British pop culture from the 60's
...ss among Britain's mainstream society in the early 1960's, the first-wave of Mods pursued a different sound. They adopted modern jazz, which was a style of music originated in Black America,however as jazz grew in popularity, Mods began listening to Blues, Soul, Rhythm & Blues, and then moved on to Jamaican Bluebeat and Ska to stay ahead of the mainstream, bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, The Kinks, The Cyril Davis All-Stars, The Downliners, and The Small Faces became all the rage. A Mod was a product of working class British youth of the mid-sixties. They portrayed an image of being stuck up, emulating the middle classes, snobbish and phoney. The Mod boys dressed in suits, neat narrow trousers, and pointed shoes. The girls displayed a boyish image. They darkened their eyes and wore their hair short to fit a unisex type of culture and the real status symbol was to have a Lambretta GT 200 or a Vespa GS 160. These were the scooters that they rode as part of their badge that connected them to being a Mod. The most popular and revolutionary band who could be labeled as Mods themselves were the High Numbers, later renamed The Who. Their biggest enemy? The Rockers Rockers Rockers generally came from "up north" and saw Mods as weedy, effeminate snobs because they had good jobs and dressed smartly. Mods saw Rockers as dirty and thick idiots as the stereotype of manual workers from rural areas. To the outsider Mods looked like nice but arrogant young chaps, whereas Rockers looked as if they were going to make trouble. Rockers enjoyed Rock and Roll, and their style consisted of jeans, boots and leather jackets. The Rockers were a British version of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang. They wore black leather and studs, had anti-authoritarian beliefs, and projected an easy rider nomadic romanticism. The Rockers lived for the present, with a scruffy, masculine, ‘bad boy' image. Rockers were essentially from the working class and despised any fashion. They each had the same hairstyle, shaggy with a bit of slick to it. Riding motorcycles was of the upmost importance, so they kept away from drugs and alcohol. The motorcycles were also modified or "souped up" in order to be in top racing form. Every Rocker had a ‘Triumph' or a ‘Norton', a brand of motorcycle. Their favoured music? Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Animals and The Trogs. Even the Beatles, who started their life as a leather clad rock band The Quarrymen, made long hair fashionable. Their biggest enemy? The Mods Rock Queen is a British rock band which was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. The group is well known for its sports anthems and classic rock radio staples, particularly the hits "We Are the Champions" and "Bohemian Rhapsody;" the band promoted the latter, first released in 1975, with one of the earliest successful music videos, and later re-released it for the soundtrack album from the movie Wayne's World. Queen are widely recognised as pioneers of heavy metal, glam rock, and stadium rock. Their official crest, seen pictured, includes the zodiac signs of all four members. Glam Rock and Rock&Roll The Rolling Stones are a British rock and roll band who rose to prominence during the mid-1960s. The band was named after a song by Muddy Waters, a leading exponent of hard-rocking blues. The Rolling Stones were original in weaving together various strands of American composition into a new form of popular music. Early in their career they played covers of blues, rhythm and blues, country, and rock and roll music. David Bowie is another notable representative of Glam Rock. Early 70s Punk The noun punk these days usually refers to followers of 'punk' culture and music. Punk Rock was started as a deliberate reaction against the mass commercialism of music. It began in New York in the early 1970's, then unknown artists like Patti Smith, the Velvet Underground, and the Dolls of New York(changed later to New York Dolls) and Television started to do their own thing with aggressive lyrics, confrontational performances and anger against consumerism. Malcolm McLaren having failed to hit the big time in America came to the UK and teamed up with his friend Bernie Rhodes. In London they met and managed The Sex Pistols. Their anarchistic view of the world made them instaneous celebrities. With spiked hair, tattered clothes, and safety pins as jewelry, they frequented talk shows and publicly badmouthed fellow artists, bands, and musicians. They spoke harshly of the British class system and the subjugation of the working class. They made news for concert violence, spitting at and fighting with fans. John Lydon - formerly Johnny Rotten - became the figurehead for a disillusioned generation, The Sex Pistols proved that you did not need to be able to play an instrument to be in a band - you just had to have something to say inspiring groups like The Clash, The Buzzcocks, Joy Division and The Stranglers. Late 70s and early 80s New wave The New Wave is a movement in American, Australian and British popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, growing out of the New York City musical scene centered around the club CBGB Very soon, listeners themselves began to see these musicians as different from their compatriots. Music that followed on from The Ramones (The Sex Pistols and all who followed them) was distinguished as "punk", while music that followed from the artistic and poetic experimentation of Television, Patti Smith and Blondie were called "new wave". It is important to remember, however, that those artists themselves were all originally classified as punk As fashion, there were two major components of "New wave" dress. First, there was an eclectic revivalism. Paisley prints (from the 1960's), very thin neckties and pleats (from the 1940s), and simple colors were one part. The other part was a desire to embrace contemporary synthetic materials as a protest and celebration of "plastic." This involved the use of spandex, shocking colors, and mass-produced (or apparently mass-produced) and tawdry ornaments. Men's and women's fashions thus split from one another dramatically, and men wearing spandex and bright colors were ridiculed (and became emblematic of the mass marketing of "new wave" in department stores) New wave in heavy metal Iron Maiden are a heavy metal band from east London, England, formed in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris, formerly a member of Gypsy's Kiss and Smiler. They are one of the most successful and influential bands in the heavy metal genre, having sold more than 60 million albums world-wide. Late 80s and 90s Britpop is a British alternative rock movement from the middle late 80s, characterised with the appearance of bands who borrowed many influences from 60s and 70s while creating big and catchy hooks, as well as the glamour of earlier pop stardom and the sense that they were creating the soundtrack to the lives of a new generation of British youth. Although incredibly popular from about 1994-1996, it has been criticised for its lack of innovation. The movement developed as a reaction against various musical trends in the late '80s and early '90s. Acid House and the rise of Hip-Hop had led to an interest in more groove, rhythm led songs in British pop music: the classic example here, of course, was the Happy Mondays. In the wake of these revolutions, classic guitar music floundered. The shoegazing movement in the late '80s responded by producing long, psychedelic, repe...