One looks in vain for Quadrophenia (Franc Roddam, 1979) in the pantheons of academic criticism. In the Sight and Sound survey of 2012 it received not a single vote from a film maker, critic or academic, (though director Cameron Crowe had the film in his 2002 top ten). Nor has it a place in the BFI top 100 of British films, voted by industry members in 1999. Look to the UK’s more popular media, however, and the situation is reversed. In February 2001 Hotdog magazine placed Quadrophenia at number seven in its list of ‘50 Best British Movies Ever’. In a poll conducted by Carling Lager to discover the most ‘cool’ movies, Quadrophenia came in third, behind Get Carter (Mike Hodges, 1971) and the alcohol-high Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson, 1987) (Daily Express, 17 July 2002). In April 2005 it was named the eighth greatest rock’n’roll movie of all time by readers of the music magazine Mojo. A search for ‘Quadrophenia’ on the internet auction site eBay will inevitably call up between 400 and 500 items on offer. These range from the film DVD and original soundtrack album through to Quadrophenia t-shirts, coasters, key rings and badges. The filming locations are part of a Brighton tour CD, with the back-alley to Choy’s Chinese Restaurant a shrine to aficionados keen to scrawl on the brickwork that ‘Jimmy Did It Here’.
‘Quadrophenia’ now exists in four versions – album, tour, play and film. The latter, its most enduring manifestation, has earned a loyal and repeated viewing public. It has occasioned regular revivals and has generated strong fan-based literature, most notably Gary Wharton’s encyclopaedic Chasing the Wind, but not as yet a detailed academic treatment. The genesis of Quadrophenia was long and convoluted, beginning with a four-piece pop group whose fourth film venture centred on a four-phased youth movement known as Mod. This study will explore the passage of that film to cult status – in four sections.