MODERNISM.........growing up!
By John Hellier
I was interviewed recently, by BBC Radio on the subject of the 50th
anniversary of Mod. I pointed out to them that they were five years too late!
They didn't want to hear that, their starting point was Bank Holiday 1964 and the
infamous fighting on the beaches stories. Well anybody well versed on the
subject knows that to be a load of bollocks! That really wasn't what Mod was
all about. Modernists were in the capital as early as 1959 and there's a well
known photograph floating around the internet with dozens of scooters parked up
outside the 2 I's coffee bar in Old Compton Street to prove the point.
My own birthing into what was a youth culture took place during my last
year in school in 1964. Back then nobody ever consciously thought "I'm
going to be a Mod", it was just the fashion of the day and for many it was
just a passing fad, not for me. If somebody told me back then I'd be writing
about it in a half a century's time I'd have laughed my bonce off! We never
looked any further than the next weekend. The old adage "Mod is for life,
not just for Christmas" was surely penned with me in mind. It turned out
to be a way of life. Strange really as we were only kids having fun, we weren't
out to change the world but it did change our world. It has shaped my existence
to a certain degree ever since.
Although it's never really gone away completely there were times that
it went underground. After the first wave of Modernism came Psychedelic Mod.
This was around 1967 and both attire and music changed. Contrary to the belief
that original Mods turned Skinhead we were now growing our hair and listening
to the sounds of San Francisco instead of Memphis. The clothing became very flamboyant
almost to the point of Dandyism with velvet loon pants, silk neck scarves and
satin shirts the order of the day. The days of Tonik mohair and Fred Perry type
shirts had gone...well for the time being anyway. Facial hair along the lines
of Jason King was also very much part of the look but despite what many say we
still thought of it as Mod. Even the Glam Rock look of the 70s stemmed from 60s
Mod. Everything just got more and more outrageous until a film called Quadrophenia
arrived. That spawned a 60s Mod Revival and kids on the street were once again
donning sta prest trousers and button down shirts. During the 1990s another
boom came along with the advent of Brit Pop and Acid Jazz, since then it's been
uphill all the way largely due to social networking and the like. Technology
has made it possible for like-minded souls the world over to connect and
influence one another. The Mod movement which had previously been thought of as
a British phenomenon had now spread to such far flung places as Japan,
Australia, China, Russia and pretty much the whole of Latin America.
The world in 2014 is generally a scruffy place but seeing young
Modernists barely out of school wearing classic Mod attire is a breath of fresh
air and certainly gives me a buzz and new hope that generations to come will
keep this unique movement very much alive and thriving. Mind you, it's much
easier for the new breed as they've got six decades of style to draw from.
Original Mods didn't have that and were always seeking out the next big thing.
What was "in" one week could most certainly be "out" the
next. That's probably the only thing where we differ but that doesn't matter,
each generation of Mod bring new things to the table which keep it contemporary
to a point. The same can be said of some of the new bands on the circuit, great
bands such as Stone Foundation, The 45s, Spitfires and Strypes. There's no doubting
where their influences lie but each of them still successfully manage to put
their own stamp on things.
Mod was once a "Youth Movement".... it’s now grown up and
referred to as simply a "Movement".
Here's to the next 50 (or should that be 55) years!!
JOHN HELLIER (August 2014)
