Mod to Suedehead

[stilts121]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

I have a friend, a skinhead girl turned mod, who has lived out in Brooklyn for many years now, and she says that when friends come out to visit from west coast she's reluctant to take them to local soul nites because, in her opinion, the music is way below west coast standards, which is funny because when I come back from London and going to a 'do there, I think the same about our clubs, how the english clubs play way better music. I think a lot of that too, is US DJs are so preoccupied with "rare" records that oftentimes they play stuff that is rare but not any good.

Yeah, no kidding. Nothing I hate more than watching a dance floor empty because the pretentious DJ stops spinning the stuff people like and spends 20 minutes showing how cool he is because he found some obscure Leslie Kong-produced track that probably hasn't been played since it was first recorded 40 years ago. I've got to the point where I just don't bother anymore. There's nothing wrong with wanting to dance to the classics, dammit!

 

[C3PLOS]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

I have a friend, a skinhead girl turned mod, who has lived out in Brooklyn for many years now, and she says that when friends come out to visit from west coast she's reluctant to take them to local soul nites because, in her opinion, the music is way below west coast standards, which is funny because when I come back from London and going to a 'do there, I think the same about our clubs, how the english clubs play way better music. I think a lot of that too, is US DJs are so preoccupied with "rare" records that oftentimes they play stuff that is rare but not any good.

I've always been turned off by the whole 'rare' mentality when it comes to DJ nights. Rare definitely does not equal good. This isn't just confined to the soul clubs though. I've seen the same thing happen with other 'modish' nights or 'psych' clubs. Djs try to hard to impress other djs at the expense of people just wanting to dance.

 

[loempiavreter]

They should just spend their money on a good bag full of motown

Not skinhead... but some accidental look by the downliner sect (although I just noticed he also wears a belt wit hthe braces :/)

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Originally Posted by loempiavreter

I just noticed he also wears a belt with the braces

So did Slade until I set 'em straight!

 

[Skinners Jeans]

I think the Jeans are 'Skinners'

 

[bbaquiran]

Just out of curiosity, what brand polo is this? (from This is England 86)

 

[RandallStephens]

Milky showed a definite taste for Baracuta in the follow up series. http://www.baracuta-g9.com/Polo-Shir...051235648814/f Speaking of east coast do's - there's a decent gig in Philly tonight. There is a fairly regular set of DJ's that have slowly shifted their focus more toward twee in the past year; this set is more for the boss reggae. Hopefully they play the deep cuts over the rarities.

 

[Parker]

Originally Posted by Man-of-Mystery

I just wanted to share this. My favourite late-60s music is the short-lived "Rock Steady" - the one drop rhythm and the unsophisticated recording studio sound - totally laid back. Goes with the clothes!

Groove to The Three Tops' It's Raining

Thanks for the link. Love this.

 

[Southlondongent]

This excerpt from an interview with Kevin Rowland of Dexys in an old 'Smash Hits Yearbook' (1983) might be of interest. (Early Dexys were quite interesting in that they never quite fitted into any 'scene' in the early 80's despite having one foot in the mod camp and another in 2-Tone. 'Geno' was huge in 1980 though with everyone)....

"Around the age of 15 I started getting into smart clothes. I used to wear really bright clothes right from the start.... Anyway around then I joined a gang. I was a member of the 'Young Harrow Team', the 'YHT' and had this nickname 'Rolo'. I used to spray 'Rolo of Harrow' all over the walls of North West London. I thought that was really good. I thought the gang were great at the time. Now they seem like a bunch of idiots.

We used to wear really short hair and mohair suits - this was just before 'Skinheads' came along - and crewcuts shorn right up the sides, and the sort of clothes middle-aged Americans would wear, all imported from America. Big, bright, check jackets with six-inch vents, white socks and little yellow garters so they'd stay up really nicely. We were all really disgusted when it got in the papers three months later and they started calling it 'Skinhead'. There wasn't much violence with us; we were more interesed in looking afer our clothes. Not getting them ripped.

Also we were really anti 'groups' at the time. 'Groups' as in 'pop groups'. 'Groups' were nowhere! They were old-fashioned. Reggae was the thing. Only black music. White music was forget it! And you could forget most black music as well. It was only the really obscure stuff like the Ethiopians or the early Pioneers. Or Desmond Dekker before 'the Israelites'. You never saw groups; dancing to their records was the thing".

 

[Get Smart]

Speaking of Rowland, and he has some good insights on the matter being in the thick of it all in the 60s, here's some bits from Paul Gorman's "The Look" (I editted what I typed for content and relevancy)....on skinheads in the 60s. It's a good amount of reading but worth it I think.

from Kevin Rowland:

"Peanuts" was the only word I heard used to describe them, pre-1969. It was a mod thing to begin with, and definitely came out of that. "Top mod" used to be a compliment, as in "That's Smart" - I can remember someone saying that about a Van Heusen shirt of mine as early as 1966.

A more casual rig-out in about 1967 was what was called a "zipper jacket", in a navy shiny synthetic fabric or occasionally dark brown suede. They had elasticized cuffs and collar and was basically an MA-1 flying jacket, worn with knitted shirt underneath and new-ish Levis navy blue 501. Sometimes suits were worn, or just the jacket with a pair of Levis. The jackets were long, 3 button, and only the top button was done up, maybe the top 2. The jacket had single 9inch or 12inch vent and was waisted. There would be a breast pocket and 3 outside pockets with sloping flaps, about an inch and a half to 2" high.

That year (1968) it started to get really American. One or two of the smart dressers had off-centre 6-7inch vents in their jacket, patch pockets with straight flaps, and raised edges on all the seams. They took the look on to a new level of Ivy League sophistication.

Some boys had their hair shaved off completely. This wasnt a numbskull look, as reported in the media, but a sophisticated fashion statement that only few could understand. Middle aged, conservative and all-American, the same as astronauts and GIs. Against the backdrop of London in 1969, it was completely and utterly outrageous.

When I first saw a pair of wing tip Royals (aka Longwing brogue), I was shocked because I'd been told I was being taken to this shop where the smartest dressers went. Up to that point, fashionable meant dainty and petite, but these shoes were awkward looking with great big soles and heels. They were ugly but I also recognized they were beautiful. They were outrageously expensive too, 6+ quid, a week's wages for lots of men. The shoes turned me on it was such a clean and beautiful look.

After that day in October 1968 I would see the occasional guy who had this subtle American look, but then it all came together in the summer of 1969. We knew we were a part of something big and powerful. We danced good - often all in a line, wearing harringtons with collars up over American style shirts, sta-prest trousers with braces and brogues, loafers and gibsons, all boys no girls. This seemed the best way to pull girls, just dance good and usually they would come near.

I think the first newspaper article about all this was in The Daily Mirror in late summer 1969. I'd only heard the name skinhead once previously. A really well dressed kid from Richmond said it to another short haired youth. It was a jokey slightly derogatory term, nothing serious. A cartoon figure dressed in white tshirt, braces, jeans and big boots featured in the Mirror article headed something like "This is a skinhead" While it was nice to be recognized as part of something, it was misrepresented, and that ruined it basically.

By winter of 1969, some of the better dressed boys wore trilbys and 3/4 length sheepskins. In fact, smart dressers had sheepskins in winter of '68, or they wore navy Crombie overcoats over Prince of Wales check suits, or maybe a cardigan.

I saw my first grown out skinhead in the late summer of 1970. He was wearing wingtips, parallel trousers and a Ben Sherman shirt, but his hair was long. The writing was on the wall. Everything was changing....but what really pissed me off is that the cool and more subtle American look I mentioned above died before it had been given a chance to grow. This was the great lost look.

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

1. "Peanuts" was the only word I heard used to describe them, pre-1969...
   
   
2. A more casual rig-out in about 1967 was what was called a "zipper jacket", in a navy shiny synthetic fabric or occasionally dark brown suede...
   
   
3. Sometimes suits were worn, or just the jacket with a pair of Levis...
   
   
4. By winter of 1969, some of the better dressed boys wore trilbys ...
   
   
5. This was the great lost look

1. "Peanuts" - I heard that too, but had forgotten clean about it!
   
   
2. I referred to this type of jacket in an earlier post as a "surfer jacket", for want of a better term. Forget direct comparison with the MA-1, the '67 zipper was usually unlined and there were no pen-pockets on the sleeve. Yes, navy was the usual colour, but occasionally light blue with dark collar and cuffs; some of them had a contrasting piping on the collar. It's really difficult to find a pic of one on the web, but if you look at the picture of Neat Change below, check out the guy second from right. I never saw that many of the suede ones.
   
   
3. Yep, I remember that look, and despite my mum's protestations I wore my suit jacket over jeans in '67.
   
   
   
   
4. The trilbys in question were navy, and were not pork pies. They were similar to the fedora pictured below.
   
   
5. It was indeed!

 

[Get Smart]

^^ yep the surfer jacket you referred to is now commonly known as a "monkey jacket", tbh I have no idea where that name came from. Was talking about it with someone a while back and we couldnt really figure out the origin. And I've seen "monkey jackets" also referred to as a "bomber jacket" so the interchangeable use of term with an MA-1 is easily found.

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

^^ yep the surfer jacket you referred to is now commonly known as a "monkey jacket".

You keep jogging my memory. My mum also referred to mine as a "monkey jacket" as a term of disparagement. The term comes from the time when organ-grinders used to have a pet monkey rattling the cup for tips. The monkey would often be dressed in a very short "zouave" jacket.

 

[Dent]

This jacket seems to fit the description. Thoughts? http://www.modculture.co.uk/gallery2....jpg&show=full I've been looking for something similar.

 

[Man-of-Mystery]

Link not working for me, Dent.