" are next for you! You're reactions to the violin at the end was priceless. If played right, it can rock :) . 2 songs down, 20 to go with The Who!!

[@vespoint]

Yes! These three for sure!

[@mikephillips8810]

Classics. I thought they'd already done Won't Get Fooled Again? Maybe not. I watch so many of Asia's and BJ's I lose track of what they've reacted to!

[@chuckherthum8719]

Agree! If I may, Punk meets The Godfather,The real Me,

[@johntremmel3949]

The Who were blessed with the very best rhythm section in rock with Keith Moon on drums and John Entwistle on bass

[@petervandervlies6427]

👍👍🔥🔥🎵🎵 Agree, the verry best.

[@bazzer124]

Always thought of The Who as four leads playing together and somehow making it sound perfect. Cheers....

[@neshiah4747]

“Baba O Riley”. The actual title of the song is a result of two major inspirations of Townshend: Meher Baba (an Iranian spiritual master) and Terry Riley (an American composer).

[@TheRscorp]

Every time I hear the ending to this song I can almost picture dancers from almost every culture. Hopi, Sioux, Russians, Greeks, Jews, Celts, Africans.....All in their own outfits but making this music work. Has that universal "folk" sound.

[@OneRaxy]

'The who - Love reign o'er me' is a Must!

[@GrimrDirge]

Amen

[@Ronkay1978]

Yes!

[@grandmarshal7539]

when music was music. True musicians, and talent. we will never replace the 60's thru the 80's

[@avestuart]

"Who's Next" was released one month before I was born and considered to be one of the greatest rock albums of all time. Guitarist Pete Townsend, who wrote most of the songs, bought an estate outside of London and began to experiment with an early analog synthesizer in his writing room. That's where a lot of the synth parts originated. At that time he thought that The Who needed to start doing something new,. As Pete Townsend stated in his memoir. The Who were actually on the verge of a break-up at the time. Tracks from "Who's Next" were actually recorded twice, one session at The Record Plant in New York and the final tracks at Olympic Studios in England. This period of the band is an interesting story, with Townsend disillusioned with their earlier success and starting to drink heavily.

[@jilliansmaniotto2326]

I was a hardcore swimmer my whole life up through a division 1 career and then some… this song was ALWAYS the song I listened to behind the blocks right before a major race from like age 12. the beginning build up never failed to get me amped up and ready to go absolutely ham. even 10 years after retiring, this song still gets my heart rate pumping and makes me remember how much of a thrill I got out of racing.

[@henriettaskolnick4445]

This song was originally meant for a new rock opera singer-songwriter, guitarist Pete Townsend was putting together called "Lifehouse". The Lifehouse project fell through, however they were able to save several songs and this is one of them. The name is a combination of two people's names - spiritual figure Meher Baba and minimalist composer Terry Riley. They used a synthesizer throughout and a violin at the end.

[@danlefou]

It's also a pun on baba au rhum, a French cake.

[@smythharris2635]

The violin was played by Dave Arbus of band East of Eden. Dave is a multi-instrumentalist and he played that in the style of Eastern European folk dance. Folk-Rock, as a genre of music, is well known in Europe, particularly in the UK and Ireland. One of the masterpieces of the genre is Fairport Convention's album "Liege and Lief".

[@oneisnone7350]

This song was very revolutionary for its time. It’s 50 years old!

[@jonathanlocke6404]

The opening and continuing keyboard sound was made using a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ. The "marimba repeat feature" was engaged. At least that's what I read. There's a whole interesting but rather long story about how this song was originally intended to be the centerpiece of a concept album.

[@gregorybrown3272]

Yes, that is correct, Townshend always found it strange that he was being praised for the great synthesizer work on this song, when it was wasn't even a synth!

[@scottfrench4139]

Townshend had one of the earliest versions of a synthesizer, used it here and on "Won't Get Fooled Again." Townshend, who writes nearly all of the Who material, meant this for a project ("Lifehouse") that he didn't finish. It became the first song on "Who's Next," the Who's best album and one of the greatest in all of rock. The Who are a deep well, sounding different in every era.

[@bob5074]

Five years ago, did you ever in your wildest mind, think you’d be enjoying music like this?…btw that was a synth piano at the beginning and a fiddle or violin at the end

[@loosilu]

Gypsy fiddle, a friend of Keith's

[@metalmark1214]

Great Who song, even made more popular on CSI NY TV opening.

[@PeterDay81]

In the UK we had a band by the name of Fairport Convention.Fairport Convention are a British folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater .Nothing new lol.At the end it was a fiddle.

[@mordymitrani4187]

To me the greatest decade of Music, so glad you guys are appreciating and discovering it; Good for you!

[@calebclunie4001]

This is music, from the 60's. Believe it, or not. Pioneers of synthesizer technology were doing stuff, way back in the 1930's, with The Variophone, and The Voder. In The UK, there were sound engineers, and radiophonic laboratories, at The BBC, and that's where Delia Derbyshire spliced together some other worldly sounds, to make the theme music for "Dr. Who", in 1963. There was a boom, in incorporating more of these new sound-scape tools. The earliest were gigantic, and it wasn't until Bob Moog scaled it down to his Mini Moog, that bands really sought out his device, as an instrument to bring on the road.

[@wanderingspirit7021]

Nice review! 1971- "Who's Next" has been ranked as one of the greatest rock albums of all time and so has this song. These guys are rock ICONS!

[@jamessollazzo4860]

song was written about the kids of the late 60's, early 70's and the waisted appeal of their existance

[@oldmanghost219]

There are 4 CSI TV shows and they all use Who Songs for their opening. Las Vegas - Who Are You, Miami - Won't get Fooled Again, New York - Baba O'Riley, Cyber - I Can See For Miles. My Favorite is "Behind Blue Eyes" Studio Which was to be part of a rock opera but was never finished. They did finish the rock opera Tommy and it was made into a movie. Two hits from it. "Pinball Wizard" and "Go To The Mirror" which has - See Me, Feel Me / Listening To You From Wikipedia - Townshend originally wrote "Baba O'Riley" for his Lifehouse project, a rock opera intended as the follow-up to the Who's 1969 opera, Tommy.

[@dylan42207]

This song is from 1971! The tail end of the hippie era and the middle of the Vietnam war. The Who were part of the first British Invasion. Totally progressive and ahead of their time!

[@johnthegreek5836]

“Who’s Next” is my favorite album from The Who! You both are really jamming tonight

[@420johnas]

I seen The Who a few times and on the end I’ve seen Roger Daltry play the harmonica and I’ve seen a lady play the violin. I believe that’s a violin at the end of the song … this is a great song sung by a great singer written by a great writer and a great album Who’s Next and a great great band…

[@DocRock71]

"a gaming sound in the intro..." 25 years before gaming existed. The Who is another ahead of it's time British rock band of the 60's and 70s (Beatles, Floyd, Genesis, Elton John, Yes and others). They were the cream of the crop of their times.

[@joeking6763]

Roger Daltry has one of the best voices in rock. Give "Won't Get Fooled Again" a listen.

[@mikemartin8747]

always here for the great vibes. the Who is my second favorite band behind the Beatles. Keep up the good work.

[@thejoeybanta9224]

Now you went and done it my favorite band in the 70s please keep going. Love Riegn on me got to be the next song masterpiece we won't get fooled again Rock Opera's

[@RicoBurghFan]

Listening to this through your ears makes me appreciate the sheer artistry even more. You guys are awesome and your channel is pure 🔥🔥

[@joeperrone9956]

The instrument you heard in the intro, and throughout the rest of the song is known as a mellotron

[@alloccasionsgiftwrapping4767]

It is a keyboard synthesizer....cool huh? He is right...very recognizable popular song. Saw them live at the cotton bowl in I think 1982 Farewell Tour...it was awesome!

[@garryokeefe1605]

From the 'Who's Next' LP, one of the top 20 greatest LP's in history, for some, in the top 10. The Long studio version of 'Won't get Fooled Again' is a landmark track on an album loaded with gems, I think it was used on early CSI episodes.

[@TheNeonRabbit]

That instrument at the beginning (and all the way through the song) was a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ using its "marimba repeat" feature

[@sumonjamal1653]

Pete Townshend (guitar) of The Who wrote "Baba O'Reilly" as a tribute to his late guru, Meher Baba... an Indian spiritual master, who helped advise Townshend about the pitfalls of drug addiction, which he had been struggling with at the time. "Teenage wasteland" was something Meher Baba referred to the youth on drugs & alcohol... Back in the day in 1971, they did not have software programming to play beats; they had tape loops - so Townshend recorded a melody on keyboard and looped it on tape, so that was the intro to the song.

[@jasonbroad5478]

Pete Townsend (songwriter) had an early version of an organ that had special musical features he could choose from. He recorded the sound and then essentially sampled it. Pete spliced the sounds together and in many instances created a loop of sound. Pete is a musical genius and used his imagination combined with his musical knowledge to create some of the most original songs in rock history.

[@markallan5484]

Pete Townshend, The Who’s lead songwriter and musical genius, had been experimenting with synthesizers. They are keyboard instruments that produce sounds electronically. After trying unsuccessfully to use an ARP synthesizer/sequencer, Townshend played the hypnotic intro on a Lowrey TBO-1 organ at his home studio. The rousing violin at the end was played by Dave Arbus from little-known English group East of Eden. Baba O’Riley is the opening track on the classic Who’s Next album. Its songs came from an unrealized sci-fi rock opera called Lifehouse.

[@asdfqwer1234zxcv]

That was an organ using a repeat feature at the beginning and an electric violin at the end along with the organ, the live version has a harmonica at the end.

[@lancevaughn432]

The Who, Who’s Next is one of the greatest albums ever.

[@robertschiavone5159]

He has one of the strongest voices imo of any rock and roll singer

[@davidbanks736]

U gotta check out Love Reign O'er me. So powerful! The arrangement is amazing and Rogers vocals are off the chart!. Great reaction tho guys.x

[@robertcherman]

My dad was a big The Who fan. I listened to The Who since before I was born in the womb. Here is 3 songs they do, that I never see anyone react to. And, these are 3 of my favorite, that I think would be great reaction videos. 1. Happy Jack 2. Boris The Spider and 3. Squeeze Box Do some Harry Nilsson 1. Coconut 2. Everybody's Talking 3. At My Front Door Dr. Hook - 1. Sylvia's Mother 2. Jungle to the Zoo 3. I Got Stoned and I missed It

[@mrzack388]

It Was An Anthem For Us Back In My Younger Days.

[@calebclunie4001]

This is one of my favorite songs. It's just amazing. I found this. "That music would have been the backing track for "Baba O'Riley," but in the end, the frenetic sequence was played by Townshend on a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ using its marimba repeat feature. [2] This modal approach used for the synthesizer track was inspired by the work of minimalist composer Terry Riley." Basically, it's loops, being interrupted, to create shifts in patterns, but keeps the same tempo.

[@sjd5750]

That's what many of the brits brought to the table back in the day, was the English folk elements..You put your finger right on it, Asia...It was such an amazing time for all kinds of music..I still get chills when I think about a lot of the stuff we were exposed to, back then...It seemed like we were being blissfully blindsided on a daily basis...Almost to an overwhelming degree.

[@renewillner5061]

Baba was written long before video games.. love me some who.. lovelovelove ❤️🌸✌🏻

[@loosilu]

At least a decade before. That sound came from Townshend.

[@captaincell]

When I'm listening to Led Zeppelin, they're my favorite band ever, but when I'm listening to the who, they're my favorite band ever.

[@brownfox4995]

The Who was the most innovative band in history. Every member stood out. It wasn’t lead singer lead guitar. It was also lead bass lead drummer. It still hurts me a little to see them old. They made defiant youth cool. Teenage wasteland had major impact just as a phrase.

[@paulvalletta]

No one in band at the time could play the harmonica, so the keyboard player improvised , that's the sound at the beginning awesome.

[@Grumpy_Rabbit]

I certainly consider this to be The Who's signature song. I'm probably not the only one. It's from the album "Who's Next." Originally, the song was intended to be part of a rock opera, so the lyrics are about a part of the storyline for the planned opera--and that explains some of the strange lyrics. It was written by the band's lead guitarist, Pete Townsend. The lead singer, Roger Daltrey, is one of all-time great vocalists of rock music.

[@Frostrazor]

Asia right, that was a keyboard synthesizer. Now that you've heard a few WHO songs, check out what was one of the best Super Bowl halftime shows about 10 years ago The Who played an amazing set, which included this one.

[@JDogg1971]

FOE for life!!! (Family Over Everything.) Great reaction, fam!

[@ronpotter9810]

The sound you are talking about was a violin it was performed by Dave Arbus of the group East of Eden. As others have suggested, you should give a listen to Love Reign O'er Me.

[@petschmann]

Another legendary band! Just brilliant! And the laughter of Asia is so cute!

[@flutesong5527]

my #1 fave song from my youth! Love Baba and Teenage Wasteland!!!!! Many, if not most songs from The Who have lots of instrumental passages, which are great!

[@jackp8583]

Pete Townshend was an early adopter of synths, which were analog. He uses it a lot on Who's Next, on which Baba O'Riley is the opening song. That's ARP synths. Thanks for this react! Please do Behind Blue Eyes, with lyrics.

[@007chinochef]

Hey!!! The Who played in Woodstock in 1969. The tv shows CSI, CSI NY and CSI MIAMI have their music at the opening. Great reaction!! Greettings from Argentina. Sorry for my english

[@loosilu]

Also CSI Cyber! they used I Can See For Miles

[@007chinochef]

@@loosilu Yes!!! You're right.

[@loosilu]

@@007chinochef Pete made tons of money from CSI, and good for him.

[@michaelwalker7991]

Ditto about Love Reign O'er Me. Also: you GOTTA watch the Shepperton Studio version of Won't Get Fooled Again if you want to see performance energy like never before (that version of Baba O'Riley also blows away the studio version you just reacted to) - and yes, it might have the best scream in rock and roll history. And the video of Who Are You that shows them making the song in the studio is truly amazing.

[@johnterry1852]

You all have been hitting the guts of rock lately. Great stuff. Thank you. The beginning I instrument was a synthesizer. The other end instrument was a violin. As a teen in the 70s, we all felt that we were invisible, not heard. Wasted by society.

[@1funkyflyguy]

That how I took the song back then in the late seventies early eighties. The struggles of being a teenager and coming into adulthood which we all went through at the time. Still relevant with regarding some of the lost youths we have today.

[@gregorybrown3272]

The title of the song is based on the name of Townshend's spiritual Guru Maher Baba, for the first name, and the last name of O'Riley was added because the violin part at the ended sounded like an Irish folk song.

[@colinpate3059]

On beautiful Indiana night with a big bright full moon shining down on a concert crowd, The Who played all their iconic music to a very happy audience. When the synth intro to this song started the crowd went nuts and the band performed the best teenage anthem of all time. It was a magical experience.

[@mikeconway9849]

Great reaction! I was fortunate to see this performed live at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in the early/mid 70's. It was a fantastic concert! Any song off the Who's Next album is worth a reaction from you.

[@johnnie3Chords]

The sound you hear at the end is a fiddle , I saw Asia noticing t by her expression! 😁

[@detomaso_6235]

Love Reign O'er Me I suggest for your next Who song. It's even more atmospheric than this one. Arguably the most powerful vocal performance in rock history on it. Roger Daltrey must have broken a lung on that song!

[@tim10243]

Quadrophenia at all is a masterpiece

[@TM-qj6io]

Won't get fooled again, Bargain, the whole Who's Next album.

[@jameslake9806]

Hi ya, Asia & BJ!! I grew up with this band. And I loved the look on your faces at 7:35 into the song. They were a huge influence to lots of bands, afterwards!

[@johncampbell756]

The opening was a synth programmed by Mr. O'Rielly.. Baba is named after guitarist Pete Townshend's spiritual advisor. So the song title is both men's names combined. This is arguably ter best album, yet was salvaged from a larger failed project. Pete wanted to Mae a multimedia interactive concept project (I'm 1971!) and ended up having a mental breakdown instead.

[@Dusty999]

Asia mentioned a folk dance sound near the end. There is a youtube video of The Who performing this song and Pete Townshend does break into a folk/jig dance that at first looks like he's going to wrap himself with his guitar cord, but it becomes apparent he knows exactly what he's doing.

[@mssnip69]

They have a making of this album, you need to check it out. I believe the end had violins

[@laurakali6522]

Try and find their set from the Concert for NYC after 9/11. Mind blowing…..

[@detomaso_6235]

Yes, you really need to watch that one. About 19 minutes of their biggest hits. The crowd of firemen and policemen were going nuts.

[@laurakali6522]

@@detomaso_6235 I was there that night. I still get emotional thinking about it. And Bowie’s set. All bands were amazing though that night…

[@TrianglesAndCircles]

I still recall how it felt when I first heard these old songs decades ago for the first time and reacting with you the same.

[@juliemanarin4127]

They have so many great songs!

[@robertjones2728]

The intro on the keyboard is not on a loop. He's actually playing the whole thing. Genius! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@sapadogstudios]

no that is incorrect, it was an Arp synth using the arpeggio function,

[@markwilliams5606]

Met them in Detroit in 75. What a Great adventure! Dig it! John the Best Bass player! Keith Moon! They were at Woodstock

[@patrickquinlan67]

I believe that the introductory synth loops were inspired by Terry Riley and his "A Rainbow In Curved Air", which came out in the early 1970s. It was very popular.

[@br.martindallyosb1147]

And "Baba" refers to Pete Townshend's spiritual guru Meher Baba, who had a profound influence on Townshend. :-) What an incredible song!

[@pj5517]

Pete Townshend got a synthesiser which were very rare and expensive and fed tracks through it and produced one of the greatest albums ever.

[@jimsteele3423]

I really love that song from Who classic song

[@larryg7126]

I believe that was an Oberheim sequencer doing an repeating set of notes, technically known as an Ostinato. Peter had just got one and wanted to incorporate into a piece of music. Pink Floyd (often in the bass part), Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze (Tangerine & Klaus were known as electronic Krautrock) and other prog rock bands used the Oberheim. Tangerine Dream has done numerous movie soundtracks that you've seen but didn't know unless you stayed for the credits. Klaus was an original member of Tangerine Dream.

[@mzondi1970]

Been watching your channel for a while decided to subscribe today. I love the music you pick and no disrespect Asia is a doll

[@grandwazoodebris1015]

The name Baba O'Riley comes from 2 people. 1st was Townsend's guru at the time, Baba something. And O'Riley was from Terry O'Riley who was minimalist composer & experimenter with electronic music (I think). So you can see where Townsend got the inspiration for the intro and the electronic pulse behind lots or all of the song. The Who were innovators. People forget that. Last Who rxn, BJ was talking about loving he bass; you really should listen to The Real Me for killer bass work, on a great song.

[@zoeystar4668]

Amazing stuff. I just can't get enough of this song, even today it's just as great as when it first came out.. The musicality is phenomenal.

[@dipsydoodle7988]

Definitely recognizable. This is probably one of their best known songs and the synth intro is a good reason...but that outro tho, huh? You hit the nail on the head with the folk/rock fusion. That's a great way to describe it. I believe what you are hearing is a violin. Very unique song as far as how it is arranged.

[@darkpitcher5242]

The sound is an ARP synthesiser Glen Johns the producer said the thing looked like a telephone exchange and Pete Townsend was one of the few people who could get a note out of the thing never mind a tune

[@bostonwhofan]

The Who announced a new 2022 tour today! Going to see them in Boston on May 18! They are touring almost the entire country in 2022. This could be the last time. If you ever wanted to see The Who.......go for it!

[@marymargaretmoore9034]

This came out in 1971. Synthesizer at the beginning, violin at the end.

[@mandarinlearner]

You really need to see this song and then Don't Get Fooled Again live, especially from the Concert for New York done a few weeks after 9/11. The Who owned that concert

[@Thunderl1ps1977]

The Who was one of if not the first band to use synthesizers. This was a new sound to everyone back then.

[@78yestor93]

Pete Townshend the lead guitarist was one of the first to pioneer the synthesizer and Rick Wakeman, of the Prog Band Yes, the first to use the Mellotron. I actually saw The Who play this track live along with Won't Get Fooled Again, Behind Blue Eyes etc 1975/6, at football stadium they blew the audience away with the loudest music concert up to that time!💥💥💥. These bands back in the late 60's/ early 70's true pioneers of new music period😯😳

[@chuckhutton5087]

I think I had read that the Mellotron was first played and recorded by Mike Pinder of The Moody Blues. Rick Wakeman would have used it with Yes several years later.

[@78yestor93]

@@chuckhutton5087 Yes Mike Pinder used the Mellotron on the Moody's first Album Days of Future Past released '67. History behind Rick Wakeman, he was asked by Bowie to play the Mellotron on Space Oddity, released June '69, as Rick knew how to play it and Bowie could not find any other musician who could play it. Rick had extensive keyboard skills, was Classically trained in childhood and played in bands and concert orchestra's by '66/ 67 so this is the time he learned to play the Mellotron.

[@michaeloconnor1284]

The Who's Tommy is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Pete Townshend and a book by Townshend and Des McAnuff. It is based on the 1969 rock opera Tommy

[@wombatwilly1002]

Monster hit.The WHO went into the studio to record a rock opera but the project fell apart.Most of the big songs ended up on the album "Who's "Next"!

[@jon-ei8iz]

The who. Great band from the 1960s still going strong and you don't get bands coming through like bands from back in the day

[@iliketowatch.]

(5:19) The song started with a synthesizer put through a sequencer. The notes were pre-programmed and then played at whatever tempo the musician wanted. The Who were one of the first to use this new technology.