Cultographies

1964: Mods clash with Rockers in Brighton, creating a moral panic. 1973: ex-Mod band The Who release Quadrophenia, a concept album following young Mod Jimmy Cooper to the Brighton riots and beyond. 1979: Franc Roddam directs Quadrophenia, a film based on Pete Townshend''s album narrative; its cult status is immediate. 2013: almost fifty years on from Brighton, this first academic study explores the lasting appeal of ''England''s Rebel Without a Cause''. Investigating academic, music, press, and fan-based responses, Glynn argues that the ''Modyssey'' enacted in Quadrophenia intrigues because it opens a hermetic subculture to its social-realist context; it enriches because it is a cult film that dares to explore the dangers in being part of a cult; it endures because of its ''emotional honesty'', showing Jimmy as failing, with family, job, girl, and group; it excites because we all know that, at some point in our lives, ''I was there!''