10 Greatest Double Albums In Music History
2. Tommy - The Who
When The Who were first starting out, Pete Townshend always had something in mind that went beyond just the catchy 3 minute single. On songs like My Generation, you can hear the band trying their best to reach for something more, using volume to create a cacophony of sound whenever you put on the headphones. While we got our first taste of storytelling on albums like A Quick One, Tommy was when Townshend first realized his visions as a songsmith.
Creating a story from the ground up, this entire album is the story of the titular character, a deaf dumb and blind boy who finds his calling in rock and roll, only to fall prey to the darker side of life. Although tracks like Pinball Wizard might sound great as stand alone singles, this is an album that needs to be experienced almost like a movie, telling a complete story from the overture and sustaining that momentum all the way to the final moments of We're Not Gonna Take It.
And even with the thousands of rock operas that have come out in the wake of this album, Townshend definitely understood the format of blending the two genres, tying different musical pieces together across multiple tracks to give you the feeling of watching a lavish stage production. The rest of the world may have still been caught in Flower Power at this point, but Tommy was one of the first moments where we started to look at rock and roll as something a little more than just music for the kids.