Welcome to the song of the day, where we feature a single track, whether its brand new or older than us, overlooked or overplayed, our favorite or no one’s favorite; as long as its interesting, it can be the song of the day.
On this day in 1969, Pete Townshend was arrested for assaulting a man who jumped up onto the stage during a Who concert at The Fillmore East in New York City. Townshend thought the man was disrupting the show, but it turned out he was a police officer who was trying to inform the crowd of a fire in the venue. The crowd was evacuated, Townshend was arrested, the fire was handled, the show was rescheduled, and the charges were dropped.
The Who were touring on Tommy, an ambitious double album about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy named Tommy. The album would be released a week later on May 23. “Pinball Wizard” was released as the first single from the album, with “Dogs (Part Two)” as it’s b-side.
Header image courtesy of Rolling Stone.