The Who

To grasp just how great an influence American minimalism has had on pop-rock music, one of the clearest examples is the Who's classic track from "Who's Next" (1971), "Baba O'Riley". It's certainly not the first case demonstrating this influence: think of the drones in "Heroin" on the debut by the Velvet Underground, to understand just how much John Cale's viola was inspired by the minimalism of La Monte Young, or the Third Ear Band, who in 1971 were playing live pieces like "Eternity In D".

There is, however, something that makes "Baba O'Riley" fundamentally different from these precedents, and even more significant. First of all, while the Velvet Underground or the Third Ear Band were, from the outset, bands tied to the avant-garde and experimentation, the Who were firmly rooted in the world of British youth rock. As a result, their approach to the avant-garde is a significant event, marking the definitive entry of American minimalism into the world of pop music. Moreover, the Who don't draw on the minimalism of La Monte Young's "eternal note" (for instance, the long, repeated drone of "The Tortoise, His Dreams And Journeys" from 1964), but instead lean toward Californian mystical minimalism, namely the masterpiece released two years earlier, Terry Riley's "A Rainbow in Curved Air" (1969). Not long sustained notes, but small patterns of frantic fragments repeating incessantly. Just listen to the track's intro, with a stream of extremely fast synth notes from Townshend repeating with tiny variations. Within it, it's impossible to establish the tempo — to do that, you have to wait until the forty-second mark, when the piano comes in.

It's an extraordinary example of how the avant-garde can bind indissolubly with the most stirring, popular rock, even helping turn a song into a worldwide hit without losing its avant-garde nature — and thus its potential appeal to niche listeners only. A minimalist intro dedicated to Terry Riley, followed by the entrance of piano, drums, bass, guitar and vocals, which make "Baba O'Riley" one of the great classics of pop-rock worldwide, with imperious, granite-hard breaks over a minimalist loop constantly running underneath, right up to the unexpected stroke of genius: a violin solo that gradually accelerates into the rapid final rhythms.

Besides Terry Riley, the track is also dedicated to the Indian guru Meher Baba, and was meant to be part (along with "Won't Get Fooled Again") of the never-completed rock opera "Lifehouse". The lyrics tell of a dystopian Britain, ravaged by war and pollution, where freedom has been lost for good. Some young people, however ("Teenage Wasteland" was the song's original working title), manage to build a resistance.

Between musical quotations and anthems of freedom, "Baba O'Riley" stands as a small miracle of the British band's genius, a prescient work that still astonishes today for its foresight.

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03/04/2026