What made you a Mod?

[Sean]

I remember the Mod & Ska people always hung out together. Anyone know why that was? Was there a Vespa connection?

[glokstadt]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Sean[/i]
<br>I remember the Mod & Ska people always hung out together. Anyone know why that was? Was there a Vespa connection?
[/quote]

I will explain as best I can later... there is a reason.


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[glokstadt]

It's good to see Moderism and Scootering are still around today, as there will be a Mods Mayday 2008, the first one thrown in Britain in 1979, and there was an LP released of all the bands playing live.

Flyer e-mailed to me:


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[glokstadt]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Sean[/i]
<br>I remember the Mod & Ska people always hung out together. Anyone know why that was? Was there a Vespa connection?
[/quote]

The deal was Mods were a small number of "kids. ad so was the number of Rude Boys/Girls and Skinheads., Since we all liked soul music (Northern Soul mostly), which was our common thread, we hung out together. We all liked Italian motor scooters and liked to dress "sharp" in suits, stay-press pants, Ben Sherman's, Fred Perry's, etc.

On a historical note, when the original Mods faded away, they either went to Art School (listen to The Jam's song from the first album!) or turned into Skinheads that listened to the West Indies/Jamaican "Ska" music that was emerging heavily into the West Indies enclaves of London, and other major cities of the UK to hold, those Mods shaved their heads, kept the same style of clothes and switched their musical taste, and hung out in those clubs making them interracial.

Two books, don't if they are even in print, are Mods by Richard Barnes, and Skinhead by Nick Knight that give an exact detailed account and history of these youth subcultures. My copies are buried in a box in the garage marked "Gerald's Books"--and there a quite a few dozen...

Hope that helps you Sean.

EDIT: Amazon search yielded- Mod books:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/10 ... words=Mods

Skinhead books:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/105 ... =Skinheads





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[glokstadt]

It's a Mod, Mod Mod World in any language, any country. Just found this gem (ha!):


<object width="425" height="373"><param name="movie" value="></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RsBACWattfk&rel=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="373"></embed></object>



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[rotator]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Sean[/i]
<br>I remember the Mod & Ska people always hung out together. Anyone know why that was? Was there a Vespa connection?
[/quote]

It was such a small group at the time I was into it (82-86 in San Diego) you couldnt help running in the same circles...

[glokstadt]

Here's an attempt, better than I could have come with, to describe the Calalifornia Modernist scenes:

http://www.california-mod-scene.com/index.html



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[phillyidol]

I'll be honest, I never even heard of a mod till I joined this board. I live in NY and this year I saw my first vespa being driven by a Chinese food delivery guy.There was no mod movement here. We had punks, skin heads, goths, new wavers, rockers, or guidos. Thats it.




Worlds GREATEST Photographer!

[rotator]

Chinese food delivery guys were always the top mods. "Bell Boy! Take Out!"

[Los Palmas 7]

[quote][i]Originally posted by glokstadt[/i]
I liked the fashion, the music: power pop, soul (Stax, Tamala, etc.--really never Motown, to mainstream!), northern soul, ska, rocksteady (while in my skinhead phase!) and motor scooters!!!
[/quote]


A few years ago, I found on Amazon a British soul compilation box set - 3CDs (or was it 2 CDs?) and one DVD. It was all soul music from Britain in the 60s. I love American Soul Music, but this sounded interesting. However, I can't remember the name of it, and I went onto Amazon recently and couldn't find it despite trying a number of guesses.

I was just wondering if you might have any idea what this might have been.

[glokstadt]

[quote][i]Originally posted by phillyidol[/i]
<br>I'll be honest, I never even heard of a mod till I joined this board. I live in NY and this year I saw my first vespa being driven by a Chinese food delivery guy.There was no mod movement here. We had punks, skin heads, goths, new wavers, rockers, or guidos. Thats it.


Worlds GREATEST Photographer!
[/quote]

There were tons of Mods in New York, now just finding them on the Internet is not easy; however, these old farts more than likly were Mods back in the day and are now just scootering around:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/autom ... SCOOT.html

[b]The New York Scooter Club[/b]
Website: http"//www.nyscooterclub.com

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nyscooterclub

A MySpace page on one of New Yorks' Mod/Power Pop bands from the '80s:
http://www.myspace.com/thebadge

I'll find photos of Mods from back in the day eventually, I just did a quick google search. Cheers!


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[glokstadt]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Los Palmas 7[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by glokstadt[/i]
I liked the fashion, the music: power pop, soul (Stax, Tamala, etc.--really never Motown, to mainstream!), northern soul, ska, rocksteady (while in my skinhead phase!) and motor scooters!!!
[/quote]


A few years ago, I found on Amazon a British soul compilation box set - 3CDs (or was it 2 CDs?) and one DVD. It was all soul music from Britain in the 60s. I love American Soul Music, but this sounded interesting. However, I can't remember the name of it, and I went onto Amazon recently and couldn't find it despite trying a number of guesses.

I was just wondering if you might have any idea what this might have been.

[/quote]

There are 1,000s of comps... On Amazon just type in Northern Soul, and many, many will pop up, here is a link to start you off, I hope you remember what the cover looked like!?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/00 ... thern+Soul



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