CfP: Special Issue, IASPM journal “See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me: Tommy, Rock Opera and Twentieth Century Britain”; Deadline: 31.01.2025
“See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me: Tommy, Rock Opera and Twentieth Century Britain”
Edited by Keith Gildart and Benjamin Halligan
With Tommy, British rock group The Who audaciously scoped British social history across the middle decades of the twentieth century in order to engage with themes of youth culture, hedonism and alienation, family dysfunctionality, the horrors of war and its aftermath, stardom and psychic damage, sexual abuse and exclusion, and the permissive society. The rock opera concept of Tommy was one that resulted in multiple iterations: the original album (1969), the London symphony production (1972), Ken Russell’s glam-era film (1975), stage productions at the moment of the “Britpop” renaissance in British culture (in the 1990s, and a 2015 revival), and the music continuing to feature in the live sets of The Who. Tommy was a key moment in the development of the "concept album" – a trend in 1960s music that evidenced faith in the ability of rock to engage with serious themes. The film of Tommy was part of a cycle of 1970s British films that sought to visualise and expand upon the music: The Beatles (Yellow Submarine), Led Zeppelin (The Song Remains the Same), Pink Floyd (The Wall), The Sex Pistols The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle), The Who (Quadrophenia), Slade (Flame), David Essex (That’ll Be The Day, Stardust), and Aswad (Babylon). In the light of recent releases that revisit this period, such as Bohemian Rhapsody, and Rocketman, combined with the revelations about the darker aspects of 1970s pop music culture that Tommy anticipated, we invite contributors working in a range of disciplines (History, Sociology, Music, Film, Literature, and Disability Studies) to propose article for a co-edited special issue with an anticipated 2025/6 publication date. Our particular thematic concern is Tommy in relation to, or as a critique of, new modes and forms of worship (in the widest sense) seen to be emergent in the 1970s: hedonistic materialism, fandom / worship of icons, new paradigms of heroism, Christianity and counter- / alternative Christianities, and the “concept album” and hermeneutics of meanings. But, more generally, we invite proposals on Tommy and British History; Tommy and Youth Culture; Tommy and Rock Opera; Tommy and the Pop Musical; Tommy and Disability; Tommy and Sexuality; Tommy and Religion; Tommy and the Who; Tommy and Gender; Tommy and War; Tommy Race, and National Identity; Tommy and the Rock Star Messiah; Tommy and Ken Russell; Tommy and the 1970s; Tommy the album, film and musical.
To be considered for this Special Issue, please submit the following by 31st January 2025:
an abstract of 150-250 words (plus references, if necessary)
author name(s)
institutional affiliations
contact details
a brief bio of no more than 150 words (which includes the author’s positionalities in relation to their topic)
Please send abstracts and the above information, in one Word document (with minimal formatting) to keith[dot]gildart[at]wlv[dot]ac[dot]uk