Thanks Peter. I wasn't saying that surfers were an American version of the mods but that this marked one of the first times that I know of where music was written to promote a particular youth subculture and ton express the experiences felt by members of that subculture. Yes, you're right. Keith Moon was a bif fan or surf music.
Interesting comment re surfers being US version of mods. I'm not convinced, but I do recall that the Who used to include several surfing songs in their set, back in 1964. They did a fine Bucket T.
Hi Peter – I will aim to draw attention to your excellent essays on the subculture matter which, of course, we carried in the pages of Rock and the Beat Generation.
Fascinating. I am surprised by the assertion that mods became hippy, even though hippy is a widely misinterpreted state of being. But that could be my situation in the North of England, where mod meant smart clothes and scooter travel. I had encountered the hippy thing before that - only by 18 months or so and via mass media. I remember some 'hippies' on TV, some calling themselves 'yippies' - of these I believe there were Ginsberg or someone like that. They smoked a 'spliff' -memory suggests the David Frost show and generally took radical views but, some of this made sense. Their appearance was anything but what I knew as mod; long hair, modified beatnikish.
Meanwhile, John Lennon (and Yoko) were getting into bags and stuff and before you could say '67 there were riots in Paris. Still not much of the mod inn sight? I realise I must have encountered the later embodiment. By this time my hippiedom was growing alongside my familial milieu, that of motorcyclist - rocker - or grebo/grease as the mods called us. These mods danced to pop, transformed into skinheads and suedes and physically attacked coloured immigrants. It was the hippies and biker/hippies (when the latter weren't engineering students) who read Kerouac, watched Easy Rider, imported Quicksilver Messenger records and so forth.
OZ and IT magazines appeared along with local periodicals that confronted societal issues. I for one thought the dream, the big idea, were coming true but then I'm just naiive and see good in people... Funny though, my parents (perhaps prudish) religious values caused me to think all the sweaary poets and authors were rather OTT. OK we get it. But old stuffy suit won't respond favourably to shit throwing.
Tell you what I hate - not being able to scroll back up to the article I'm rudely commenting on. I have to rely on memory....
But what I love is that the things we strove for our parents and grandparents had actually fought in two world wars to defend (more or less, kids revolt, right?) and some youth - many youth I encounter now have the same values. Plus the fact that these issues are becoming of historical and socio-political interest (shame 'politicians' aren't paying attention but...).
I look at current music/lyrics and you STILL have to dig to find anything that isn't just deformed PC or inverse racism or plain gibberish. It goes ever on, should the planet not cry enough meaanwhile. I suppose as a race/species we're just too flawed but my crikey, growing up in those times when I could turn on mainstream radio and hear Diana Ross, The Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Small Faces, Joni MItchel - you get my drift - that was something special and I'm so glad today's people get it, no matter what our take is.
Oh and glancing at the title, in closing - the fighting was just media hyped really. The mods I knew lived on the next street and only months previous we all played footy together and borrowed bikes. The only ones causing bother were coming home after disco (their night was over by 9pm) while we were down some grimey pub. They'd shout greeearse hoping we'd come pouring out for a feyt. We were too busy inside squirting beer about, smoking Park Drive and effing this effing that. Hippiedom became freakdom, Jethro Tull, Roxy Music. Oh soz yeah you mentioned Bowie as a hippie? There are those that see him as glam (I think Sweet and Trex dominated that). But maybe our personal tastes cloud what people were really up to. So long as it wasn't bad... https://sites.google.com/site/beingbiker?pli=1
Wonderful.
Thanks, Paul.
Thanks Peter. I wasn't saying that surfers were an American version of the mods but that this marked one of the first times that I know of where music was written to promote a particular youth subculture and ton express the experiences felt by members of that subculture. Yes, you're right. Keith Moon was a bif fan or surf music.
Interesting comment re surfers being US version of mods. I'm not convinced, but I do recall that the Who used to include several surfing songs in their set, back in 1964. They did a fine Bucket T.
Hi Peter – I will aim to draw attention to your excellent essays on the subculture matter which, of course, we carried in the pages of Rock and the Beat Generation.
Fascinating. I am surprised by the assertion that mods became hippy, even though hippy is a widely misinterpreted state of being. But that could be my situation in the North of England, where mod meant smart clothes and scooter travel. I had encountered the hippy thing before that - only by 18 months or so and via mass media. I remember some 'hippies' on TV, some calling themselves 'yippies' - of these I believe there were Ginsberg or someone like that. They smoked a 'spliff' -memory suggests the David Frost show and generally took radical views but, some of this made sense. Their appearance was anything but what I knew as mod; long hair, modified beatnikish.
Meanwhile, John Lennon (and Yoko) were getting into bags and stuff and before you could say '67 there were riots in Paris. Still not much of the mod inn sight? I realise I must have encountered the later embodiment. By this time my hippiedom was growing alongside my familial milieu, that of motorcyclist - rocker - or grebo/grease as the mods called us. These mods danced to pop, transformed into skinheads and suedes and physically attacked coloured immigrants. It was the hippies and biker/hippies (when the latter weren't engineering students) who read Kerouac, watched Easy Rider, imported Quicksilver Messenger records and so forth.
OZ and IT magazines appeared along with local periodicals that confronted societal issues. I for one thought the dream, the big idea, were coming true but then I'm just naiive and see good in people... Funny though, my parents (perhaps prudish) religious values caused me to think all the sweaary poets and authors were rather OTT. OK we get it. But old stuffy suit won't respond favourably to shit throwing.
Tell you what I hate - not being able to scroll back up to the article I'm rudely commenting on. I have to rely on memory....
But what I love is that the things we strove for our parents and grandparents had actually fought in two world wars to defend (more or less, kids revolt, right?) and some youth - many youth I encounter now have the same values. Plus the fact that these issues are becoming of historical and socio-political interest (shame 'politicians' aren't paying attention but...).
I look at current music/lyrics and you STILL have to dig to find anything that isn't just deformed PC or inverse racism or plain gibberish. It goes ever on, should the planet not cry enough meaanwhile. I suppose as a race/species we're just too flawed but my crikey, growing up in those times when I could turn on mainstream radio and hear Diana Ross, The Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Small Faces, Joni MItchel - you get my drift - that was something special and I'm so glad today's people get it, no matter what our take is.
Oh and glancing at the title, in closing - the fighting was just media hyped really. The mods I knew lived on the next street and only months previous we all played footy together and borrowed bikes. The only ones causing bother were coming home after disco (their night was over by 9pm) while we were down some grimey pub. They'd shout greeearse hoping we'd come pouring out for a feyt. We were too busy inside squirting beer about, smoking Park Drive and effing this effing that. Hippiedom became freakdom, Jethro Tull, Roxy Music. Oh soz yeah you mentioned Bowie as a hippie? There are those that see him as glam (I think Sweet and Trex dominated that). But maybe our personal tastes cloud what people were really up to. So long as it wasn't bad... https://sites.google.com/site/beingbiker?pli=1