The Who's Tommy from Rock-Opera to Broadway and Beyond
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Coincidentally, Townshed's work on Tommy began due to his insecurities about his own writing. He was looking for a new direction as he felt he was unable to "write something better than 'I Can See For Miles'" (Brown). Townshend's work, however, was more inspired than ever as he found new spiritual and musical influences. He sought spiritual inspiration from the teachings of Meher Baba. His musical spectrum was broadening as he began to think of music in compositional terms: "Compositions come out so fast in rock because there's a demand created and contracts have to be fulfilled. I mean, who ever put Beethoven under contract?" (Sanders). Furthermore, his writing became more personal in a therapeutic sense, as the character, Tommy, dealt with many of his own personal demons.

Critical reaction to the new work of the Who was mixed. Despite being a band from the UK, the Who found that the American audience recognized it much easier than the British press did. Many in the British press viewed it as "sick" and too strong for the time (Brown). For example, Tony Blackburn, a BBC disc jockey, referred to the song "Pinball Wizard" as distasteful, "But for the average intelligent person," Pete Townshend noted, "that's what it was meant to be. The kid is having terrible things done to him, because that's life as it is, although perhaps not to the extremes that happen in the songs" (Sanders). The Who were actually quite aware of the importance of critical acceptance. In fact, the whole story line of Tommy being a pinball champion was developed by Pete Townshend to appease friend and influential music critic Nik Cohn, a pinball fanatic. "Pinball Wizard", the last song written for the record, Townshend explained, "should have unhinged the work, but it actually dignified it".

With critical acceptance or not, Tommy and the Who took off as live audiences everywhere helped lift the work to legendary status. Behind the strength of their performances and with help from their feature in the Woodstock movie, the Who became the first band to regularly play large stadiums. They even brought their 'Rock-Opera' to many of the most celebrated opera houses throughout the world. The success of Tommy was overwhelming, but Townshend thought that its success had unavoidably distanced the band from its audience. Thus, rather than furthering his visions for Tommy, Townshend began working on another concept album, Lifehouse, that would unfortunately never materialize into a whole. But even as it might have seemed, life for Tommy was not yet over. As Rolling Stone critic Rick Sanders prophetically stated, "It's possible that all that's in Townshend's mind won't come across by simply sitting down and listening to the album. There is too much, on too many levels, for a casual listener. But on the simplest level, the songs are magnificent, simply as rock" (Sanders).

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