How 'Goats Head Soup' and 'Quadrophenia' Fared as 1973 Follow-Ups to Landmark Albums

The Stones’ Goats Head Soup and the Who’s Quadrophenia both dropped in 1973, but they couldn’t have had more different trajectories as follow-ups to career-defining double albums. Goats Head Soup came right after Exile on Main St., and fans at the time were baffled by the polished, slightly sleeker sound—critics called it a retreat. Over the decades, it’s been rescued from the “underrated” pile, with tracks like “Angie” and “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” gaining respect, but still carrying a whiff of disappointment compared to its predecessor.

Quadrophenia had the opposite problem: it was immediately hailed as a major artistic statement, a rock opera that dug deeper into the Mod scene and Pete Townshend’s