The group started work on the album in 1972 in an attempt to follow up Tommy and Who's Next (1971), both of which had achieved substantial critical and commercial success.

Relationships between the group and manager Kit Lambert broke down irretrievably during recording, and he had left the band's service by the time the album was released.

Quadrophenia was released to a positive reception in both the UK and the US, but the resulting tour was marred with problems with backing tapes replacing the additional instruments on the album, and the stage piece was retired in early 1974.

He likes drugs, beach fights and romance,[6] [7] and becomes a fan of the Who after a concert in Brighton,[8] but is disillusioned by his parents' attitude towards him, dead-end jobs and an unsuccessful trip to see a psychiatrist.

[6] He clashes with his parents over his use of amphetamines,[8] and has difficulty finding regular work and doubts his own self-worth,[9] quitting a job as a dustman after only two days.

[11] In an interview for Melody Maker, guitarist and bandleader Pete Townshend said "I've got to get a new act together… People don't really want to sit and listen to all our past".

[14] Townshend had met up with "Irish" Jack Lyons, one of the original Who fans, which gave him the idea of writing a piece that would look back on the group's history and its audience.

[6] Unlike other Who albums, Townshend insisted on composing the entire work, though he deliberately made the initial demos sparse and incomplete so that the other group members could contribute to the finished arrangement.

Things were not helped by Daltrey discovering that managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp had large sums of money unaccounted for, and suggested they should be fired, which Townshend resisted.

Work started on building Ramport in November 1972, but five months later it still lacked an adequate mixing desk that could handle recording Quadrophenia.

[24] To obtain a good string section sound on the album, Townshend bought a cello and over two weeks learned how to play it well enough to be recorded.

These included waves washing on a Cornish beach and the doppler whistle of a diesel train recorded near Townshend's house at Goring-on-Thames.

[6] The ending of "The Dirty Jobs" includes a musical excerpt from The Thunderer, a march by John Philip Sousa, which Nevison recorded while watching a brass band play in Regent's Park.

[35] The album was originally released as a two-LP set with a gatefold jacket and a booklet containing lyrics, a text version of the story, and photographs taken by Ethan Russell illustrating it.

[36] MCA Records re-released the album as a two-CD set in 1985 with the lyrics and text storyline on a thin fold-up sheet but none of the photographs.

[38] The original mix had been criticised in particular for Daltrey's vocals being buried, so the 1996 CD was completely remixed by Jon Astley and Andy Macpherson.

[52] In a year-end top albums list for Newsday, Robert Christgau ranked it seventh, and found it exemplary of how 1973's best records "fail to reward casual attention.

To achieve the rich overdubbed sound of the album on stage, Townshend wanted Chris Stainton (who had played piano on some tracks) to join as a touring member.

[61] To obtain the required instrumentation without additional musicians, the group elected to employ taped backing tracks for live performance, as they had already done for "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again".

[68] Scot Halpin, an audience member, convinced promoter Bill Graham to let him play drums, and the group closed the show with him.

[71] The final show at the Palais de Sports in Lyon on the 24th was the last time Quadrophenia was played as a stage piece with Moon, who died in 1978.

They performed at Hyde Park, London as part of the Prince's Trust "Masters of Music" benefit concert, playing most of the album for the first time since 1974.

The performance also included Gary Glitter as the Godfather, Phil Daniels as the Narrator and Jimmy, Trevor MacDonald as the newsreader, Adrian Edmondson as the Bell Boy and Stephen Fry as the hotel manager.

The musical lineup included Townshend's brother Simon, Zak Starkey on drums (his first appearance with the Who), guitarists David Gilmour (who played the bus driver) and Geoff Whitehorn, keyboardists John "Rabbit" Bundrick and Jon Carin, percussionist Jody Linscott, Billy Nicholls leading a two-man/two-woman backing vocal section, and five brass players.

[77] The Who performed Quadrophenia at the Royal Albert Hall on 30 March 2010 as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust series of ten gigs.

This one-off performance of the rock opera featured guest appearances from Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Kasabian's Tom Meighan.

The group played the entire album without any guest singers or announcements with the then regular Who line-up (including Starkey and bassist Pino Palladino, who replaced Entwistle following his death in 2002) along with five additional musicians.

[83] In September 2017, Townshend embarked on a short tour with Billy Idol, Alfie Boe, and an orchestra entitled "Classic Quadrophenia".

The album was orchestrated by his partner Rachel Fuller and conducted by Robert Ziegler, with instrumentation provided by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Tenor Alfie Boe sang the lead role, supported by the London Oriana Choir, Billy Idol, Phil Daniels, and Townshend.