55 years ago, The Who lost their faith in rock and roll. ‘Baba O’Riley’ brought them back from the brink

In the early 1970s, The Who were moving beyond their Mod roots as the optimism of the 1960s gave way to social unrest and political uncertainty. Pete Townshend’s response to the era’s turmoil and his experience of the Woodstock crowd helped shape “Baba O’Riley”, a song that renewed the band’s connection to rock’s possibilities and pointed towards their success in the decade ahead.

Townshend first developed the song for Lifehouse, an unrealised dystopian multimedia project about music challenging an oppressive regime. He reworked it for the more direct 1971 album Who’s Next, alongside other material from the abandoned project. Although some listeners took its “Teenage Wasteland” refrain as a carefree celebration, Townshend intended the song to reflect disillusionment while still urging people to come together before they grew older.