On this day in 1973, The Who’s double album, Quadrophenia, went gold

Following the success of their first rock opera album Tommy, the group decided to make a second. The story, set in London and Brighton in 1965, follows a young mod named Jimmy and his quest for self-worth and importance.

Quadrophenia is the only album from The Who to be entirely composed by Pete Townshend. In order to do justice to the album, the group decided to build their own studio, Ramport Studios, in Battersea. The studios started construction in November 1972 but when time to record the album came by, an adequate mixing desk was still needed and so the group headed instead to a mobile studio owned by Townshend’s friend Ronnie Lane of Faces. Halfway though the recording, producer Kit Lambert began to miss sessions and was fired.

The album is now recognised as one of the great rock albums, with critics calling it the “most rewarding musical experience of the year”. Commercially it found great success as well, reaching number 2 on the US Billboard Pop Albums and the UK Albums Chart. Pete Townshend himself now considers Quadrophenia to be the last great album recorded by the band and that they “never recorded anything that was so ambitious or audacious again.