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"Pinball Wizard" is a song by the English rock band the Who, written by guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend and featured on their 1969 rock opera album Tommy. The original recording was released as a single in 1969 and reached No. 4 in the UK charts and No. 19 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 .
It featured original artwork and photography, which used a pinball as its main motif, was designed by Tom Wilkes and Craig Braun and won the Best Album Package Grammy in 1974. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] The art was by Richard Amsel , Robert Heindel , Jim Manos, Alex Gnidziejko, Wilson McLean , Doug Johnson, David Edward Byrd , Robert Grossman , Charles White ...
Through 1961 to 1963, news of Tommy's miraculous regaining of full consciousness receives huge media attention ("Miracle Cure"), Tommy is idolized by the public and the press ("Sensation – Reprise"), and he begins appearing in packed stadiums, playing pinball with a helmet that temporarily blinds and deafens him ("Pinball Wizard – Reprise").
"Pinball Wizard" was a major hit when released as a single. This sequence in the film depicts Elton John being backed by the Who (dressed in pound-note suits); the band portrayed the Pinball Wizard's band for filming, [123] but on the music track and soundtrack album, the music was performed entirely by him and his regular touring band. [121]
The song "Pinball Wizard", performed by Elton John, was a major hit when released as a single. [1] Although the music for this song is performed by "The Elton John Band", as he was calling his musical team, the film depicts John being backed by The Who (dressed in pound-note suits).
The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard is a pinball machine based on the rock musical The Who's Tommy, based upon the band's 1969 rock opera album of the same name, which was also adapted into a 1975 motion picture. The machine features twenty-one songs from the musical sung by original Broadway cast members.
Released in March 1973, the album coincided with the release of their latest hit single "Pinball Wizard/See Me Feel Me", which reached #16 on the UK charts. [1]This single was a medley of two songs taken from the Who's rock opera Tommy and employed a harder-edged sound for the group, with heavy use of electric guitars and vocals more in line with a typical rock style.
Billboard described the single as an "easy beat rocker" with "much sales potency" that represented a "change of pace" from the Who's previous single "Pinball Wizard." [9] Cash Box said that "the Who come on strongly" and that the song has a "striking out-of-context lyric which should spark immediate activity." [10]