The mods vs the rockers?

[Deleted member 77198]

I love the British culture of subcultures. I find it really interesting. I love the styles, the music, the stories.

I get a bit of influence on my style from Mods.

If you did a subculture family tree, you can see a branch that starts with Mods and moves to Skinheads* to Soul Boys to Perry Boys to Football Casuals. All slightly different but all on the same family branch. This branch is where I take my style influence from, with a chunk of Mod psychedelia thrown in (especially Paisley design), which grew on a diverged branch than what Skinheads took, but both came from Mods.

[*That’s real skinheads, not the interpretation of skinheads that happened in Europe and the USA and 70s/80s Britain where they became neo-Nazi racists. That’s literally the complete bloody opposite to what the original British Skinheads were!]

I’m not particularly into the boating jacket Mod style, although Liam Gallagher pulled that style off well in the mid 00s, or the thin tie slim fit suit Mods. And when you read a lot about them, the original Mods acted very feminine with their stance they did with one hand on their hip and the other held up at the elbow with a limp wrist dangling down.

But I do wear desert boots and parkas (but not with a furry hood), and I really like Vespas.

I’ve never really ‘got’ Rockers as I don’t think their style stood the test of time and didn’t lead to other subcultures that resonated with me. That family tree branch lead more down the leather jacket, leather jeans, long hair and loads of metal chains and rips in t-shirts... not for me! Although over the last decade, Alex Turner has pulled that original Rocker style off quite well. But I do appreciate cool motorbikes: look at the Yamaha SR250, for example - a beautiful thing!

 

[sir baconface]

A fake mod...without the Vespa or fighting.

 

[sir baconface]

I was a confused young lad in the early 80's lol

Rode a Kawasaki 650 but dressed like a mod on Saturday nights out !

Things haven’t improved then? :)

 

[Ancient Citizen]

In 60s Manchester the mods and rockers never really clashed. The mods were smart and trendy and mod girls were something else with their smart stylish clothes including the first mini skirts. The rockers had greasy hair and a face full of spots and when you saw their boyfriends they were ugly as well ;-)

Very true, and The Twisted Wheel was where the scene was at, as for fights,
well, I never saw any wherever I went. It was principally a fashion/music scene, smart made to measure suits, brogues, Crombies, the music was heavily Black American, soul and blues and the British sounds of the Small Faces, Who, Kinks and Spencer Davies Group. Lambretta Scooters were lusted after, Vespas
were popular, and motorbikes and oily leathers were mocked, you couldn't
dress like this and ride a motorbike. Lads with motorbikes were all around, and in the main it was just banter.

 

[Ancient Citizen]

It's history now. I've been a biker since 1975 and I've never understood why anyone would buy a scooter. I mean, why would you ride a noisy hair dryer on tiny wheels? Yeah, they're a bit better now, but the real two wheel riding experience is a full on motorbike with performance and handling.

Scooters don't make sense to me. They just don't. I'm sure those that buy them to commute to work or whatever are happy with their choice of motive power, but they are missing out on the real fun of two wheeled machines.

It was never about tear arsing around, scooters suited the fashion scene at the time, and were dressed up like Christmas trees, motorbikes just weren't cool,
Mods were not interested in the driving experience.
Plus, Booker T and the MG's, Otis Redding and Muddy Waters were preferred
to Elvis or Gene Vincent.

 

[Metal Biker]

Watched Quadrophenia a few months back for the first time, given it sounded like something i'd enjoy. I dunno, I found the whole film a bit dull from what i'd been led to believe. Guess you had to be there to appreciate it more. Prolly would have been a rocker, all things considered.

I'm more a "it doesn't matter what you ride, just that you ride" kind of mentality.

 

[Maccblue]

Quadrophenia Alley

 

[yerwot?]

as a grebo brought up in Manchester, i can verify it was a media construct from the begining. The age difference was large, rockers had a proportion of ex-teddy boys, mods were teenagers doing what teenagers do, rebelling against the mainstream, the music, the leather jacket, brylcream , DA haircuts and quiffs. London was different to anywhere else as always, Blackpool was the scene of some half-hearted incidents that the newspapers tried to exagerate into a bloody feud. Rhyl on the odd weekend similar but never more than handbags. The football violence on the other hand was the real thing, typified by skinheads with no interest in football, made worse by the state of the country with mass redundancies and a growing anger with worsening prospects, the ingredients for violent incidents that did not exist in the mods and rocker era.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Watched Quadrophenia a few months back for the first time, given it sounded like something i'd enjoy. I dunno, I found the whole film a bit dull from what i'd been led to believe. Guess you had to be there to appreciate it more. Prolly would have been a rocker, all things considered.

I'm more a "it doesn't matter what you ride, just that you ride" kind of mentality.

I think it’s a proper overrated film. Some of the acting is awful and the storyline lacks a real plot. It got to the end and I thought “Is that it?.. fucking bobbins that!”

It’s like one of those football hooligan films like Football Factory but for the Mods v Rockers thing. Misses the point of the Mod scene.

 

[lancs blue]

Football violence started well before all this. I think football grounds have always been dangerous places to go. Right back to the 1880s football grounds would be places where gangs from local areas going to watch the same team would go to fight, also fans would attack the opposition teams on the pitch.

“
In 1885, Preston's 5-0 friendly win over Aston Villa sent the supporters - who were described by press reports of the time as "howling roughs" - into a frenzy. The two teams were pelted with stones, attacked with sticks, punched, kicked and covered in spittle. One of the Preston players was beaten so severely that he lost consciousness.

The following year Preston fans notched up another first - fighting Queens Park fans in a railway station. Another milestone of sorts was reached in 1905 when several Preston supporters were tried for hooliganism, including a "drunk and disorderly" 70-year-old woman, following their match against Blackburn.
”

Could you imagine turning up to Hyde Rod to watch City at the height of the Scuttlers? I bet it was hairy as fuck!

Historically yes but post WW2 there was very little in the way of organised football violence until the mid 60s.