Pinball Wizard - Covers

Covers

• Roger Ruskin Spear performed the song on his album "Electric Shocks"
• The song was featured in a medley with another song from Tommy ("See Me, Feel Me") in a recording by the British pop group The New Seekers in 1973. This version reached No. 16 on the UK charts. In the same year, this medley was covered by the Shadows, in instrumental version, on "Rocking with Curly Leads"
• The song was performed by Elton John in Ken Russell's 1975 theatrical adaptation of Tommy. This version was released as a single in 1975 in the US, and in 1976 in the UK, where it reached No. 7 in the latter year. John's version uses a piano as the song's centerpiece in place of the acoustic guitar in the original (in the film, John's character is shown playing his pinball machine via a small piano keyboard), and features additional lyrics specially written by Townshend for the movie version, as well as a subtle inclusion of musical phrases from The Who's 1960s hit "I Can't Explain" during the outro. (Similarly, The Who's later cover of John's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" included parts of "Take Me to the Pilot.") Unlike most of the soundtrack's music, which featured various combinations of The Who and some of the era's best session players, John used his own band (Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper) and producer (Gus Dudgeon) for the track. John has performed the song as part of his Las Vegas Red Piano Show, as well as on various tours. To date, it is the only cover of a Who song to reach the top 10.
• Rod Stewart performed the song for the 1972 orchestral version of Tommy, and it is included on several of Stewart's greatest hits compilations. According to the book The Duh Awards by Bob Fenster, Rod Stewart asked Elton John if he should accept an offer to sing in a film version of "Tommy." John replied no way, "Don't touch it with a barge pole." A year later, The Who asked John to sing the same song, and he agreed. "I don't think Rod's quite forgiven me for that," he commented years later.
• The song was also performed by Tenacious D as the closing song at shows on their 2006–2007 tour, usually as part of a medley of Tommy songs. They also played the first verse and chorus of the song at their 2nd Headliner slot at 2008's Reading Festival.
• On the TV show Rock Star: Supernova, Storm Large sang Pinball Wizard as her opening song on the first Live week as well as being the First to Sing.
• McFly covered the song in 2005. It was given a video and used as a b-Side.
• On the BBC Radio 4 series I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Tim Brooke-Taylor once sang Pinball Wizard to the tune of Jerusalem.
• Genesis would insert part of Pinball Wizard into their Turn It On Again medley live in the 80s.
• The Flaming Lips covered the song at the VH1 tribute to The Who.
• Thunder did a cover of "Pinball Wizard" to be featured on "Hollywood Rocks" CD produced with Classic Rock magazine
• 2010: Les Fradkin (On his solo Ztar album Hyper MIDI Guitar)
• The University of Oklahoma Marching Band did a cover of Pinball Wizard during the halftime show of the 2009 BCS Championship.
• The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain does a cover during almost every concert.
• Guns N' Roses occasionally played an excerpt of the song during their 1993 world tour, as an introduction to their song "Patience".
• At The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, a brief intro of the song was played after "Heaven and Hell" intro before "I Want It All", performed by Roger Daltrey, Tony Iommi and Queen.
• The Cornell University Big Red Marching Band performs an arrangement of this during most post-game concerts.
• Noted theatre organist Jonas Nordwall has recorded covers on his albums Can't Stop the Music and Bits, Bytes, & Pipes Vol. 2
• The Dartmouth Aires performed the song on the third season of The Sing-Off during the 60's classics round.
• The Vocal Adrenaline glee club performs the song during the "Nationals" episode of the popular Fox show, Glee.
• The song was performed by the Kaiser Chiefs as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London. The group then covered the song again at the Leeds & Reading Festivals in 2012.