Baba O’Riley(The Who) – 1971

The title is a reference to two of Pete Townshend’s greatest philosophical and musical influences: Maher Baba and Terry Riley. Originally, Townshend wrote the song about the absolute despair of teens at Woodstock, where audience members were strung out on acid and 20 people suffered brain damage.

Based on The Who’s Next liner notes, the song was written as Townshend’s vision of what was possible if a computer was fed Baba’s spirit and transformed the spirit into music. Baba would then be a Terry Riley-styled piece, or “Baba O’Riley” as is the title of the song that was released by The Who.