Mods and Rockers were twoBritish adolescent subcultures who clashed in the early to mid 1960s. Duringthis period, riots between Mods and Rockers broke out in seaside resort townsin Southern England, causing moral outrage among the British public. The Rockerswere bikers who wore black leather jackets and other motorcycle-related attire.The Mods rode scooters and dressed insuits and neat clothing. Thetwosubcultures had receded from public view by the late 1960s, and media emphasis had shiftedto two new developing young subcultures: hippies and skinheads. The Mods andRockers, both with British working-class roots, dominated pop culture for abrief period between 1963 and 1966, and it was within this cultural frameworkthat the sounds of the British Music Invasion emerged. World fashion andcultural trends were invented.
Rocker men rode Triumphmotorbikes and sported black leather jackets,jeans, t-shirts, and heavyboots. Female rockers wore similar outfits, with some opting for tight blackCapri pants, stiletto heels, and beehive hairstyles. They were inspired byElvis Presley and the American motorbike culture of the 1950s. While drivingVespas and Lambrettas, Mod guys wore suits, 'drainpipe' pants, pointy shoes,and whatever they thought was the current trend.
'Sassoon' haircuts, such asthe 'bob,' short, colourful outfits, preferably 'Mary Quant,' and 'go go' bootswere also popular among Mod girls. The Rockers perceived the Mods as weedy,effeminate snobs, while the Mods saw the Rockers as out of touch, oafish, andfilthy. There wasn't much in common musically. Mods preferred 1960s ska music,soul, and R&B, as well as British bands such as The Who, The Yardbirds, andThe Kinks. Rockers preferred 1950s rock and roll, mostly by Elvis Presley,Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent.
When you look at theevolution of the Beatles, the greatest rock band of all time, you can see theinfluence of both Rocker and Mod culture.The Beatles imitated and looked like rockers in their early days, having their hair combedin a rocker's style, and they maintained this image while performing in Hamburgwhen they first began to gain popularity. They were, however, wearing Modoutfits and sporting their famous ‘mop head' haircuts when they appeared on theEd Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964.
By 1967, the Beatles hadgrown their hair long and were living a 'hippie' lifestyle while recordingtheir legendary albums "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"and "Abbey Road," and the Rockers and Mods had become largelysymbolic of the past. During that brief era in the early 1960s, however, a slewof fashion fads evolved, and British bands recorded some of the best music evercomposed, some of which remains iconic to this day.
Rockers and Mods werefrequently involved in brawls in the United Kingdom. Mods and Rockers were jailed after rioting in coastal resort towns in Southern England, such asMargate, Brighton, Bournemouth, and Clacton, according to BBC News articlesfrom May 1964.
During the Easter weekend of1964, the confrontation came to a head in Clacton. The second round was held on thesouth coast of England, where Londoners have flocked to coastal resorts overthe Bank Holidays since the18th century. Thousands of Mods descended on Margate, Broadstairs,and Brighton over the Whitsun weekend (18th and 19th May1964), only to discover that an unusually large number of Rockers had made thesame holiday plans. Within a short period of time, roaming groups of Mods andRockers were openly fighting, frequently with deckchairs as weapons.
The Mods and Rockers' worst fightingtook place in Brighton, where clashes lasted two days and spread along thecoast to Hastings and back, earning it the moniker "Second Battle ofHastings."
A small group of Rockers werestranded onBrighton Beach,where they were protected by the police. Mods overpowered and assaulted thepolice officers who had been protecting them. The situation eventually calmeddown, and a judge slapped severe fines on those jailed, referring to them as"sawdust Caesars."
When the media ran out ofreal fights to report, they began to use deceptive titles, such as adding thesubheading "Violence" even when the item did not mention any violence.Mods and Rockers were also associated with many social issues such as teenpregnancy, contraception, amphetamines, and violence, according to newspaperwriters.
Soon after, youth culturetransitioned into hippie culture, and the press' preoccupation with Mods and Rockers shifted to 'peace and love' and psychedelics.
Between 1963 and 1966,British working-class kids known as Mods and Rockers ruled pop culture for abrief and glorious period. It was an incredible time to be young and to be apart of a cultural and musical revolution.
Credit to Millie Fuller:https://www.linkedin.com/in/millie-fuller-07927a239/
