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| Photo source: The Scooterist |
Q. What were David Bowie, Rod Stewart and Marc Bolan (teen idol frontman of T Rex) before they eventually found fame as era-defining 1970s rockstars?
A. 1960s Mods.
What was a Mod? In the eyes of the popular British press –– and Mod, or 'Modernism' to give the movement its full title, was an almost exclusively British phenomenon (see below) during the first, pre-psychedelic half of the 1960s –– it was young hooligans dressed in war-surplus khaki anoraks, riding round on Vespa or Lambretta motor scooters, causing riots in peaceful English seaside towns like Brighton where they gathered in large quantities to brawl with their ideological enemies, the Rockers. They were smart-mouthed, sharply dressed zealots who allegedly had their hearts set on disrupting the prevailing social order by going on benzedrine-fuelled binges that resulted in all kinds of nasty and just plain frightening behaviour. Mods were dangerous! Mods were pilled-up drug addicts! Mods were a threat to the peace loving, royalty revering British way of life!
For the most part this jaundiced, media-created view of the movement had virtually nothing to do with what it meant to be a true Mod. Being a Mod, to quote legendary 'Ace Face' Pete Meaden, was all about 'clean living under difficult circumstances.' Modernism was (and remains) a youth movement which stressed individuality over conformity, preferred what was new and exciting (modern North American jazz and Motown music, Jamaican Blue Beat Ska, sharp Italian suits, Continental hairstyles) to what was old and conservative ('safe' 1950s British rock and roll and trad jazz, male and female fashions which hearkened back to 1939 for inspiration, the long sideburns and greasy ducktails worn by Rockers), and sought to break completely with Britain's grubby, socially-divisive, war-obsessed past. It was an inclusive, rather than an exclusive movement, open to anyone –– white, black or otherwise –– who could afford to buy a smartly tailored suit and preferred the sounds being made by the Modern Jazz Quartet or Georgie Fame & His Blue Flames to those being made by Cuddly Duddley or Cliff Richard & The Shadows.
But why take my word for it? Check out these books (and songs!) and discover for yourself why Mod remains a valid worldwide phenomenon that continues to influence everything from art and fashion to music and motoring up to the present day.
How many other 'youth movements' can you still say that about and mean it?
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| Plexus Publishing UK, 1991 |
Mods! (1991) by RICHARD BARNES
This is regularly cited as being the definitive book on the original 1960s Mod scene –– a gritty, first-hand look at what it meant to be young, progressive and constantly on the alert for whatever was new and interesting while you stylishly displayed your contempt for what constituted 'everyday life' in drab post-war Britain. Its author Richard Barnes was a young 'Face' himself, granting him unlimited access to places –– sweaty London nightclubs, the streets and piers of Brighton –– that were inaccessible to journalists and other unhip representatives of the prevailing adult Establishment. Be warned, however, that Mods! consists almost entirely of candid, sometimes hastily snapped black and white photographs. If you're looking for explanations, style tips or in-depth socio-historical analysis, this book is not the place to find them. (It does, on the other hand, contain a long essay by Barnes which is well worth reading, describing life in the London clubs, the city's thriving early 1960s rhythm and blues scene and his friendship with all four members of The Who.) It nevertheless remains an essential purchase for anyone interested in moving beyond the clichés (the over-exploited Target symbol, designer anoraks, Ben Sherman theme stores) to discover what made the movement so vibrant, so interesting and ultimately so important to the development of what writer Colin MacInnes described, in his inspirational 1959 novel Absolute Beginners, as 'the whole teenage epic.'
Although it is reputed to be out of print, copies of Mods! may still be available from your local bookstore or preferred online retailer.
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| Helter Skelter Publishing UK, 2009 |
The Sharper Word: A Mod Anthology (2009) by PAOLO HEWITT [editor]
This is a revised edition of a collection of Mod-inspired pieces originally published by the Helter Skelter Press in 1999. The selections are diverse and, for the most part, interesting, casting some much needed light on the beliefs, opinions and fashion obsessions of the original Mods and helping to explain why so much of what they stood for has been misunderstood, misinterpreted and grossly over-simplified by the mass media since the movement first emerged during the early 1960s.
Some of the highlights include a piece about the 14 year old Marc Bolan (yes, the T Rex guy in his Mark Feld/Jewish youth group days), a Mary Quant article about why '…the new feminine styles' were important (there were, of course, just as many female Mods as male Mods whose stories, unfortunately, remain largely untold) and brief excerpts from Mod-related novels including Absolute Beginners (1959), Tony Parsons's Limelight Blues (1987) and Alan Fletcher's The Blue Millionaire (1998). (The latter forms Part 3 of Fletcher's Mod Crop Trilogy, now considered the definitive novels about the original 1960s Mods but typically long out of print.) There's also plenty of material from 'youth culture' experts including journalists Nik Cohn and Tom Wolfe, plus some illuminating insights offered by authentic 1960s participants including Richard Barnes, Pete Meaden and Irish Jack (who is said to have been the inspiration for Pete Townshend's 1973 masterpiece Quadrophenia and the 1979 film of the same name, effectively novelized by the aforementioned Alan Fletcher). While some purists have criticized Hewitt for failing to draw his material from a broader cross section of Mod-related literature, The Sharper Word remains a useful introduction for anyone unfamiliar with the movement who seeks to understand what inspired, drove and came to define it.
The Sharper Word may still be obtainable from your local bookstore or preferred online retailer.
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| Omnibus Press UK, 2000 |
Mod: A Very British Phenomenon (2000) by TERRY RAWLINGS
Books like this –– big, glossy and designed to be sold by corporate mega-retailers like Virgin and HMV –– are proof, if anyone still needs it, of the continuing international relevance of the Modernist aesthetic. This is, to put it bluntly, a mass market coffee table book rather than a serious examination of the rise and rise of this '…very British phenomenon.' That said, it's appealingly designed and a lot of fun to flick through on a wet afternoon while listening to The Action or The Small Faces. What makes the book worth owning, for the inquisitive non-purist like myself, are its photographs. There are quite a number of them and they're generally printed in colour, with many being drawn from the contemporary advertising of the era, making the book, if nothing else, an interesting glimpse into the recent British past and a fascinating social document in its own right.
Unfortunately, the writing that accompanies the images lacks the punch and polish of what you'll find in the wider ranging, more diligently researched The Sharper Word. This deficiency is partially compensated for by the inclusion of a final, frustratingly sketchy chapter devoted to the Quadrophenia-inspired Mod Revival movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Reading it may prompt you to want to explore that just-as-interesting scene and hear (or, in my case, revisit) the inspirational music made by what were then 'new' Mod bands like The Jam, The Chords and Nine Below Zero. The Mod Revival was a legitimate extension of the original movement and is still going strong today in many parts of the world, inspiring its own specialized collections of books, films, blogs and lifestyle-based websites which continue to promote the Modernist ethos of '…clean living under difficult circumstances.'
Mod: A Very British Phenomenon may still be obtainable from your local bookstore or preferred online retailer.
Since this post was originally published in December 2012 there has been something of an explosion in the publication of Mod-related literature, both nonfiction like the books discussed above and fiction in the form of so-called 'Mod novels' like Out of Time by PAUL DAVIS. Visit the excellent Modculture website to read more about what's currently available.
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