Quadrophenia is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Who, released as a double album on 26 October 1973 by Track Records. It is the group's third rock opera, the previous two being the "mini-opera" song "A Quick One, While He's Away" (1966) and the album Tommy (1969). Set in London and Brighton in 1965, the story follows a young mod named Jimmy and his search for self-worth and importance. Quadrophenia is the only Who album entirely written & composed by Pete Townshend.
The second half of Quadrophenia takes place on and around Brighton Beach.
Pete Townshend used the ARP 2500 synthesizer extensively on Quadrophenia, and several tracks include the instrument overdubbed many times.
Townshend recorded the whistle of a diesel train near his home in Goring-on-Thames as one of the album's sound effects.
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. His aggressive playing style and poetic songwriting techniques, with the Who and in other projects, have earned him critical acclaim.
Townshend (with Moon, rear right) backstage before a gig at Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Ludwigshafen, Germany on 12 April 1967
Townshend's "windmill" technique
Townshend performing in Hamburg, Germany in August 1972