Baba O'Riley

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"Baba O'Riley"
Image:BabaORiley FR.jpg
Single by The Who from the album Who's Next
Released	November 1971
Format	45
Recorded	May 1971
Genre	Rock
Length	5:05
Label	Decca (US) Polydor (elsewhere)
Producer(s)	The Who and Glyn Johns

The Who singles chronology
"Pinball Wizard" (1969)	"Baba O'Riley" (1971)

"Baba O'Riley" (often mislabeled as "Teenage Wasteland") is a song written by Pete Townshend, lead guitarist of the British rock band The Who.

1 History
2 Trivia
3 Cover Versions
4 Soundtrack
5 TV Series and Commercials
6 Accolades
7 External Links

[edit] History

"Baba O'Riley" was originally written by Pete Townshend for his Lifehouse project, a rock opera that was to be the follow-up to The Who's 1969 opera, Tommy. When Lifehouse was scrapped, many of the songs were released on The Who's 1971 album Who's Next. Baba O'Riley became the first track on Who's Next. The song was released as a single in several European countries, but in the US and the UK was only released as part of the album.

Drummer Keith Moon had the idea of inserting a violin solo at the coda of the song, during which the style of the song shifts from crashing rock to a klezmer-style beat. Dave Arbus, of East of Eden, plays violin. In concert, lead singer Roger Daltrey replaces the violin solo with a harmonica solo.

Noted for its innovative fusion of the Who's hard rock sound and early synthesizer experimentation by Townshend inspired by minimalist composer Terry Riley, and for its crashing chorus coupled with repeating F-C-Bb power chords, the song has been a perennial favorite on classic rock radio stations as well as a concert staple for the band.

[edit] Trivia

Although they never actually did it in concert, The Who considered pulling a person from the audience and programming their vital statistics into a synthesizer that would, in effect, translate that person into a musical theme around which a song could be built. Instead, Townshend used the life information of Meher Baba, whose philosophy had been a great personal and artistic influence on the band's chief songwriter.
The name of the song is derived from this combination of the song's philosophical and musical influences: (Meher) Baba O' (Terry) Riley.
It is featured during a clip from the 2006 ESPY awards. The song is played when the nominees for "Best College Football Player" are shown.
The University of Georgia uses it as its intro song for football games.
New York Yankees' baseball outfielder Paul O'Neill often walked out for clutch plate appearances while this song played over the Yankee Stadium PA. This song would also frequently be played for his teammate Tino Martinez after O'Neill retired. It is now played for Hideki Matsui.
Baba O'Riley was the first song played on Atlanta radio station 96Rock when it went live in 1974.
Baba O'Riley was also the last song played on 96Rock before it changed names and became Project 9-6-1.

[edit] Cover Versions

The following groups have covered the song in concert or on record:

Blue Man Group (featured on The Complex Rock Tour Live DVD and their "How to be a Megastar 2.0" tour)
Guided by Voices
The Grateful Dead
Ils (2006)
Umphrey's McGee
Psychedelic Deja Vu
Marah
Pearl Jam
Dropkick Murphys
Mr. Big
Racer X
The Picketts
Jordis Unga (On the TV talent search Rock Star INXS)
Dana Andrew (On the Tv talent search Rock Star: Supernova)
Ryan Star (Also in the show Rock Star: Supernova )
Nirvana (Featured on Volume 2 of the Outcesticide Bootleg Series)
They Might Be Giants
Those Darn Accordions on the 1996 album No Strings Attached, with the opening sequencer passage replicated on multiple accordions

[edit] Soundtrack

Trailers of American Beauty.
Summer of Sam.
Trailers for A Bug's Life.
Appears in trailers and at the end of The Girl Next Door
Is featured in the 1997 film Fever Pitch.
An orchestral version is featured at the start of the movie Slackers, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Appears in Zero Skateboard's 1998 video Misled Youth in Jamie Thomas' part.
Trailer for the film Invincible.
At the start of the movie "Da zero a dieci", (2001), Luciano Ligabue movie.

[edit] TV Series and Commercials

Pre-credit sequence of "Out where the buses don't run," "Miami Vice: Season 2"
Promo commercial for TNT's new series "Saved" (June 2006)
A heavily edited version appears as the theme song in CSI: New York
'Control' (Episode 14, Season 1) of 2005's House (House himself very memorably jams to the song), as well as on the official soundtrack
Pilot episode of What About Brian (April 2006)
Used as the soundtrack for HP ad "Constant Change" Directed by David Fincher.
Appeared in a Nissan commercial promoting one of their S.U.V.s.
Episode of Dawson's Creek with Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams) dancing to it.
Featured in King Of The Hill's Season 6 Episode "Tankin' It To The Streets"
Appears prominently in the first episode of Life on Mars.
Sung on "Rockstar: INXS" by Jordis Unga (during week 1 and also appears on the CD) as well as on "Rockstar: Supernova" by Dana Andrews (during week 5) and Ryan Star (during week 9)
Networking company Cisco Systems uses it for one of their Fall 2006 commercials

[edit] Accolades

It appears at #340 on the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
Is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for being one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. [1]
It was mentioned in the short-lived series Freaks and Geeks, wherein Lindsay is corrected by Ken for calling the song "Teenage Wasteland."