# Resolved: Quadrophenia is the best album ever recorded **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 4, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363 "2019-12-04T16:36:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/61 "2019-12-05T11:56:59Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Although, I must admit, it takes big brass ones to talk about “greatest of all time” _anything_ when you’re evidently ignorant of whole _eras_ of modern music. Well that explains why so many rap albums have been mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/62 "2019-12-05T12:00:00Z")
I’m just saying, it’s so fortunate that the best albums of all time were the ones y’all listened to as teenagers. Talk about lucking out–imagine if you’d been stuck listening to mediocre albums as teenagers! I don’t have any BAOAT opinion, but surely Janelle Monae’s [Dirty Picture](https://vimeo.com/268498567) has got to be other there somehow. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/63 "2019-12-05T12:12:21Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Well that explains why so many rap albums have been mentioned. _It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back_ was my number 3 today, if we were making lists and not just picking _the_ greatest… ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/64 "2019-12-05T12:14:38Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > 27 is not “teenaged”, and I can’t find any references to it being a revisited teenage project as opposed to conceived just the year before… My dim teenage recall was that he did have that idea in his head for some time. I could be wrong. No matter, whenever it took final form it was definitely based on his direct experiences, as a teenager in that “quadrophenia” scene and I personally think it captures that period of life brilliantly. It certainly spoke directly to me and my mates as teenagers. It may be that for that album the material is very UK-specific and doesn’t translate as well across cultures. And the whole age thing is irrelevant anyway. We tend to forget quite how precocious the older bands were because we can’t help but judge through the wrinkly filter of their surviving members. “Can’t Explain” was released when I think they were all still teenagers and “my generation” when they were barely 20. (at most, Keith was frighteningly young). Joe Strummer was roughly the same age as Quad-era Pete when “London calling” was released. Bernard Sumner was roughly the same age for “Power Corruption and lies” and Ian Curtis was around the same age as Tommy-era Pete when “Closer” was released. John Squire/Ian Brown were 27/26 when “The Stone Roses” was released. Lennon/McCartney were about the same at the time of the White Album. I don’t think I could call any of the above “dinosaurs” when referring to their work at that time. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/65 "2019-12-05T12:16:55Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I’m just saying, it’s so fortunate that the best albums of all time were the ones y’all listened to as teenagers. I only came to Joy Division in my 20s, I was much more of a 4AD head before that. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/66 "2019-12-05T12:18:32Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I’m just saying, it’s so fortunate that the best albums of all time were the ones y’all listened to as teenagers. Talk about lucking out–imagine if you’d been stuck listening to mediocre albums as teenagers! > > I don’t have any BAOAT opinion, but surely Janelle Monae’s [Dirty Picture](https://vimeo.com/268498567) has got to be other there somehow. I sort of envy the teenagers today, not only do they have access to whatever is being created now, they can also have any of the classics as the soundtrack to their teenage years should they choose. Lucky buggers. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/67 "2019-12-05T12:26:09Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I only came to Joy Division in my 20s, I was much more of a 4AD head before that. In your neck of the woods you may not have had access to it, but [John Peel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Peel) was a legendary BBC DJ who championed so very many indie bands and left-field artists. If 4AD was your thing you are bound to have, at least tangentially, heard some of those artists as part of his famous “John Peel Sessions” where he had them in playing live on the show. That was the jumping-off point for me on many bands that came to be my favourites, “the Cure” , “The Cocteau twins” "the Jam. The list is endless. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/68 "2019-12-05T12:44:09Z")
Is anyone in this thread under 40? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/69 "2019-12-05T12:44:25Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > It may be that for that album the material is very UK-specific and doesn’t translate as well across cultures. No, I’m familiar with the culture (although I prefer the 80s mod revival to trad mod - I’d take _The Jam_ over\* The Who\* any day). > [@](#): > > And the whole age thing is irrelevant anyway. We tend to forget quite how precocious the older bands were because we can’t help but judge through the wrinkly filter of their surviving members. “Can’t Explain” was released when I think they were all still teenagers and “my generation” when they were barely 20. (at most, Keith was frighteningly young).[…] I don’t think I could call any of the above “dinosaurs” when referring to their work at that time. Dinosaurs isn’t a reference to age. It’s a reference to impending obsolescence. _Quadrophenia_ is contemporary with _New York Dolls_, _Raw Power_,\* Burnin’\*, _Innervisions_ and _Faust IV_. It postdates _Ziggy Stardust…_ and all of the Velvet Underground’s albums. The writing was already on the wall by then. Farting around with synths and found sounds doesn’t do enough to elevate the whole thing out of its wallowing in the past. Kind of like _The Wall_ in that regard, another bloated double concept album I loathe. Don’t get the idea I hate concept albums, or nostalgia. I just don’t like self-indulgence. Give me a _Thick as a Brick_ over that, any day. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/70 "2019-12-05T12:48:27Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Is anyone in this thread under 40? I’m 37 and I first got into the Who in 1999 when I was in my teens. I’d consider them my favorite band of all time and I’ve listened to all their albums so many times that I’ve internalized them and I don’t even need to listen to them to hear every single note. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/71 "2019-12-05T12:48:51Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > In your neck of the woods you may not have had access to it, but [John Peel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Peel) was a legendary BBC DJ who championed so very many indie bands and left-field artists. I’m familiar with the Peel Sessions series, but we didn’t get the show here. I got my music education from the NME and Melody Maker. When I graduated up from the Smash Hits of my teenaged years, that is. > [@Ambivalid](#): > > Is anyone in this thread under 40? You’ll be surprised how many misguided youth are into dinosaur rock… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/72 "2019-12-05T12:51:19Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I sort of envy the teenagers today, not only do they have access to whatever is being created now, they can also have any of the classics as the soundtrack to their teenage years should they choose. Lucky buggers. Yes and no. If everything’s available, is it valued as much? When I was a teenager, I could only hear what I could track down in record stores (and afford to buy with my limited spending money), what I could find in my local library, or what people around me happened to own. There were plenty of albums, some by favorite bands, that I only knew by reputation, until one day: SCORE! I was able to buy it, take it home and listen to it, and really absorb and appreciate it because it was competing with only a limited amount of other music I had to listen to. Bonus if it showed up in the discount cassette bins that record and department stores used to have. I wonder how much of my musical tastes were formed by whose albums happened to show up in the bargain bins. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/73 "2019-12-05T12:53:06Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Don’t get the idea I hate concept albums, or nostalgia. I just don’t like self-indulgence. Give me a _Thick as a Brick_ over that, any day. Horses for courses, I love Tommy, Quadraphenia, The Wall \*and \*“Thick as a Brick” but of course that last one could easily be claimed to be the most self-indulgent of the lot. I \*like \*self-indulgence, but it always runs the risk of alienating as many as it attracts, That’s fine. The artist should make it for \*themselves \*not the potential audience. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/74 "2019-12-05T13:06:21Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I’m just saying, it’s so fortunate that the best albums of all time were the ones y’all listened to as teenagers. Talk about lucking out–imagine if you’d been stuck listening to mediocre albums as teenagers!somehow. I’ll tell you the difference between the music I listened to as a teenager and the music I hear the kids playing now: when I heard those albums as a teenager I felt vibrant, excited, optimistic, like the world was at my feet. Now, when I hear the kids playing their music, my knees hurt and I feel tired all the time. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/75 "2019-12-05T13:16:01Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Lol > > There are literally thousands of albums from more serious artists that are better than anything Joy Division recorded. every New Order album is better than their bastard child band. Wouldn’t New Order be the bastard child band? Anyhow, I don’t know if Joy Division is in my top 10, but they at least come very close. I prefer _Unknown Pleasure_ slightly, but both it and _Closer_ are sublime.You do have to be in the right mood to enjoy them both but, man, both send chills down my spine when I listen to them. Just incredible emotionally and I love the sonic textures. But I like the Who as well. They’re apples and oranges to me. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/76 "2019-12-05T13:43:06Z")
I just want internet archaeologists of the future to know I was laughing heartily reading this music discussion thread in late 2019. Tags: classic rock, baby boom, cultural hegemony, cultural stasis ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/77 "2019-12-05T13:49:21Z")
> [@eunoia](#): > > I just want internet archaeologists of the future to know I was laughing heartily reading this music discussion thread in late 2019. > > Tags: classic rock, baby boom, cultural hegemony, cultural stasis Doesn’t matter when great music was made, if it moves you it moves you. I don’t think anyone has claimed superiority either by dint of age or by being contemporary. There are albums from the 60’s and 70’s that people no longer pay attention to but also others that have stood the test of time and 50 years later we still listen to them and a new audience discovers them. The same will be true of every era up to and including the current one. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/78 "2019-12-05T14:10:49Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Horses for courses, I love Tommy, Quadraphenia, The Wall \*and \*“Thick as a Brick” but of course that last one could easily be claimed to be the most self-indulgent of the lot. _Karn Evil 9_ would like a word with you. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/79 "2019-12-05T14:22:34Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > I’ll tell you the difference between the music I listened to as a teenager and the music I hear the kids playing now: when I heard those albums as a teenager I felt vibrant, excited, optimistic, like the world was at my feet. Now, when I hear the kids playing their music, my knees hurt and I feel tired all the time. newsflash: everyone thinks the music they latched onto when they were 13 is the best music ever. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363/80 "2019-12-05T14:33:31Z")
For what it is worth those dinosaur groups of the 60s & 70s were probably the least corporate the music industry has been. Most of the big groups wrote their own music and played their own instruments. They weren’t sampling other music or using effects to make up for weak voices. Hell Bob Dylan proudly made album after album singing poorly. So yes, every generation will collectively think their music is the best but as a post boomer MTV generation guy, I do think Classic Rock was the peak for album oriented music. The hair bands weren’t as good and punk & thrash rejoiced in being lesser musicians. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-quadrophenia-is-the-best-album-ever-recorded/844363.md?page=5)