The song with which Pete Townshend insulted his audience
(Source: Far Out / Heinrich Klaffs / Harry Chase, Los Angeles Times / Center of the Universe)
The beauty of The Who has always been the dialogue between the band and the audience. While most groups of the era could have survived simply by having catchy songs that people would happily turn up the radio for, Pete Townshend knew he could only reach the people he wanted with songs that would get the audience involved. Sometimes audiences don’t know what they want, and when Townshend sat down to write “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” he admitted he wanted to write a song that went against the crowd.
By the time they released My Generation, The Who had already taken the world by storm. There had been mod groups like them before, but none of them had the power to make as much noise as they did, including the central riff that became the precursor to punk rock in the years to follow.
The single was a decent piece of angry rock and roll, but Townshend wanted to dream bigger when putting together his other songs. Rock and roll had to mean something more, and when he started Thomas, Townshend envisioned a character piece that would introduce fans to rock music in the same way they appreciate genres like opera.
But Townshend probably hadn’t considered the impact this would have. Aside from creating the rock opera, the whole world was now waiting with bated breath to see what he would do next, and Townshend wasn’t keen on the idea of recycling the same old formula over and over again.
Although the vision for the next album, Life House, was supposed to be another opera piece, which turned out Who is next were the pieces of what this project was supposed to be. There were still quality pieces scattered throughout the album, but “Won’t Get Fooled Again” was meant to be the big climax, as the new character Bobby would face off against dystopian leaders trying to instill artificial life in everyone.
Although Townshend loved the idea of starting a revolution, he wanted to create something that would put the audience in their place and The New York Times, “I wrote ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again,’ which was essentially saying to the audience, ‘Just go away. I’m not going to be your tool.’ That led to the question: When you say ‘go away’ to revolutionary thinking, what are you going to do?”
It’s not that Townshend didn’t know what he was talking about. Social change was already underway in the 1960s, but as the ideals of the Summer of Love faded, Townshend knew he wanted something better than just what the Woodstock generation had to offer the world.
Not only is “Won’t Get Fooled Again” one of the best songs he ever wrote, but it sounds like Townshend’s version of Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone.” After becoming one of the biggest stars in the world, Townshend reminded everyone that nothing was going to change. He was the new boss, but when you listen to the lyrics, is that really a revolutionary thing?
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