To hell with parents and older siblings, to hell with traditionalists, to hell with those crude rockers! We need to become cool, nonconformist, and popular. We need to oppose sobriety and morality. This is how the Mods faced life, and there's no better lyric than The Who 's "My Generation " to sum up their spirit: "People try to put us down, Just because we get around, Things they do look awful, I hope I die before I get old, My generation, This is my generation, baby." But who are the Mods? What generation are they?
When style is the only distinction
The Mod movement developed in the late 1950s during the economic boom , when full employment began to give new impetus to those young people who had lived through the squalor of war. Originally from North London , children of the middle or working class, the Mods ignored political or social barriers: distinction was simply a matter of style. So, with pockets full of money and without having to ask their parents for anything, the young men began spending their entire wages on new clothes, showing off their heads high to attract the gaze of anyone they met on the street.
Indeed, true Mods, with their three-button tailored jackets , Levi's jeans with turn-ups , suede desert boots , or pointed winklepickers , did not go unnoticed. Their attention to their appearance was obsessive and required attention to the smallest details that only the most narcissistic had the patience to devote, completing their look with a touch of lip gloss and a touch of mascara , most often stolen from girls elegantly nicknamed " birds " or " pillow meat ." After all, the Mods were in the driving seat, and their scooters, strictly Italian, became undisputed symbols of this two-wheeled subculture as foreign-loving as it was faithful to its national emblems.
Modernism and the Italian Passion
The origins of the Mod phenomenon actually date back to the late 1940s, when Miles Davis , beginning to record a series of pioneering and experimental singles, gave jazz a new direction. Those new sounds from overseas literally dazzled English teenagers to the point that they began a veritable process of studying and imitating the Ivy League style , flaunted by their idols immortalized on album covers. From that passion for modern jazz , the label modernist was born , later shortened more simply to Mod, to indicate those who were fascinated by everything that transcended British provincialism and traditionalism.
And Italy played a key role. Roman Holiday (1953), starring the legendary Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn riding a Vespa through Rome's most chic streets , and Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) were two of the films that forever changed the concept of fashion. Understanding the language of foreign films was unimportant and a completely superfluous effort; the true purpose of those films was to copy the most everyday gestures, because putting a cigarette to your mouth or riding a motorbike like a true Italian gentleman was unparalleled in terms of elegance. Hence the love for Vespas and Lambrettas , heavily accessorized with horns and extra mirrors to appear menacing, but in truth only more ridiculous, in the eyes of the Rockers , their number one rivals.
Despite their fascination with foreign countries, the Mods remained very attached to their national symbols, such as the Union Jack and the Royal Air Force crest (three concentric circles of blue, white, and red). They began patching them onto their parkas, both to protect themselves from the humidity and to stand out in the Soho nightclubs where they found their beating heart: the Flamingo Jazz Club. Frequented predominantly by white modern jazz fans during the day and a popular venue for black immigrants seeking rhythm and blues at night, the Mods decided to liven up their boring life by visiting the club after their usual hours and taking large quantities of amphetamines , easily obtainable at the time with a simple prescription. Naturally, they did everything they could to stave off boredom, not even brawling with the infamous Rockers.
The rivals and the drifts of the movement
There were certainly fights between the Mods and the Rockers, and the battles of Clacton and Brighton in 1964 saw thousands of young people fight, making those episodes the history of these two opposing subcultures. Yet the rivalry between them was never very clear. Relations between leather jackets and parkas were never relaxed, and certainly they stayed away from each other's hangouts. But even among the Mods themselves, there was bad blood, and several studies have shown a marked moral panic instigated by the media, to the detriment of their public image.
Meanwhile, a veritable commercial empire arose around the movement. The Who, a quartet comprised of Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon, was memorable. They became one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of all time, achieving resounding success in 1965 when they released their first album, My Generation , a flagship for a subculture they themselves, however, never felt a part of. From 1966 onwards, things began to change, fragment, and evolve, partly due to the arrival of new drugs. Only in 1973 did the Who take a turn for the worse with their release of Quadrophenia , which later led to a film of the same name and a full-blown revival movement. Yet the movement's evolution had already begun. Some Mods pioneered the desire to distinguish themselves from the rest, some embraced psychedelic hippie culture, others abandoned the Ivy League look in favor of a style closer to that of West Indian immigrants; Still others shaved their heads, becoming the first skinheads . All of this was always accompanied by that song in the background: Why don't you all f-fade away? And don't try to dig what we all ss-say, I'm not trying to cause a big ss-sensation , I'm just talkin' 'bout my ggg-generation.
Subculture Universe
1) Subcultures and new tribes: the need to stand out
2) Teddy Boys: Between the Desire to Stand Out and Violence
3) Rave Parties: When Music Becomes Ecstasy
4) Rockers: live fast, die young
5) Emo: A Subculture with a Confusing Etymology
6) Gabbers: a subculture between raves and stadiums
Alice Porracchio
" If there's not a rebellious youth culture, there's no culture at all. It's absolutely essential. It is the future ."
