Roger Daltrey on the 'Tommy' movie turning 45 and how his charity helps teens with cancer
Roger Daltrey of The Who spoke to Yahoo Entertainment about the role his charity Teen Cancer America is playing in helping teens with cancer in hospitals across the country Daltrey also reminisced about his acting debut in the 1975 cult classic 'Tommy' based on The Who's album of the same name. He recalled how he felt the movie's theme of isolation reflected his own struggles growing up and how Tina Turner scared him silent with her role as the Acid Queen.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC - THE WHO, "PINBALL WIZARD"]
LYRICS: That deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball.
LYNDSEY PARKER: Well, obviously I want to start off the interview by talking about this new initiative you're doing for Teen Cancer America to address what's going on in the world with the pandemic and the coronavirus.
ROGER DALTREY: What our organization does is to it's one of the only age-specific things in the whole of the hospital system for that age group-- adolescents and young adults. There is absolutely nothing apart from what we do for them. In this age group, they tend to get very, very rare cancers. They also suffer most of all from late diagnosis.
And the cancers they get are incredibly aggressive because of the age they're at, perhaps. Putting a 16-year-old boy in a children's hospital with 2-year-olds wasn't a very good idea, especially when they have cancer. They tend to retreat into themselves and go into an isolation. It's the worst thing.
LYNDSEY PARKER: I'm curious-- I'm going to go off on a little bit of a tangent here, but as I was doing some research for this interview, and just, you know, looking things online, I realized that this year is the 45th anniversary of the movie "Tommy," for which you were nominated for a Golden Globe.
There's a lot of things going on with that film, the story line of "Tommy," both the original album and theater production and the film, which made a huge impression on me as a child, that I think really ring true today. You were mentioning things like isolation. Is there anything about the movie when you look back on that that you think is really relevant to what's going on today?
ROGER DALTREY: When I think back to my teenage years, that is my Tommy period. I felt as though I wasn't heard. I felt like I wasn't seen. And I felt completely isolated. I had no voice. So it was-- it's just a metaphor. "Deaf, dumb, and blind" was a metaphor for that. I remember my teenage years as being very traumatic in a lot of ways. I was very lonely.
But also, I had the band. That's all I ever wanted to do. I didn't have a very good time at school. I had a terrible time in school. I was bullied. And then I-- you know, I learned to fight back and was hanging on by a thread in a lot of ways. It was a tough time, and I'll never forget that. And I think Tommy kind of always-- I call those my Tommy years.
LYNDSEY PARKER: What were you bullied for?
ROGER DALTREY: 'Cause I was short. [LAUGHS]
LYNDSEY PARKER: Aw.
ROGER DALTREY: No, you know, they always pick on the little ones. They never pick on the big ones, do they?
LYNDSEY PARKER: Was that why you turned to music?
ROGER DALTREY: It was the savior because it kept me out of all the other things that my friends were getting into at the time, which was drugs, and crime, and all that. I got lucky in San Francisco in 1967, when the drug thing stopped being just a bit of pot, started to get into the chemicals. I patents and become very good friends with a guy called Owsley, who was producing all the purple haze at the time. He's dead now.
He said to me, just whatever you do, he said, I've watched your-- you know, I know your personality, he said, just never take chemicals. He said, it'll destroy you. And I listened. I don't-- why I listened, I don't know why. But it just stayed with me. And I was in a band with three other addicts. [LAUGHS] So they didn't need one more. And someone had to keep them in order.
LYNDSEY PARKER: When you were doing the movie, "Tommy," do you think it was ahead of its time?
ROGER DALTREY: It wouldn't mean a thing now. It wouldn't mean a thing. Different world now. I think the style of film was way ahead of its time, that being just relevant today. But we are always doing that-- building up false gods and destroying them, aren't we? We're very good at that at the moment. So, yes, I can see that. But filmically, definitely, and stylistically, way ahead at this time.
LYNDSEY PARKER: What are your favorite memories of scenes, you know, was it the acid queen? The acid queen scene's what scared me.
ROGER DALTREY: Working with Tina Turner, I was so scared [CHUCKLES] because I was such a fan. This was the first acting job I'd ever done. So I was completely method. I don't think I spoke to her. I was so funny. And I have to tell you, I remember the scene where she's standing over me, and her leg's is quivering. And for the life of me, I don't remember it at all. I don't remember. I see on the film, because I used to have to keep my eyes open all the time. And I didn't see anything. I don't remember anything. It's totally strange. I was so into the character.
LYNDSEY PARKER: Really?
ROGER DALTREY: And I now regret it, 'cause I loved Tina Turner. I adored her, but we hardly spoke. I am quite shy. And I was-- well, not so much now, but I was back in those days. And I did lack a lot of confidence.
LYNDSEY PARKER: Really?
ROGER DALTREY: And I was on my first film. I didn't know my ass from my elbow.
LYNDSEY PARKER: You mentioned how you used to be very shy when you were playing Tommy or just singing with The Who in general, did you've become a different person?
ROGER DALTREY: The only time in my life when I ever feel totally complete and at peace with myself, yeah-- when I'm singing-- when I'm singing with The Who. It's really weird. I love to sing, like, when I'm singing musical notes and words and putting the two things together with the emotion of the words, that's the biggest challenge ever. And when I'm doing that, it's just so rewarding. It's one of the-- I'm completely whole at that time.
LYNDSEY PARKER: But I didn't realize that was your first film. Were you-- obviously, anyone would be intimidated by Tina. But were you intimidated to work with people, like, I mean, you know, we had Ann-Margret?
ROGER DALTREY: It was very difficult to keep it in perspective that Ann was my mother. [LAUGHS] You know, but she's a treasure. She was so sweet, so lovely. And Ollie Reed was another madman. And I was kind of used to dealing with people like Ollie because we had Keith Moon in the band. And Ollie was really another Keith Moon, only Keith could drink more.
LYNDSEY PARKER: I'm just going to put out there that I think once you're able to tour again, you should do, for Teen Cancer America, a tour of "Tommy." Just going to put out there.
ROGER DALTREY: I actually have got a show of "Tommy" orchestral.
LYNDSEY PARKER: Tell me about that.
ROGER DALTREY: It's similar to what The Who are doing on stage now with a rock band and an orchestra. And it is phenomenal. It is a phenomenal show. If I can get the funding, you see, the trouble is with putting on live shows, I need to find someone to back it, to put the expenses up. That's the deal. And then we make the money on whatever we make, so we can't lose. But I'm not going to try and put on any shows just for my ego and lose money of the charities. [CHUCKLES]
