Quadrophenia
When Quadrophenia came out, I was twelve years old. I was a fan of Deep Purple because it was the coolest thing I could imagine at the time. And I admired Rory Gallagher, not because I knew his music particularly well, but because my guitar teacher supported him. The Who didn't enter my awareness until years later, partly through Tommy and partly because Won't Get Fooled Again was one of the songs my friends and I liked to loudly sing along to while driving. Quadrophenia, on the other hand, passed me by for some reason. Believe it or not, the album actually only appeared on my radar 50 years after its release through two videos on the YouTube channel Virgin Rock:
The Who, Love, Reign O'er Me - A Classical Musician's First Listen and Reaction
The Who, Love, Reign O'er Me - A Classical Musician's In-Depth Analysis
I was intrigued enough to create a note called Quadrophenia in Obsidian.
Meanwhile I've started listening to the album, reading the texts, and today I entertained myself while strength training in the gym with the podcast episode The Who - Quadrophenia of The Music Rewind podcast. I don't know who has even heard of Quadrophenia these days, so for the sake of completeness I'll mention that it's a rock opera that was also successfully made into a film. If you would like to listen, here is a YouTube playlist with all the tracks and here is a track by track review. And the music is great! Whether vocals (Roger Daltrey), bass (John Entwistle), guitar, keyboard (Pete Townshend), drums (Keith Moon), you’ll hear sheer musical wizardry, well maybe particularly the drums.
Quadrophenia tells the story of Jimmy, an adolescent who is part of the Mod subculture and, not knowing who he actually is, tries to mold himself into his idea of the ideal Mod. The passionate desperation in the refrain "Can you see the real me, ...?" of the title "Real Me" is poignant. The story of Jimmy was created by Pete Townshend imaginatively fleshing out the feelings and events he experienced as a 19-year-old during a night in Brighton. Included is the true story of a young mod who ended his life by throwing himself from the white cliffs of southern England, as well as the also true story of a dramatic clash between more than 1,000 mods and rockers on Brighton Beach. According to the above-mentioned podcast, Pete Townshend once described the album as "human frailty and abandonment set to the tune of a barreling freight train."
If you, like me, are fascinated by music, people and (hi)story, then why not let the BBC documentary The Who Quadrophenia Can You See The Real Me? lure you into the world of Quadrophenia?