Mod to Suedehead

[Lasttye]

Originally Posted by browniecj

Funny how the Skinheads went for theStones.During their Hyde Park Concert,it was the Hippies that were the enemy-not the Stones.
I was there Browniecj, We heard Skinheads was going so we all piled down, Kilburn is only a couple of miles away, Skinheads ended up slinging Hippies in the Serpentine, Often that concert is repeated on TV, Although i was there.. we was nowhere near the stage. So i saw fcuk all, But you could hear it, They had these big speakers fixed to trees banging out. I remember The 1970 Isle of White Concert.. We was on our way there in a nicked car, We broke down somewhere South of the River, Never got there, Thank Fcuk

 

[Lasttye]

Hippies was not the enemy, We just looked at them as idiots, never gave them a thought,

 

[raging_rapid]

Originally Posted by Little Queenie

What a lovely photograph, even if it wasn't of interest to us from a Skinhead point of view, it's very well taken.

I also find it of great interest just how far the third gen revival skingirls have moved, from the original look. However, back in the two-tone era, I'd say it was still a mixture of chelsea feathercuts (with the clippers) and the mod Bob style haircuts with a few cuts similar to the 60s. Somewhere along the way, the Chelsea style, had become the dominant fashion, of the 1990s onwards.

I was at a ska gig, and for the first time in a long while, we had four ska bands playing. I am friends with one of the bands there, and we were thinking, the music is likely on the cusp of a fourth generation revival. We were also, picking up on the trend that much of it is going back to the style of Rocksteady from the 1960s. What's not clear, is if the skinhead subculture, will get a new dawn this time around, like it did in the 1990s.

Hopefully, with more stories coming out from the originals, we'll be able to get the new generation, interested in the clothing styles and haircuts too....maybe truly get the style back to its core roots.

And yes, that's a great photo!

 

[browniecj]

Originally Posted by Lasttye

I was there Browniecj, We heard Skinheads was going so we all piled down, Kilburn is only a couple of miles away, Skinheads ended up slinging Hippies in the Serpentine,
Often that concert is repeated on TV, Although i was there.. we was nowhere near the stage. So i saw fcuk all, But you could hear it, They had these big speakers fixed to trees banging out.

I remember The 1970 Isle of White Concert.. We was on our way there in a nicked car, We broke down somewhere South of the River, Never got there, Thank Fcuk

Was there in Hyde Park as well.The I.O.W Festival was massive in `70.The Who headlined it(arriving on Site by Helicopter).Because of the sheer weight of People,we got through some broken down fencing-but spent most of our time dodging the Security.We did not get near the Stage,but the buzz was good.
In `69 we regarded Hippies as lazy,scrounging and hypocritical B*st*rds(a view I still hold today).

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

I was at the Hyde Park thing when the Stones were there. I was stuck in the middle of the crowd somewhere out of sight of the crowd. The Stones were badly out-of-tune. Also I missed the... er... "fun".

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Here's a recent email conversation I had with a bloke who was 16 in 1969: I was 16 in 1969, so was right in the thick of it!! No photos I'm afraid... I was just too young to be a proper Mod, although I had a Parka, and bowling shoes etc, my wheels were a Raleigh RSW16 pushbike!! My older brother had a Vespa GS150, which he had an argument with a bread van with, and lost! So I wasn't allowed to get one. The Thursday night disco at the youth club played mostly mainstream reggae such as Liquidator, which we sang along to: "North Bank support, WEST HAM" I lived in Corringham, Essex, and had a summer job working in a factory in Basildon, so got the nod from the Basildon Skins when they were going to raid us! That way, I would make sure me and my friends were by a window in the dance hall, ready to leg it across the field! It worked quite well until the Basildon Skins descended on us without warning one night. Two of my friends ended up in hospital overnight and the place was wrecked. I escaped major injury by chanting "Basildon, Basildon", as I made for the nearest exit, whilst getting a few punches in as I left!! Earlier that evening, my friend won Tighten Up Vol 1 in a raffle, but never got to play it as it got smashed over his head!! We used to get our shoes, Royals & Brogues, from Victoria Shoes in Southend, shirts from Byrite and two tone sta-pressed trousers from a shop in Aldgate, East London which I've forgotten the name of. Levis were always bought from a shop called Roys in Pitsea. My mate made the front page of the Daily Mail when he got his braces and boot laces confiscated as he got off the train at Brighton once*. He got the sack from his job at a bank because of that. It was mostly the girls that danced to the Motown music, but when the "Skinhead Moonstomp" type music came on, we'd all leap about on the dancefloor. The most memorable dance routine was when the hardest skin in our gang decided he wanted to dance........ Everybody had to form a circle round him while he freaked out to Led Zeppelin, Whole Lotta Love. Nobody else was allowed to join in, it was HIS dancefloor! I think he had a bit of help with some little pills too! Although I was heavily into the Skin scene, style and music, I had also just started at Art College, surrounded by long haired hippies! I wore all the skin clothes, but started growing my hair long too! I called myself a "LongHead". And I was getting more into the underground rock music scene, as well as still loving the dance stuff. One morning I got on the coach to take us to the college and I saw a hippie type, curtain inserts in his jeans etc, with a pile of LP's under his arm. I asked what he had, and he replied, "Nothing that would interest you", with a bit of disdain in his voice. I told him I already had 5 of them, and had ordered another two. He was somewhat gobsmacked: The word "Crombie" just came into my head!!!

Politics didn't mean much to me then, other than hating the Labour Party for shutting down Radio London & Caroline. As for Race, to be West Indian was ok, but Asians were not tolerated very much in S Essex, probably the same countrywide? I can't remember much more about those times, so I must have really enjoyed it!!!! I replied: I had nothing against Asians, I just didn’t like the way their young blokes dressed – always seemed to be in tan slacks and little leather jackets round our way and it was a look I detested. If there had been any trouble between my mates and a mob of no-matter-what colour – white, black, Asian, or mixed – it would just have been a fight as far as I was concerned, not a race riot. A handful of blokes round where I was (S E London) dressed in the skinhead/Ivy fashion but kept their hair quite long, maybe shoulder-length. This was usually blokes who had thick hair and were a bit vain about it. Yes I remember hearing “North Bank support – WEST HAM” to Liquidator too. ___________________________ *Does anyone happen to have that picture from the Mail?

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Info from Paddy Grady of Wellingborough (who wrote a book about soul clubs from 1962 to 1975 that now goes for £50+ on Amazon).

"One topic that did make it into my book was about the night some London Skins came to The George in Wilby, which is a village near Wellingborough where one of this areas top night spots was held, this was early 1970's, the London mob had come to 'take' The George & big fight went off in the car park and into the road, but in the end the London guys were far to outnumbered and they scuttled off! Great memories!"

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Here's an interesting pic from April 1969.

The guys here are obviously mods. The jean-jackets (even a leather one possibly even made by Levi Strauss) and the general style would say 'The North' to you, right? Well the pic was in fact taken in Bedford. I am including it here to show how close to London you could get and still have a totally different style carrying on.

(c) Dave Crawley

 

[bunty]

Great photo, they're still hanging on to the mod look, even in '69, I didn't know that style co-existed at the time

 

[browniecj]

Originally Posted by Man-of-Mystery

Info from Paddy Grady of Wellingborough (who wrote a book about soul clubs from 1962 to 1975 that now goes for £50+ on Amazon).

"One topic that did make it into my book was about the night some London Skins came to The George in Wilby, which is a village near Wellingborough where one of this areas top night spots was held, this was early 1970's, the London mob had come to 'take' The George & big fight went off in the car park and into the road, but in the end the London guys were far to outnumbered and they scuttled off! Great memories!"
It was funny Paddy Grady would talk about a top night spot,being in a village.There was one I attended with my Mates-in Bookham,Surrey(the Village Hall).It was unique in the fact that ,besides playing great Reggae,there was no trouble either(not the times i went ).There were two Mobs in attendance-us and the Epsom Boys.There was an unwritten Truce between the two lots of Skinheads.We would stand one side of the dancefloor and they the other.No word was spoken between us but we watched each other dance(clap if the dancing was good), and to a certain extent hold a Fashion Show.No chanting of Football Slogans or anything like that.The Girls were gorgeous as well.This would be about `69.

 

[browniecj]

Originally Posted by Man-of-Mystery

Here's an interesting pic from April 1969.

The guys here are obviously mods. The jean-jackets (even a leather one possibly even made by Levi Strauss) and the general style would say 'The North' to you, right? Well the pic was in fact taken in Bedford. I am including it here to show how close to London you could get and still have a totally different style carrying on.

(c) Dave Crawley
One of my personal regrets was not getting a Leather Levi Jacket,they looked the Business.

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

A friend of mine who was 9 in 1969 (same age as Robert Elms) just messaged me on Facebook:

"I remember my elder brother telling tales of school where he was told to get his hair cut and several of his mates were told not to get their hair cut that short again."

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Originally Posted by browniecj

One of my personal regrets was not getting a Leather Levi Jacket,they looked the Business.

Damn right they did! (if you stood up straight and didn't lounge about like the lad in the photo)

 

[browniecj]

There some nice Shirts on ebay this morning,including a nice looking "Candy Stripe"BD.It measures 23" armpit to arm pit.The seller is helsby73-sorry cannot put the link up.

 

[bunty]

Originally Posted by Man-of-Mystery

A friend of mine who was 9 in 1969 (same age as Robert Elms) just messaged me on Facebook:

"I remember my elder brother telling tales of school where he was told to get his hair cut and several of his mates were told not to get their hair cut that short again."

One of the local originals wasn't allowed into a club in the early 60s because his hair was too long, in the late 60s he wasn't allowed in because he had a grade 1! What a claim to fame