Its a mod thing...

**BohsPartisan** · 14/05/2007, 11:56 PM

I've recently started a blog but due to time constraints have only made three postings so far. Hope it will become more frequent in the future. Anyway, here's a snippet from entry number three:

Some people just know what they like. They don’t obsess over things, they don’t examine the minutiae of the things they enjoy. They just take life as it is and enjoy the “surface-kick” so to speak. For example, when they hear a song they like, they go out and buy the record. They don’t need to know what the band had for breakfast, they don’t need to know what garage bands the members played in before they got their record deal and they certainly are not interested in the musical influences of the band. These people will never be mods. Not only that, but these people will struggle to grasp what it is to be a mod. Some will even claim at some stage in their lives to be mods because they have a Ben Sherman shirt or a target T-Shirt or something, but they are not and never will be.There are even those individuals who hop wholeheartedly on the bandwagon without ever understanding what propels it. When the craze runs its course they hop off leaving it to the obsessive to carry on away from the sensational gaze of the media.

And read the rest...

**jebus** · 15/05/2007, 12:14 AM

Good article Partisan, some good points about being a mod. I have to confess though to being taken in by mod style because of the Blur revival of it, and continued to dress that way through most of the 90s, or from what the Face, Quadrophenia and Ska made me think it was to be a mod (you can imagine the cluster**** that someone who tries to combine the Skin styles with the Kinks look can come out as). Sometimes I think its a shame that I don't really care about clothes/scenes as much as I did in my teenage years

I remember when it became fashionable in the mid-90s (more through the re-emergence of Weller and Noel Gallaghers harping on about the Jam than because of Blur in my eyes) and strictly Radiohead fans dressing that way. I put on some dancehall for them the odd time, but it the music never seemed to take with these people. Maybe thats the problem, I didn't have much more to get annoyed at at 16 then people not liking my music, now it seems all rather pointless

**sligoman** · 15/05/2007, 12:15 AM

I thought this thread was going to be a rant against moderators on the site

.

**noby** · 15/05/2007, 8:43 AM

Fabulolous article, BP. Like myself, there are a lot of people who cherry-pick elements of mod lifestyle. The irony is that there are groups of 'true mods' who are stuck in a 60's retro timeframe, which must be the complete opposite of mod. Don't get me wrong, I am fascinated with a lot of the elements of the time, but it's possible to take it too far.

**BohsPartisan** · 15/05/2007, 8:44 AM

Originally Posted by sligoman

I thought this thread was going to be a rant against moderators on the site

.

I wouldn't dream of it!

Originally Posted by noby

Don't get me wrong, I am fascinated with a lot of the elements of the time, but it's possible to take it too far.

Aye, theres a website http://www.modculture.co.uk and you get a wide mix of people on there, some who are "retro-mods" of both kinds and some who are more mod in the spirit of the word. The odd interesting debate on their forum too.

**noby** · 15/05/2007, 8:48 AM

Originally Posted by jebus

(you can imagine the cluster**** that someone who tries to combine the Skin styles with the Kinks look can come out as)

Slade. They went through a skinhead phase, hung onto elements of it (boots, braces etc.) but added their own element of craziness!

I've dipped into that website before. I love a lot of the imagery alright.

**BohsPartisan** · 15/05/2007, 9:28 AM

Good Weller article: In the observer

**jebus** · 15/05/2007, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by noby

Slade

So the secondary school knobheads were right, I was/am a ****!

**noby** · 15/05/2007, 11:12 AM

****? Any clues?

**BohsPartisan** · 15/05/2007, 11:12 AM

Does it begin with C and end with T?

**jebus** · 15/05/2007, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by BohsPartisan

Does it begin with C and end with T?

Begins with T and ends in T, but the general idea you gave is the same

**Marked Man** · 15/05/2007, 4:46 PM

Always thought The Exploited had the right take on mods...

**BohsPartisan** · 15/05/2007, 5:10 PM

Well you couldn't expect them to understand. A punkrock band formed in 1980? Talk about delayed reaction.

**Marked Man** · 15/05/2007, 7:16 PM

And this is different from Mod bands formed after the 60's... how exactly?

**BohsPartisan** · 15/05/2007, 9:57 PM

Originally Posted by Marked Man

And this is different from Mod bands formed after the 60's... how exactly?

You obviously didn't read the article then.

**Marked Man** · 15/05/2007, 10:59 PM

Originally Posted by BohsPartisan

You obviously didn't read the article then.

OK, just read it. Still at a loss however as to my question.

Is the answer that for you being a mod just means being an individual? So that 'mod' covers pretty much every type of music that you happen to like?

Seems to make the categorization uselessly vague if everything from skinhead, reggae, jazz and the stone roses are mods.

Not to mention making the stated goal of The Exploited pretty time consuming.