DETROIT - The English rock band, The WHO, wrote a powerful and dynamic album in 1973 called Quadrophenia. The album centered around 1963 at a time when there was youth gang rivalry in Britain namely Mods and Rockers. The film "Can You See The Real Me" directed by Matt O’ Casey, examines the dynamics of creating The Who's epic masterpiece and how it almost destroyed the band at its very core.
After the success of the rock opera, Tommy songwriter Pete Townshend wanted to do something new. The album Tommy, had been performed many times, and Pete wanted to create a new audience experience. Pete settled on creating something called Life House but the idea flopped. At the time, Pete was recording with Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood. They were working on recording a concert album and there were plenty of drugs. The musicians were using heroin and amyl nitrate and this put them in a hazy state.
The Birth Of Quadrophenia
Pete Townshend was at the Aquarius Ballroom in Brighton doing a gig when he missed his train. Not knowing what his next steps would be, he wanders below the pier and spots various youths sitting on the beach, wearing fishtail parkas. Pete was under the influence of purple hearts and was feeling both drugged and nostalgic. He is inspired to write a story about his youth and Mod culture in a small notebook. This was the beginning of Quadrophenia.
The story centers around a young Mod named Jimmy, who is bi-polar, and has four personalities. Each personality is based on a member of The Who. This is a complex work and is taking the music to new heights. It is an epic work that is created with orchestral music and ambient sounds. The story takes place on two 12" vinyl discs and is packaged with a photobook to explain the story.
The mood is somber and ominous. Unlike the poppy, flashy fun, and colorful record covers of its day, the album Quadrophenia is presented with black and white album graphics. It is a jarring presence in The Who's whimsical discography. Nothing like this has ever been done before in rock music.
We are going to be pulled into the world of this young Mod and witness everything in his family life, street life, and see his triumphs and failures. The film is narrated by Pete Townshend, and singer Roger Daltrey. It also has insight from Pete's former flatmate, Richard Barnes, and photographer Ethan Russell. This is a BBC Four production and was presented at the Fathom Events special screening program at AMC Theater.
Creating the world of 1963 would be a challenge. The album was complex in dimension and required proper photography to help with its narration. Getting the pictures right for the photo book was essential to communicate the emotional depth of Quadrophenia. Photographer Ethan Russell traveled to Battersea to shoot the pictures for the insert book that was included inside the double album. To do this he hired local girls and fitted them with proper haircuts for the early '60s.
Finding a model to be the lead character would be essential to bringing Quadrophenia to life. The 15-year-old local model girls knew of a boy named Chad who looked like a street Mod. Introductions were made and Terry "Chad" Kennet was hired and is featured on the cover of the album. He is also featured in the black and white pictures in the album book. Chad was the real deal and was rough around the edges. While working with The Who he had managed to get into a bit of legal trouble. He got arrested stealing a bus and had to go to court. When the judge asked him if he was employed he stated he was a male model and worked for "The OOO", (The Who). Photographer Ethan Russell vouched for this and Chad was released.
The Tracks Tell The Story
This is a very involved album that requires your utmost attention. There is the loud bombastic music, the subtle and emotional orchestration, and the ambient sounds that narrate the listener from track to track. We are shuffled through train stations, circus music, ocean waves, and crowds of people. Through this narration, we are immersed in Jimmy's troubled and violent world that is filled with isolation, angst, and outbursts.
It is important to understand what the Mod culture meant to England's youth. American audiences will not understand the rivalry. There was a hierarchical rivalry with the youth and it centered on how the kids dressed. There were the greasy rockers in black leather jackets and they rode motorcycles. Then there were the Mods who were street smart kids wearing military parkas and Italian fashions. The Who's bassist, John Entwistle, talks candidly about not liking the Mod haircut he wore just to fit in. Upon seeing it in the mirror he smashed it with his fist.
They wore their hair cut short and rode GS Scooters. They were into American R&B influenced music and were into anything new. The Mod shops were popular in England and one franchise had 18 branches. These two groups of kids hated each other and were always at each other's throats in public. There are accounts of violence in Brighton Pier in 1963. Paddy wagons were called in to break up beach fights and riots. According to the album, there is a radio broadcast where 1,000 Mods chase two rockers into a hotel lobby.
The album picks up with "Cut My Hair" where Jimmy explains his world to you. He is feeling the pressure to cut his hair to fit in with the other kids. He explains the struggles of trying to fit in and find acceptance. His parents find a box of blues (uppers) in his room and won't let him stay in the house. Jimmy is coming down off some kind of high as he deboards a train. He reveals that his father isn't speaking to him and his fried egg makes him sick first thing in the morning. This is not your typical song from The Who. It is complex, direct, and filled with backstory.
The track "The Punk Meets The Godfather" is an important one for this album. It is here where Jimmy comes close to The Who as a band when they play the Hammersmith Odeon. The picture in the booklet shows Jimmy with a busted GS scooter outside of the venue under the marquee while the band is ushered into a limo. Take note of the distance between the two of them. They never meet face to face and there is a gap that separates them. Artistically it is interesting to note the age difference of the band in comparison to the time of the Mod movement. The Who is shown as a '70s glam band with long hair and they seem to have forgotten Jimmy and other kids like him. This is isolation, neglect, sadness, and rejection which are the central themes of the album.
The song "5:15 " is pivotal and describes when Jimmy goes back to Brighton pier to recapture the joy of being a Mod. The scene has died out and he is the last one at the dance. He has stayed too long. Jimmy gets a headful of pills and takes the train searching for ghosts. Jimmy sings about the ushers of a ballroom putting Eau-de-coloning on the seats. This is an odd story told in this documentary about when The Beatles played in Blackpool. The girls at the show were so excited that they had wet themselves during the performance. The seats had to be sprayed with cologne to combat the strong stench of urine.
Keith Moon sang "Bell Boy" and he did it in a mock cockney accent of an aging Mod. This dialect is an interesting choice because it features the lead face Mod, (the one the kids all look up to) in a lowly position in life. He is getting kicked and mocked and is just nothing more than a baggage carrier in a posh hotel. The Bell Boy is a failure and not the big shot superstar that Jimmy had remembered. Keith Moon was told repeatedly that this was not a comedy character but a tragic figure.
Recording The Who's Masterpiece
Pete Townshend took on a huge responsibility when creating this epic album. To record the album properly Pete decided to build a special recording studio. He purchased an old church on Thesaly Road. He proceeded to build a special Quadrophonic sound that incorporated four speakers in each corner of the studio. The listener would then encounter sound from every corner of the room when he listened to it at home. The technology wasn't available to do this and the album was recorded in stereo. Pink Floyd would later use this concept when they recorded "Money" from The Dark Side Of The Moon album.
The album playback was at 140 decibels and people in the studio experienced ear damage and projectile nose bleeding. The Who's manager, Chris Stamp, and producer Kit Lambert were falling deeper into heroin and split ways with The Who. Now there was pressure to finish the album and go on tour to promote it.
Quadrophenia On Tour
Quadrophenia was released with an American tour. The Who promoted it in the USA and then went back to Europe. They came back to America again and followed that up with another European tour. Communicating this story of UK culture to the fanbase in the USA proved to be difficult. During the live performances, Roger Daltrey had to explain what the songs were about. It was difficult to explain what was going on in the Quadrophenia narrative and about the gang rivalry and the status of the main hero, Jimmy. People talked over Daltrey in the audience while others couldn't understand his accent.
To make matters worse drummer Keith Moon was drinking heavily and experimenting with drugs. At the Cow Palace in San Francisco, Moonie had taken elephant tranquilizers and passed out cold. Pete Townshend had to take a fan out of the audience to fill in on the drum kit to do the show.
Pete Townshend flipped out behind the scenes and got into a physical fight with singer Roger Daltrey. Townshend swung a guitar at the long blonde haired singer and nearly hit him. Daltrey knocked out Townshend with a punch to the face. Was this album a bust?
The ending of the Quadrophenia story is an ambiguous one. It is never made clear if the lead protagonist in the story kills himself. Did he simply reject the ways of being a Mod and leave the life of being a street hood? Or did Jimmy drive his scooter off a cliff into the sea? We know that getting back to the sea was essential for Jimmy. It is there where he see's God, and something bigger than himself. It is a religious quest and a kind of purification.
The End Of The Road
Pete Townshend came home from the tour mentally wiped out. He wrote a letter to the record company explaining all the trouble he had with Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, Chris Stamp, and Kit Lambert. It is a long letter that expressed his desire to leave the group. There is written accounts of everything that had gone wrong with the recording process to the tour.
Pete explains that he would have gotten full support from his wife if he wanted to leave The Who. Then he looks at the old letter and back up at the camera and said, "But I never sent it....". This is the reason why The Who has survived and gone onto making classic albums. This is where our story ends
NOTE: At the ending credits it is announced that the cover model for the Quadrophenia album, Terry "Chad" Kennett, died in 2011.
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