Quadrophenia and Mod(ern) Culture

270 Pages·2018·2.88 MB·English

by  Pamela Thurschwell (eds.)

HPIAASNTLGODRR PYAOV OPEFU S LSTAUURBD CMIEUSULT SIUNICR TEHSE MQouda(derronp)h eCnuilat uarned
Edited by Pamela Thurschwell
Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and
Popular Music
Series Editors
Keith Gildart
University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK
Anna Gough-Yates
University of West London, London, UK
Sian Lincoln
Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
Bill Osgerby
London Metropolitan University, London, UK
Lucy Robinson
University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
John Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada
Peter Webb
University of the West of England
Cambridge, UK
Matthew Worley
University of Reading, UK
From 1940s zoot-suiters and hepcats through 1950s rock ‘n’ rollers,
beatniks and Teddy boys; 1960s surfers, rude boys, mods, hippies and
bikers; 1970s skinheads, soul boys, rastas, glam rockers, funksters and
punks; on to the heavy metal, hip-hop, casual, goth, rave and clubber
styles of the 1980s, 90s, noughties and beyond, distinctive blends of
fashion and music have become a defining feature of the cultural land-
scape. The Subcultures Network series is international in scope and
designed to explore the social and political implications of subcultural
forms. Youth and subcultures will be located in their historical, socio-
economic and cultural context; the motivations and meanings applied to
the aesthetics, actions and manifestations of youth and subculture will be
assessed. The objective is to facilitate a genuinely cross-disciplinary and
transnational outlet for a burgeoning area of academic study.
More information about this series at
http://www.springer.com/series/14579
Pamela Thurschwell
Editor
Quadrophenia
and Mod(ern) Culture
Editor
Pamela Thurschwell
University of Sussex
Falmer, UK
Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music
ISBN 978-3-319-64752-4 ISBN 978-3-319-64753-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64753-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017949452
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
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Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.
Cover illustration: QUADROPHENIA: Jimmy and Brighton pier. Photograph by Ethan
Russell. Copyright © Ethan Russell. All rights reserved
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
A
cknowledgements
I have a great many thanks to give, starting with all the participants from
the conference, Here by the Sea and Sand: A Symposium on Quadrophenia
that took place at the University of Sussex in July, 2014, and spawned
this book. Special thanks go out to Franc Roddam, Alan Fletcher,
Paolo Hewitt, and James Wood. Thanks go to the aptly named Centre
for Modernist Studies at the University of Sussex for funding the origi-
nal conference, along with the Centre for Visual Fields and the Centre
for Research into Childhood and Youth, also at Sussex. Thanks to the
Subcultures Network editors and to all the people on the Subcultures,
Popular Music and Social Change Facebook page who have supplied
me with information and inspiration. Enormous thanks go to Franc
Roddam, Ethan Russell, Robert Rosenberg, and the Who, all of whom
have been generous with time, permissions, words, and images.
Big thanks, and love, to Jim Endersby who read my article and intro-
duction, formatted my book, saved the index, and my life. Also for input
and readings along the way, thanks goes to Geoff Gilbert, Keith Gildart,
and Matt Worley. Suzanne Canally has seen me through all my Mod
moments and supplied me with old copies of Mojo and Uncut when I
needed them. My brothers, Adam and Eric Thurschwell, introduced me
to the album and took me to see the movie for the first time, and for
that I am grateful. Thanks to the mini-Mods in my life, Max and Katya
Endersby. Thanks, obviously, to Pete Townshend and the Who, without
whom, well, there wouldn’t be a bleeding book, would there?
v
c
ontents
1 Introduction: Dressed Right for a Beach Fight 1
Pamela Thurschwell
Part I Quadrophenia in its Histories
2 Brighton Rocked: Mods, Rockers, and Social Change
During the Early 1960s 13
Bill Osgerby
3 “Who (the Fuck) Are You?”: Out with the In-Crowd
in Quadrophenia 35
Ben Winsworth
4 Discovering the Who’s Mod Past: The American
Reception of Quadrophenia 51
Christine Feldman-Barrett
5 Heatwave: Mod, Cultural Studies, and the
Counterculture 67
Sam Cooper
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viii CONTENTS
Part II The Mobility of Mod: Class, Culture, and Identity
6 Class, Youth, and Dirty Jobs: The Working-Class and
Post-War Britain in Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia 85
Keith Gildart
7 Quad to Run: The Crucible of Identity as Represented
in Quadrophenia and Born to Run 119
Suzanne Coker
8 Taking the 5:15: Mods, Social Mobility,
and the Brighton Train 131
Tom F. Wright
Part III Reading Quadrophenia: Genre, Gender, Sexuality
9 “What are You Gonna Do Tonight?” “Wait
for a Phone Call I Suppose”: Girls, Mod Subculture,
and Reactions to the Film Quadrophenia 151
Rosalind Watkiss Singleton
10 “Poofs Wear Lacquer, Don’t They,
Eh?”: Quadrophenia and the Queerness
of Mod Culture 173
Peter Hughes Jachimiak
11 The Drowning Machine: The Sea and the Scooter
in Quadrophenia 199
Brian Baker
12 “You Were Under the Impression, that When
You Were Walking Forwards, that You’d End up
Further Onwards, but Things Ain’t Quite
that Simple”: Time Travelling
and Quadrophenia’s Segues 217
Pamela Thurschwell
CONTENTS ix
13 Interview with Franc Roddam 235
Pamela Thurschwell
14 Interview with Ethan Russell 251
Pamela Thurschwell and Keith Gildart
Index 263
e c
ditor And ontributors
About the Editor
Pamela Thurschwell teaches at the University of Sussex. Her books
include Literature, Technology and Magical Thinking, 1880–1920 (2001),
Sigmund Freud (2000), Literary Secretaries/Secretarial Culture (2005)
co-edited with Leah Price, and The Victorian Supernatural (2004)
co-edited with Nicola Bown and Carolyn Burdett. She has also published
widely on pop music, including articles on Billy Bragg, The Smiths, Bob
Dylan, and Elvis Costello.
Contributors
Brian Baker is a senior lecturer in English and Creative Writing at
Lancaster University. He works on science fiction, masculinities, and
post-war British and American fiction, having published monographs
on Masculinities in Fiction and Film 1945–2000 (2006), Iain Sinclair
(2007), Contemporary Masculinities in Fiction, Film and Television
(2015), and also The Reader’s Guide to Essential Criticism in Science
Fiction (2014).
Suzanne Coker lives and works near Birmingham, Alabama. While she
has published a small amount of poetry, this is her first prose publication.
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