The Hawker's drug-addicted wife, "The Acid Queen", gives Tommy a dose of LSD, causing a psychedelic experience that is expressed musically ("Underture").

[21] In August 1968, in an interview to Rolling Stone, Townshend talked about a new rock opera and described the entire plot in great detail, which ran to 11 pages.

Keith Moon used a new double bass drum kit owned by roadie Tony Haslam, after Premier had refused to loan him any more equipment due to the items repeatedly being abused.

"Sensation" was written about a girl Townshend had met on the Who's tour of Australia in early 1968, "Welcome" and "I'm Free" were about peace found through Meher Baba and "Sally Simpson" was based on a gig with the Doors which was marred by violence.

[32] Other songs had been previously recorded by the Who and were recycled; "It's A Boy" was derived from "Glow Girl", an out-take from The Who Sell Out, while "Sparks" and "Underture" re-used and expanded one of the instrumental themes in "Rael".

A cover of Mercy Dee Walton's "One Room Country Shack" was also recorded but was scrapped from the final track listing as Townshend could not figure out a way to incorporate it in the plot.

Melody Maker's Chris Welch visited IBC studios in November and while he was impressed with the working environment and the material,[35] the project still did not have a title and there was no coherent plotline.

[39] Kit Lambert wrote a script, Tommy (1914–1984), which he professionally printed and gave copies to the band, helping them focus on the storyline and also deciding to make the album a double.

[51] For Melody Maker, Chris Welch went to the album's press launch show at Ronnie Scott's and although the volume left his ears ringing for 20 hours, he concluded "we wanted more."

He praised Townshend for deliberately constructing the album so that each song can be enjoyed individually and felt that he is determined to "give his audience what it wants without burying his own peculiarity".

[56] Robert Christgau wrote in 1983, "Tommy's operatic pretensions were so transparent that for years it seemed safe to guess that Townshend's musical ideas would never catch up with his lyrics.

"[65] In his review for AllMusic, Unterberger said that, despite its slight flaws, the album has "many excellent songs" permeated with "a suitably powerful grace", while Townshend's ability to devise a lengthy narrative introduced "new possibilities to rock music.

[64] Mark Kemp, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), felt that "in retrospect, Tommy isn't quite the masterpiece it was originally hyped to be", suggesting The Who Sell Out was better, though because of Townshend, it produced several "bona fide classic songs".

[66] "Rock opera may seem like a laughable concept these days, but when the Who brought it to the world via Tommy in 1969, it was an unmatched thrill", writes Mac Randall of Rolling Stone in 2004 in a more positive appraisal.

[6] Although the album included lyrics to all the songs, indicating individual characters, it did not outline the plot, which led to a concert programme being prepared for shows, that carried a detailed synopsis.

[83] Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab subsequently released a special single-disc edition of the album in 1990, featuring an alternate take of "Eyesight to the Blind" and a low volume extensive break on the glass in "Smash the Mirror".

Astley was able to access the original 8 track tapes and bring out instruments that had been buried, such as the guitar in "Christmas", the French horn in "Sparks", the cymbals in "The Acid Queen" and the organ in "We're Not Gonna Take It".

As well as the original album, the package includes additional demos and a live performance mostly taken from the Who's show at the Capital Theatre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on 15 October 1969.

Realising the opera's narrative was difficult to understand, Townshend explained a synopsis of the story, before the Who played Tommy all the way through at full stage volume.

During "Pinball Wizard", Abbie Hoffman took to the stage to protest about the imprisonment of John Sinclair before being kicked offstage by Townshend, while during "See Me, Feel Me", the sun rose, almost as if on cue.

The Los Angeles version of this show featured Phil Collins as Uncle Ernie, Patti LaBelle as the Acid Queen, Steve Winwood as the Hawker, Elton John as the Pinball Wizard, and Billy Idol as Cousin Kevin.

The production included Bette Midler playing the role of the Acid Queen and Mrs. Walker, and music by the Syracuse, New York band Comstock, Ltd.[110] On 9 December 1972, entrepreneur Lou Reizner presented a concert version of Tommy at the Rainbow Theatre, London.

The stage show had a second run on 13 and 14 December 1973 with Daltrey, Graham Bell, Havens, and Clayton returning, and a new cast including David Essex (as the Narrator), Elkie Brooks (as the Mother), Roger Chapman (as the Father), Marsha Hunt (as the Nurse), Bill Oddie (as Cousin Kevin), Vivian Stanshall (as Uncle Ernie), Roy Wood (as the Local Lad), and Jon Pertwee (as the Doctor).

Keith Moon appeared as Uncle Ernie (in Melbourne only), Graham Bell as the Narrator, with local stars Daryl Braithwaite (as Tommy), Billy Thorpe (as the Local Lad), Doug Parkinson (as the Hawker), Wendy Saddington (as the Nurse), Jim Keays (as the Lover), Broderick Smith (as the Father), Colleen Hewett (as the Mother), Linda George (as the Acid Queen), Ross Wilson (as Cousin Kevin), Bobby Bright (as the Doctor), and Ian Meldrum (as Uncle Ernie in Sydney), and a full orchestra.

[118] In several cinemas, the film supported a multi-track soundtrack billed as quintaphonic sound, which placed speaker banks in the four quadrants of the house and directly behind the centre of the screen.

[119] Townshend also oversaw the production of a soundtrack album, on which the unrecorded orchestral arrangements Kit Lambert had envisaged for the original Tommy LP were realised by the extensive use of synthesizer.

[118] As well as the Who, the film's music track and the original soundtrack LP also employed several session musicians including Caleb Quaye, Ronnie Wood, Nicky Hopkins, Chris Stainton, and longtime Who associate John "Rabbit" Bundrick.

[129] Townshend and Des McAnuff rewrote parts of the musical when it moved from La Jolla to Broadway, to show a darker side for the title character.

[132] McAnuff revisited Tommy during the 2013 season of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival,[133] and with Townshend's input, staged a 2023 revival at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois,[134][135] which transferred to Broadway in 2024.

This live album was performed in Bethel, New York, at the site of the original Woodstock festival, and a new orchestral backing recorded by Levenson in Hungary, with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra.