On this day in the UK in 1969, the first rock opera in history was released on a double disc

Young rock music fans most likely consider Jesus Christ Superstar by 22-year-old Andrew Lloyd Webber and 24-year-old Tim Rice to be the first rock opera in history.

However, in fact, it was the album Tommy by The Who, which was released in the UK on May 23, 1969 (in the US - May 19). At the same time, The Who actively "promoted" their rock opera. For example, their performance of the song See Me, Feel Me from it was one of the best moments of the famous rock festival Woodstock-1969.

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Although, it must be admitted, the laurels of the discoverers of the genre went to Webber and Rice for a reason. The leader of The Who, Pete Townshend, who conceived Tommy, was then only 23 years old and was simultaneously into drugs and the teachings of the mystic Meher Baba.

Accordingly, Tommy is a wild story that we won't even retell (those who want to can easily find a retelling of the plot on the Internet), but some of the songs from it were very good.

Well, if we "dive" into history, then the first rock opera was Epic, written by the leader of the rock group People! Larry Norman, who then went completely into Christian rock music and died forgotten at the age of 60. The leader of The Who Pete Townsend, who later denied borrowing the very idea of ​​a rock opera from People!, communicated with them a lot at that time.

By the way, Jesus Christ Superstar was filmed earlier than Tommy - and, again, Norman Jewison's film turned out much better than Ken Russell's.

Photo: Wikipedia