HT 15
HP --
CB 9
UK 9
AC --
CW --
RB --
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Sales (in millions):
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Airplay (in millions):
1.0 m
Awards:
Won’t Get Fooled Again
The Who
Review:
This “futuristic fist-pumper” RS500 was the “stunning climax to what was undoubtedly The Who’s best studio album.” TB The song was one of the survivors of Lifehouse, another rock opera originally intended to follow on the heels of 1969’s Tommy. The concept focused on a futuristic world where an enslaved population is freed by a rock concert. SF
The song reflected Pete Townshend’s recent experimentation with early synthesizer music. Singer Roger Daltrey’s wail, which kicks off the song, is considered one of the best of any rock song. Daltrey said, “That big scream I did was totally instinctive, but it became a focal point of the song.” CR
Many have assumed that “Won’t Get Fooled Again” is a revolutionary song, and it could be seen as a song which captured the end of the ’60s movement. CR However, while Townshend was a believer in youth movements, he kept his distance from the counterculture revolution of the 1960s. Townshend said, “It’s interesting it’s been taken up in an anthemic sense…when in fact it’s such a cautionary piece.” RS500 He explains that it is actually “a song against the revolution” TB saying, “revolution, like all action, can have results we cannot predict.” WK
Indeed, the oft-quoted line, “Meet the new boss/ same as the old boss” would suggest a resignation that a change of regimes does not necessarily bring about the desired results. Whoever is in power will ultimately become corrupted. He explained how his musical roots “came from and reflected its essentially working-class audience of non-intellectuals who knew they might have to fight and die like their fathers. They would not be fooled by university graduates telling them what to think.’” CR
Review Source(s):
CR Toby Creswell. (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 671.
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