Mod (subculture)
Mods [ mɒdz ] (from the English Modernist derived) are followers of a subculture which in mainly the UK the early and mid 1960s but years, was also present in other European countries and then again late 1970s until the early 1980s years concurrently with the new wave came back into fashion. Occasionally, mods can still be found in large cities today, there are shops, pubs and bands that are stimulated by the mod way of life.
history
The movement had its origins in the late 1950s among British youth of the working class and the lower middle class . One tried to make one's own origin unimportant and to portray youth, success (and social advancement) and sophisticated style in a way that connects them with one another through appearance and clothing. This manifested itself in the wearing of tailor-made suits and expensive branded clothing, which over time developed into a clothing style of its own. Stylistic influences also came from Italy and the fashion preferred there. Likewise, an Italian motor scooter with special modifications for many mods was an essential part of the identification and differentiation from other youth movements. Drinking, excessive dancing, often in connection with drug abuse and drug use , rioting and large-scale fights, especially with the so-called rockers, were the leisure activities of the young people who went about their normal work during the day in conservative English society. Another important distinguishing feature of the mods is the parka . This was first used by the scooter driving mods to protect their expensive clothing. Later on, even mods without scooters sometimes wore parkas. Still rather simple in the 1960s, the parka was often adorned with patches from bands or events in the second wave of mods at the end of the 1970s.
music
The common interest in “black” music styles such as soul , R&B , ska , jazz and British beat music is considered to be the cradle of the mod movement . The mods expressly distanced themselves from rock 'n' roll , which is also rooted in Afro-American roots, and its fans, the rockers. Rare soul singles brought to the scene by American GIs were popular. This fascination with soul, which was published by sometimes obscure American labels in the 1960s and 1970s, never completely broke off in England. The early skinheads and the Northern soul scene established themselves from mod culture .
However, the mods also had bands from their own ranks. Especially The Who , The Kinks , The Small Faces , The Yardbirds , The Action , The Creation and Marc Bolan come from the British mod scene. The Who described their own style of music as maximum R&B .
In principle, it can be stated that the distinction between the musical styles and the assignment of “Mod” or “other musical style” was in many cases based on non-musical characteristics such as the designation of the music genre, the appearance and clothing of the musicians or affiliation to the scene.
In the second wave of mods, some bands also became famous, such as The Jam , in which Paul Weller played, and The Chords . With this second wave at the latest in the late 1970s, the subculture also spread to the continent and conquered Germany in the wake of punk. This is where their own mod bands were founded, which emulated the English models; there were also bands that sang in German. Important German mod bands include The Apemen , who signed a record deal with the English fashion label Detour Records , Hour X , who sang in German, Chocolate Factory from Hamburg, the Heartbeats from Munich and the Subtones from Berlin. Since the 1990s until today there are several bands that have increasingly devoted themselves to the music of the 1960s. From Germany there are Montesas , Trashmonkeys , Superpunk , Les Garçons , The Satelliters , Beat By Five , BeatRevolver and the Cool Jerks , from Austria The Staggers and The Jaybirds . Even with the English singer Amy Winehouse echoes of the mod culture of the 60s could be recognized.
Scooter
Many mods were particularly fond of driving scooters . The scooters were guarded, maintained and expanded with parts or made into custom scooters . Every weekend there were big trips with the whole clique, which consisted of up to 200 people. The preferred destination was the seaside resort of Brighton with the Electric Ballroom , a central meeting point. The Mods often met their archenemies, the Rockers , in Brighton on weekends . They fought street battles in which the city center was partially devastated. The aim of the stylishly dressed rioters was to appear well-groomed at work on Monday, but this was often prevented by arrests.
drug consumption
Symptomatic of this subculture was excessive drug use, particularly amphetamines taken as tablets and pills. In the club scene of the mods these amphetamines were u. a. known as Purple Hearts , Dexys or Bomber , whose names came for example from the tablet form, the active ingredient or the color. Stimulants were popular, in order to be able to dance all night or the whole weekend and still look “fresh”. Later, hashish was also widely used in the scene.
Second wave
In 1979 the film Quadrophenia was made (including with Sting ), based on the concept album of the same name by the rock group The Who, which impressively depicts the mod scene of the 1960s. This film supported the wave of mods that was just emerging in England through bands like The Jam or The Merton Parkas . Deterred by the monotonous and tough punk as well as the dirty look of the punks, some young people again attached more importance to clothing and "black" music, although on the other hand (see The Jam) the boundaries to punk rock were more or less fluid. Lambrettas and Vespas came back into fashion. The mod scene also flourished in Germany and France until around the mid-1980s with its scooter runs and the associated all- nighters . The second wave of the mod movement later became part of the Northern Soul and Scooterboy scenes.
At the beginning of the 1980s, numerous allnighters took place in Germany, particularly in Düsseldorf and Hamburg. During this time, numerous fanzines were published. Typical pubs arose where not only mods, but also rude boys and punks met. This subculture has never completely died out in Germany, and scooter runs and allnighters still take place regularly on the weekends.
influence
From acid jazz and Britpop , such as music by Oasis or Blur , from the early 1990s to today's English guitar bands, the subculture of mods still has a lasting influence, especially on British pop culture. This influence is currently becoming increasingly evident in the German electronics scene: International Pony member Erobique is also a former mod, as is Frank Popp or Lotte Ohm.
The youth cultural phenomenon was researched by Stanley Cohen, among others . Cohen coined the term Moral Panic in 1972 on the basis of a study ( Folk Devils and Moral Panics ) on the public reaction to the youth cultural phenomenon of mods such as the rocker . According to Cohen, the media reported in exaggerated form of deviant behavior, which is considered a challenge to social norms. According to Cohen, the response in the media helps to define the phenomenon, to communicate it and thus to increasingly recommend it for imitation.
literature
- Andrey Nikolai: Dreiknopf and canned beer . NB Filmverlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027681-1 .
- Johannes Ullmaier: Subculture in conflict: Mods against rockers - and against yourself . In: Peter Kemper (ed.): Everything so beautifully colorful here: the history of pop culture from the fifties to today . Reclam, Leipzig 2002, ISBN 3-379-20040-9 , pp. 61-75 .
- Heike Jenß: Sixties dress only: fashion and consumption in the retro mod scene . Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-593-38352-1 .
- Stanley Cohen: Folk devils and moral panics: the creation of the mods and rockers . Routledge, London 2002, ISBN 0-415-26711-0 .
- Rhonda Markowitz: Folk, pop, mods, and rockers: 1960–1966 . In: The Greenwood encyclopedia of Rock history . tape 2 . Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. [u. a.] 2006, ISBN 0-313-32960-5 .
- Richard Barnes: Mods! [over 150 photographs from the early 60's of the original mods] . Plexus, London 1991, ISBN 0-85965-173-8 .
- Terry Rawlings: Mod - A Very British Phenomenon . Omnibus Press, London 2000, ISBN 0-7119-6813-6 .
- Paolo Hewitt: The Soul Stylists . Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh 2000, ISBN 1-84018-596-1 .
- Terry Rawlings & Keith Badman: Empire Made. The Handy Parka Pocket Guide to all Things Mod! Complete Music Publications, London 1997, ISBN 0-9517206-8-6 .
- Paolo Hewitt: The Sharper Word - A Mod Anthology . revised edition. Helter Skelter Publishing, London 2009, ISBN 978-1-900924-88-7 (first edition: 1999).
- Horst A. Friedrichs: I'm One - 21st Century Mods . Prestel, London 2009, ISBN 978-3-7913-4319-8 .
- Christiane Deibel: The March of the Mods . Tectum, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-8288-3068-4 (English).
Web links
- The Mod Scene Online Extensive website of the British mod scene (English)
- Jack That Cat Was Clean - Weblog (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kaline Thyroff: Tattoo instead of toupee. In: Spiegel Online . March 9, 2007. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
- ^ Roger Hopkins Burke: An Introduction to Criminological Theory. Willan Pub., Cullompton 2001, p. 154.