The Who: Live at the Isle of Wight

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Back when fans showed their approval by flashing peace signs instead of devil horns, The Who reflected the violence and anarchy of the times. At the fractious 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, the band stunned the audience with assorted hits, covers and obscurities, and then unleashed Tommy in a blast of grandiose tumult. A 2004 Pete Townshend interview provides insight on the menacing cultural and physical contexts of the show, adding even more edge.

This story is from the September 2nd, 2004 issue of Rolling Stone.

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Song Stories

“V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.”

Fishbone | 1985

Quite a few musicians have utilized initials for song titles -- Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T.," Abba's "S.O.S.," Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y.," etc. But the more curiously initialed tune has to be "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.," short for "Voyage to the Land of the Freeze-Dried Godzilla Farts." Fishbone's original guitarist, Kendall Jones, explained to Rolling Stone, "When Norwood [Fisher] wrote it, he introduced it to the band saying, 'Man, I've been hearing about all these Nazi right-wing groups on the news saying the Holocaust was staged. So what if America said it never dropped two atom bombs on Japan, that it was actually Godzilla popping a couple off?' Only Norwood would come up with something that out." The same year "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F." was released, the film Godzilla 1985 appeared in North America.

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