A Classic Rock Star Played the Cult Leader in The Who’s ‘Tommy’
The Who‘s Tommy has a number of unique casting choices. For example, a classic rock star plays a priest in the film. That star later played a priest in the music video for a famous band.
The singer behind The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s ‘Fire’ is in The Who’s ‘Tommy’
Tommy includes a number of celebrities in its cast, including Ann-Margret, Jack Nicholson, Oliver Reed, Elton John, Tina Turner, and Eric Clapton. In addition, Arthur Brown played The Priest in the film. Brown is known as the lead singer of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, the band behind the hit single “Fire.”
During a 2022 interview with NME, Brown explained why he appeared in Tommy. “Pete Townshend wanted me to play various parts in the film at various times, and eventually I ended up as The Priest, helping to run a Marilyn Monroe-themed cult,” he said. “The film’s flamboyant director, Ken Russell, had a vision of what he wanted — it took 22 takes of us improvising the movements for the scene until he was satisfied. Five days after we finished filming, I was at a meditation retreat with one of Laurence Olivier’s children, who had to break me out and drive me to the studio at 8:30am to deliver the scream I put on the end of my version of ‘Eyesight to the Blind.'”
The Who later covered ‘Fire’ by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
This wasn’t the only time Brown crossed paths with The Who. According to CBS News, Townshend produced “Fire” with Kit Lambert.
The Who later covered the track on the album The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend. The album was based on the children’s book The Iron Man (no relation to the superhero Iron Man). The book also inspired the cult classic animated film The Iron Giant. In addition, Marilyn Manson, The Ventures, Death Grips, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Cathedral, and Ozzy Osbourne either covered or sampled “Fire.”
Arthur Brown appeared in a music video that appears to reference ‘Tommy’
Brown later played a priest in the music video for The Darkness’ “Is It Just Me?” During the aforementioned interview, Brown revealed the shoot was difficult, to say the least. During filming, his famous pyrotechnic helmet malfunctioned. “I was wearing my fire helmet, and during the test, we used just enough fuel to have about an inch of flames shooting from it, so nobody thought there would be a problem,” he recalled. “But when I came out, the flames were five feet high and set off the sprinkler system, and we had to redo it all.”
Brown joked that the members of The Darkness should have paid him for the free bath! Brown didn’t say this was the case, but it appears his role in “Is It Just Me?” is a callback to his appearance in Tommy. Notably, The Darkness often pays homage to the rock gods of the 1970s.
The Who’s Tommy is a trippy film, and Brown helped give it that energy.
