Mod revival
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The Mod Revival, sometimes known as Punk Mod, is a name given to a genre of rock music in the late 1970s and early 1980s, mainly centred in Southern England. Its mainstream popularity was relatively short, and it has been criticised for lack of originality - however, its influence continues down to the present day. Like its predecessor, bands were often self-consciously English, using the RAF symbol for example, and were (or aimed to appear) working class.
-->Largely spurred on by The Jam, who were far and away the biggest band of the genre, and the film Quadrophenia, which romanticised the original Mods, the revival took its energy from the new wave of the time. It also took inspiration from 1960s Mod bands such as The Who. The movement post-dated a Teddy Boy revival. Mod revivalists would often come to blows with the Teddy Boys (literally) as well as clash with Skinheads (partly a successor of Mods), casuals and punk rockers.
Many of these later mods were fans of bands such as The Jam, The Chords, The Purple Hearts, The Merton Parkas, Secret Affair, The Lambrettas, and The Scene.
In the North of England, the Huddersfield band, The Killermeters (fronted by Vic Vespa) produced the anthem SX 225, and formed the nucleus of a small local scene. Bradford's own The Scene played support to The Killermeters at many of their early gigs.
In the early and mid 1980s, a scene closely linked the original mod ethics grew up around the Shepherds Bush club Sneakers, run by Paul Hallam and Richard "Shirlee" Early. The club encouraged rare RnB and soul mixed with tailormade smart clothes. Another main player at the time was soon to be Acid Jazz creator Eddie Piller.
Beyond London, the Mod Revival had the effect of igniting interest in the original Mod movement of the 1960s on a UK-wide basis, with most cities in Britain having a mod 'scene' to some degree. A range of styles and tastes, both musical and fashion-wise, soon became apparent with some remaining interested in the live music experience of groups such as The Truth and Makin' Time.
Others turned to the Northern Soul scene, which underwent a change of pace in the mid 1980s, with slower, RnB style records becoming popular via allnighters such as Top of the World in Stafford or the long-running 100 Club in London. Some Mods went psychedelic and got into rare UK and US garage style music (sparked to a certain extent by the re-issuing of work by obscure groups such as The Action and The Creation in the early 1980s).
Many other mods joined the scooterist scene, which led to the scooterboy phenomenon of the 1980s. Most mods were able to enjoy a mixture of some or all these styles to a certain extent, although (particulary in the scooterboy scene) many renounced any previous involvement in being a mod. Most were happy to admit to being involved in the scene later, following the Britpop era, when mod-style fashion and music styles became more acceptable and even mainsteam.
Contemporary bands such as The Ordinary Boys take much of their inspiration from the Mod Revival, and Britpop was highly influenced by it, musically and in terms of fashion.
Differences from original Mods
There were several notable differences in the Mod revival from the original movement...
- While the original Mods maintained a sense of nostalgia towards English cultural icons, the Mod Revival was a conscious effort to hark back to an earlier genre.
- A strong New Wave influence, noticeable in a quicker tempo and more aggressive attitude. Another influence was Pub Rock, a direct ancestor of the New Wave, which was popular in many of the same areas of England that the Mod Revival would later be found.
- Sometimes less peacockish, colourful, and dandified clothing.
- Although some of the original Mods were interested in West Indian music, such as Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae, the influence was much more obvious in the Mod Revival. The original Mods had a greater interest in American soul, although this was by no means uncommon in the Mod revival, especially with The Jam and Paul Weller. The Clash were instrumental in bringing Ska and Reggae to the forefront of the New Wave. However, despite this, neither the original Mods nor the Mod Revival have had a great number of well-known black musicians. (They are better represented in the Ska Revival).
- Influence from Disco music, a genre which had not evolved in the time of the original Mod wave.
Mod revival influence
The Mod revival also influenced the Ska revival & Two Tone of the early 1980s, best known from such bands as The Specials, The Beat, The Selecter, and Madness. Often these bands wore mod-like clothes, and their roots in black music paralleled that of the original mods.Although not strictly a Mod revival band, The Vapors, were often seen as allied with it, and were championed by Bruce Foxton of the Jam.
Various Mod Revival members such as Paul Weller were to form The Style Council, a mid-1980s Soul-influenced band. Weller would later be nicknamed "The Modfather" for his idolisation by the Britpop movement.
Notable Mod Revival bands
- The Jam
- The Merton Parkas
- Secret Affair
- The Scene
- The Chords
- Purple Hearts
- [The Lambrettas]
- The Killermeters
- The Sets (Australia)
- The Gents
- Makin' Time
- The Risk
- The Moment
- The JetSet
- The Threads
- The Inclyned
- The Used
See also
External links
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