MOD: A VERY BRITISH PHENOMENON BY TERRY RAWLINGS

Mods and Skinheads. The Mod movement has its roots in 1950’s London where the Italian Coffee shops were the meeting point for the Modernists listening to modern jazz. They acquired a taste for Italian inspired tailored fashion and Italian scooters.  The Who and The Small Faces were typical of the bands that were popular with the Mods in the 1960s and they also picked up on the Ska music of the Jamaican Rude Boys.

A Mod revival in the 1970s saw The Jam rise to prominence together with the wave of two-tone bands including The Beat, The Specials and The Selector. Sharing many of the sartorial and musical tastes of the Mods the Skinheads were rooted in British working-class culture.  Associated with violence on the football terraces and extremism in the 1980’s the Skinhead culture was much maligned. Recognition of their cultural influence and their musical taste (the true skinhead love of Reggae, Dancehall and Ska) is often overlooked.

Our Mods and Skinhead selection covers Mod Art by Paul “Smiler” Anderson, Mod: A Very British Phenomenon and I Just Can’t Stop It, the story of Rankin Roger in The Beat. Skinhead by Nick Knight, the classic Skins by Gavin Watson and Young, Gifted and Black: The Story of Trojan Records.