Editing Tommy (The Who album) (section)

== Legacy and reappraisal ==
{{Music ratings
| title = Retrospective professional reviews
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="Unterberger"/>
| rev2 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[MusicHound|MusicHound Rock]]''
| rev3score = 4/5{{sfn|Graff|Durchholz|1999|p=1227}}
| rev4 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Review: Tommy|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]|location=London|pages=116–7|date=March 2004}}</ref>
| rev5 = [[Robert Christgau]]
| rev5score = A−<ref>{{cite web|last=Christgau|first=Robert|date=27 August 2019|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xgausez.php?d=2019-08-27|title=Xgau Sez|website=robertchristgau.com|access-date=14 March 2020}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/tommy-deluxe-edition-20040122|access-date=3 July 2013|title=Tommy Deluxe Edition|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|location=New York|date=22 January 2004|last=Randall|first=Mac}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev7score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{sfn|Kemp|2004|p=871}}
| rev8 = ''[[Tom Hull – on the Web]]''
| rev8score = A−<ref>{{cite web|last=Hull|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Hull (critic)|date=n.d.|url=http://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/get_gl.php?n=The+Who|title=Grade List: The Who|website=Tom Hull – on the Web|access-date=19 July 2020}}</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev9score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="Uncut">{{cite magazine|title=Review: Tommy|magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|location=London|pages=110|date=March 2004}}</ref>
}}
According to music journalist [[Richie Unterberger]], ''Tommy'' was hailed by contemporary critics as the Who's breakthrough.<ref name="Unterberger"/> [[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."<ref>{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|date=25 January 1983|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv1-83.php|title=Consumer Guide|newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York|access-date=3 July 2013}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Unterberger">{{cite web|last=Unterberger|first=Richie|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/tommy-mw0000392525|title=Tommy – The Who|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=3 July 2013}}</ref> ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'' wrote that the album "doesn't quite realise its ambitions, though it achieves a lot on the way", and felt it was not as well developed as their later album, ''[[Quadrophenia]]''.<ref name="Uncut"/> [[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".{{sfn|Kemp|2004|p=872}} "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. "Almost thirty-five years later, this [[classic rock|classic-rock]] touchstone still has the power to enthrall."<ref name="Mac"/>

In 1998, the album was inducted into the [[Grammy Hall of Fame Award|Grammy Hall of Fame]] for "historical, artistic and significant value".<ref name="Perry">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3653281/Hope-I-dont-have-a-heart-attack.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3653281/Hope-I-dont-have-a-heart-attack.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=Hope I don't have a heart attack |first=Andrew |last=Perry |date=22 June 2006 |access-date=25 May 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In 2000 it was voted number 52 in [[Colin Larkin]]'s ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]''.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]|author=[[Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2000|edition=3rd|isbn=0-7535-0493-6|page=59}}</ref> In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked ''Tommy'' number 96 on its list of [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|the 500 greatest albums of all time]],<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|magazine=Rolling Stone|location=New York|page=118|date=11 December 2013}}</ref> it maintained the rating in a 2012 revised list,<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/the-who-tommy-149757/|year=2012| title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time| magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]| access-date= 19 September 2019}}</ref> and was re-ranked at number 190 on the 2020 list.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/the-who-tommy-2-1063043/|title=Tommy ranked 190th greatest album by Rolling Stone magazine|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=2 March 2022}}</ref> The album is one of several by the Who to appear in ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]''.<ref>{{cite book | title=1001 Albums: You Must Hear Before You Die|first1=Robert|last1=Dimery|first2=Michael|last2=Lydon|publisher=Hachette UK|year=2011|page=455|isbn=978-1-84403-714-8}}</ref>

According to music critic [[Martha Bayles]], ''Tommy'' did not mix rock with classical music, as its "rock opera" title may have suggested, but instead was "dominated by the Who's mature style: ponderous, rhythmically monotonous [[hard rock]]".<ref name="Bayles">{{cite book|page=224|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmcaVNZNF-cC&pg=PA224|title=Hole in Our Soul:The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music|last=Bayles|first=Martha|year=1994|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=0-226-03959-5}}</ref> Bayles argued that it was more acceptable to audiences than the [[art rock]] "concoctions" of the time because of the cultural climate during the late 1960s: "''Tommy'' was considered more authentic, precisely because it consists of hard rock, rather than doctored-up [[Mussorgsky]]&nbsp;... and avoids the typical pseudoromantic themes of art rock (fairy-tale bliss and apocalyptic angst) in favor of the more up-to-date subject of [[popular culture]] itself."<ref name="Bayles"/> ''[[High Fidelity (magazine)|High Fidelity]]'' magazine also characterised the Who's album as a "reasonably hard-rock version" of the opera.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[High Fidelity (magazine)|High Fidelity]]|page=418|volume=23|title=Tommy|date=June 1973|issue=6}}</ref>

[[Dave Marsh]] thought the problem with the album's narrative is that there isn't enough transitional material provided by the lyrics. There are no stage directions, no cast, and narration is restricted to key phrases (such as "Tommy can you hear me?"){{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=330}} Key problems included an unclear explanation of what Tommy didn't hear or see in "1921", how or why he plays pinball, why "Smash the Mirror" leads into "I overwhelm as I approach you" (the opening line in "Sensation"), why Tommy tells his followers in "We're Not Gonna Take It" they cannot drink or smoke but can play pinball, and what the "you" is in "Listening to you, I get the music".{{sfn|Marsh|1983|p=332}}

In 2013, Townshend and Daltrey participated in a documentary about the making of the album ''Tommy''. The documentary is titled ''Sensation: The Story of the Who's Tommy'' and features in-depth interviews with them.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/180887-sensation-the-story-of-the-whos-tommy-2495667858.html|title='Sensation: The Story of the Who's Tommy' Lives Up to Its Name|last=Macek III|first=J.C.|publisher=[[Pop Matters]]|quote=All of these remarkable observations are made through brand new interviews with lead guitarist, singer, lead songwriter and Tommy creator Pete Townshend, as well as the dynamic lead singer (who portrayed Tommy Walker himself in the original opera and the 1975 motion picture) Roger Daltrey (who still looks about 20 years younger than he is). In that these are some of the first interviews that truly delve into the somewhat recently unearthed facts about Townshend’s childhood sexual abuse, this is an exceptionally noteworthy documentary.|date=24 April 2014|accessdate=12 January 2023}}</ref>