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THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT (1979)



My first exposure to the Who was the 1982 HBO special The Who Rocks America, which was actually shot in Toronto at the final concert of their farewell tour. (That’s their first farewell tour, approximately 37 Who concert tours ago.) I had no idea at the time that this was quite possibly the worst performance they ever gave; I was just enthralled by the whole thing – the songs, the guitar windmilling, the microphone-swinging, and probably the hatred and self-loathing seething from Pete Townshend’s every pore. But it wasn’t until I tracked down a copy of The Kids Are Alright that I really experienced the Who in all their glory. Directed – or, more accurately, assembled – by Jeff Stein, who would go on to direct some of the seminal music videos of the 1980s, Kids is a scrapbook of television performances, promotional video, talk show appearances and assorted Who ephemera. It was exactly the right movie at the right time for any Who fanatic – the equivalent of a bootleg videocassette a few years before such things existed, and a perfect tribute to drummer Keith Moon, who died the year of its release. Watch the above clip from The Smothers Brothers Show carefully, and you can see the exact moment that Townshend’s hearing was damaged forever.

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