Clare: Chick what does rock, baby!

Duly borrowed from ali_granger who has surely gotta be the coolest mum ever. My mum never played me no Beatles. *wails*

( Cut for length. )

Clare: Chick what does rock, baby!

Duly borrowed from ali_granger who has surely gotta be the coolest mum ever. My mum never played me no Beatles. *wails*

( Cut for length. )

Bad but hardly surprising news.

Funk star Rick James found dead.

Hope you find the funky corner of heaven, pal.

Altogether now: "She's a very kinky girl..."

Bad but hardly surprising news.

Funk star Rick James found dead.

Hope you find the funky corner of heaven, pal.

Altogether now: "She's a very kinky girl..."

Tommy: The Movie.

OK, so it's been literally ages since I saw Tommy. Dunno why, because I like it loads. I remember the first time I saw it. It was on really late (obviously) one night on the BBC a few years ago. Me and Mikey watched it together, thinking it might be cool. It must've been quite some time ago because I was in the first throes of rock music love to the point that I recognised Clapton as the Preacher, Tina Turner as the Acid Queen but not Arthur Brown. It must've been around 97/98 because I was in my psychedelic music phase at the time. I had an inkling of what it was about... but not much more.

My little brother was totally freaked out by it. If I was around 15/16, he would've been more like 12/13 and The Acid Queen sequence would freak out any normal child. It just intrigued me. I was a little woah at the whole skeleton/snakes thing, but not anything more than that. I remember really liking it but not quite understanding some of it. I remember falling in love with John Entwistle's bass playing right there and then during 'Eyesight to the Blind'. I remember thinking Roger Daltrey's hair was fantastic.

I'd never seen a Ken Russell film before, or heard the original Tommy album for that matter, so it was awhile before I realised how much of it really is his work.

I do remember finding it very amusing that Ann-Margret, who I knew even then to have played opposite Elvis in one of his pictures, was writhing around in champagne, soap bubbles and baked beans. I remember finding Oliver Reed highly amusing for many reasons. This was before his last, Gladiator-related renaissance.

I don't know the last time I saw the whole thing, but it was definitely a long old time ago.

Anyway.... Now here in 2004 I'm intimately familiar with the original 1969 record and I've seen some of Ken Russell's films (my favourite is still Lisztomania, with its eight foot cocks and Pope Ringo) so it's great to see it again with so much more knowledge than I had the first time.

This time, I know that 'Sally Simpson' was about Jim Morrison so I see it now on a whole new plane of emotional existence.

This time, I'm sitting here with a glass of Irish-made Guinness in the baking heat of an English summer evening filling my bedroom. I'm not even nearly freaked out as my brother was so long ago. Perhaps the 8-foot cock from Lisztomania getting guillotined killed any ability I have to be shocked by movies.

It's still one hell of a film. It's never going to be to everyone's tastes and it's very much of its time, but man. If there was anything able to get my mind off Philip Lynott, this was it. I get all the in-jokes now too, and that has added immeasurably to my enjoyment of it.

More than that, I've got emotional investment in the Who and in Tommy himself now, so I'm no longer just watching because it's one of those films you have to see at least once. I laugh at darling Keith Moon as wicked Uncle Ernie, at the same time noticing the wear-and-tear in his face as I do. I don't just watch the 'Eyesight to the Blind' scene as a Marilyn Monroe fan.

The differences and improvements to the original music are clear to me now too, rather than me just hearing this stuff for the first time.

The greasers doing the Tiger Feet dance doesn't escape my notice either.

And yes, when Roger Daltrey is in the pool, all long wet hair and newly seeing/hearing/speaking, I think woah rather than just 'Oh, isn't that nice, Tommy can hear/see/speak now!'

My point: I don't just enjoy the movie as entertainment now, I get it.

"The camp with the difference, never mind the weather, when you come to Tommy's, the holiday's forever..."

Tommy: The Movie.

OK, so it's been literally ages since I saw Tommy. Dunno why, because I like it loads. I remember the first time I saw it. It was on really late (obviously) one night on the BBC a few years ago. Me and Mikey watched it together, thinking it might be cool. It must've been quite some time ago because I was in the first throes of rock music love to the point that I recognised Clapton as the Preacher, Tina Turner as the Acid Queen but not Arthur Brown. It must've been around 97/98 because I was in my psychedelic music phase at the time. I had an inkling of what it was about... but not much more.

My little brother was totally freaked out by it. If I was around 15/16, he would've been more like 12/13 and The Acid Queen sequence would freak out any normal child. It just intrigued me. I was a little woah at the whole skeleton/snakes thing, but not anything more than that. I remember really liking it but not quite understanding some of it. I remember falling in love with John Entwistle's bass playing right there and then during 'Eyesight to the Blind'. I remember thinking Roger Daltrey's hair was fantastic.

I'd never seen a Ken Russell film before, or heard the original Tommy album for that matter, so it was awhile before I realised how much of it really is his work.

I do remember finding it very amusing that Ann-Margret, who I knew even then to have played opposite Elvis in one of his pictures, was writhing around in champagne, soap bubbles and baked beans. I remember finding Oliver Reed highly amusing for many reasons. This was before his last, Gladiator-related renaissance.

I don't know the last time I saw the whole thing, but it was definitely a long old time ago.

Anyway.... Now here in 2004 I'm intimately familiar with the original 1969 record and I've seen some of Ken Russell's films (my favourite is still Lisztomania, with its eight foot cocks and Pope Ringo) so it's great to see it again with so much more knowledge than I had the first time.

This time, I know that 'Sally Simpson' was about Jim Morrison so I see it now on a whole new plane of emotional existence.

This time, I'm sitting here with a glass of Irish-made Guinness in the baking heat of an English summer evening filling my bedroom. I'm not even nearly freaked out as my brother was so long ago. Perhaps the 8-foot cock from Lisztomania getting guillotined killed any ability I have to be shocked by movies.

It's still one hell of a film. It's never going to be to everyone's tastes and it's very much of its time, but man. If there was anything able to get my mind off Philip Lynott, this was it. I get all the in-jokes now too, and that has added immeasurably to my enjoyment of it.

More than that, I've got emotional investment in the Who and in Tommy himself now, so I'm no longer just watching because it's one of those films you have to see at least once. I laugh at darling Keith Moon as wicked Uncle Ernie, at the same time noticing the wear-and-tear in his face as I do. I don't just watch the 'Eyesight to the Blind' scene as a Marilyn Monroe fan.

The differences and improvements to the original music are clear to me now too, rather than me just hearing this stuff for the first time.

The greasers doing the Tiger Feet dance doesn't escape my notice either.

And yes, when Roger Daltrey is in the pool, all long wet hair and newly seeing/hearing/speaking, I think woah rather than just 'Oh, isn't that nice, Tommy can hear/see/speak now!'

My point: I don't just enjoy the movie as entertainment now, I get it.

"The camp with the difference, never mind the weather, when you come to Tommy's, the holiday's forever..."