The title of Pete Townshend’s abandoned 1970 project before Who’s Next was Lifehouse.
Townshend conceived Lifehouse as a futuristic rock opera and possible film, following The Who’s success with Tommy. Its story imagined a society where music was banned and people lived indoors in government-controlled “experience suits.” A rebel named Bobby used rock music to awaken them.
The project was unusually ambitious technically. Townshend wanted audience members’ personal data and personalities fed into synthesizers to create individual musical themes that would eventually combine into a “universal chord.” The Who also staged performances at London’s Young Vic in 1971, hoping to involve the audience in the experiment.
Lifehouse proved too difficult to realize, and the band abandoned the theatrical concept. Producer and engineer Glyn Johns instead shaped selected recordings into Who’s Next, released in 1971. Songs such as “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Behind Blue Eyes” retain clear connections to the unfinished project. Townshend revisited Lifehouse in later releases, including Lifehouse Chronicles in 2000 and the Who’s Next/Life House box set in 2023.