| Mods And Rockers |
Article Index for Mods |
Website Links For Mods |
Information AboutMods And Rockers |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MODS AND ROCKERS | |
| youth culture in the united kingdom | |
| history of the united kingdom | |
| subcultures | |
| musical movements | |
| rock music | |
| motorcycling | |
|
The Mods and Rockers were two conflicting British youth Subculture s of the early-mid 1960s. Gangs of Mods and Rockers fighting in 1964 sparked a Moral Panic about British youths, and the two groups were seen as Folk Devil s. The rockers adopted a macho Biker Gang image, wearing clothes such as Black Leather Jacket s. The mods adopted a pose of Scooter -driving sophistication, wearing Suits and other cleancut outfits. By late 1966, the two subcultures had faded from public view and media attention turned to two new emerging Youth Subculture s - the Hippie s and the Skinhead s. CONFLICT Rockers, wearing leather jackets and riding heavy Motorcycle s, poured scorn on the mods, who wore suits and rode scooters. The rockers considered mods to be weedy, effeminate snobs. Mods saw rockers as out of touch, oafish and grubby. Mods were usually city dwellers, whereas rockers tended to be more rural. Mods sometimes held down office jobs, whereas rockers were often manual workers (although there were many exceptions in both groups). Musically, there was not much common ground; with the rockers clinging to 1950s Rock And Roll , mostly by White American artists such as Elvis Presley , Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran . Mods generally favoured 1960s Rhythm And Blues , Soul and Ska by Black American and Jamaica n musicians, although many of them also liked British R&B/ Beat groups such as The Who , The Small Faces and The Yardbirds . Fights occurred where territories overlapped or rival factions happened upon each other. Mods sometimes sewed fish hooks into the backs of their lapels to shred the fingers of assailants. Weapons were often in evidence; Coshes and Flick Knives being favoured. Second Battle of Hastings (1964) The conflict came to a head on the south coast of England, where London ers head for seaside resorts on Bank Holiday s. In 1964, thousands of mods descended upon Margate , Broadstairs and Brighton to find that an inordinately large number of rockers had made the same holiday plans. Within a short time, marauding gangs of mods and rockers were openly fighting, often using pieces of deckchairs. The worst violence was at Brighton, where fights lasted two days and moved along the coast to Hastings and back; hence the ''Second Battle Of Hastings '' tag. A small number of rockers were isolated on Brighton beach where they – despite being protected by police – were overwhelmed and assaulted by mods. Eventually calm was restored and a judge levied heavy fines, describing those arrested as ''Sawdust Caesar s.''http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A707627 REFERENCES IN POPULAR CULTURE
FOOTNOTES SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|