“Pinball Wizard” by The Who has long been considered a classic, but did you know it was written in a petty attempt to get a good review?
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Nearing the end of the recording process for Tommy, the band’s 1969 rock opera, Pete Townshend played the songs they had in the can for rock journalist, Nik Cohn. On top of his affinity for music, Cohn is an avid pinball player. When the album fell short for Cohn, Townshend knew exactly what to do to earn his favor back.
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“I just remember saying to him, with maybe an element of sarcasm, ‘So, if it had pinball in it, would you give it a decent review?” Townshend told Uncut (quote via Ultimate Classic Rock). “He went, ‘Of course I would. Anything with pinball in it’s fantastic.’ And so I wrote ‘Pinball Wizard,’ purely as a scam.”
Though it started out as a playful jab at Cohn, it became the standout from Tommy. In the U.K., the song peaked at No. 4. In the U.S., it peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. It even earned a rendition by another rock giant, Elton John, in 1974. Despite the song’s success, Townshend has always felt the song was “clumsy.”
“This is awful, the most clumsy piece of writing I’ve ever done,” he said in the liner notes of the 2003 Tommy reissue (per SongFacts). “I’m embarrassed. This sounds like a Music Hall song. Sure plays a mean pinball. I scribbled it out and all the verses were the same length and there was no kind of middle eight.
“It was going to be a complete dud, but I carried on,” he continued. “I attempted the same mock baroque guitar beginning that’s on ‘I’m a Boy’ and then a bit of vigorous kind of flamenco guitar. I was just grabbing at ideas, I knocked a demo together and took it to the studio and everyone loved it.”
Well, everyone but Townshend. His distaste for the song is unfortunate, given that it quickly became a staple in The Who’s live shows. According to Setlist.fm, “Pinball Wizard” is The Who’s second most played song of all time. It comes second only to “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
When you write as many songs as Townshend has, it stands to reason at least one would fall short. It just so happens that the one song Townshend hates the most became one of their biggest hits. Go figure.
(Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for The Who)
