We are the mods!

                                    We Are The Mods!



     

Mod culture was born from London's west end underground jazz clubs in the late 1950s.
The name "mod" came as a result from their taste in modernist jazz, this early incarnation of mods had very little impact outside of London.
This somewhat group of so called intellectual and elitist mods gave way to the next incarnation of mods, and it's in this second incarnation that the scooter boys on Brighton's beaches can be found! Mod culture, with it's symbols,fashion and music was very much a working class movement. It influenced the masses and infiltrated the high street at every level.
It was all encompassing, and it was very much a product of it's time!
In one of The Daily Mail editions of 1963 it was reported 'to be a mod... is more than a fashion. It is almost a way of life!

Looking at the mod culture for anyone who likes pop music and pop culture of yesteryear, is a great way to examine the British pop music and youth fashion explosion of the 1960s in general.

Partly as a result of no more military conscription and partly as a result of teenagers having jobs and a little more money to spend!

Popular pop television show, Ready, steady, go! that was televised every friday night was clearly aimed at the the "mod" market!

Fashion boutiques across the country benefitted enormously from this with the programs bands, singers, male and female dancers alike wearing mod fashions and the latest styles and look being

freely advertised. Mod culture was changing the face of british life and challenging  politicians who were struggling with the horror of losing cultural control over the youth media with the `onslaught of pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline and Radio London! Teenagers wanted more air time for their favourite pop groups! The Beatles, The Who, The small faces, The Kinks, The rolling stones ect

And back in the day The BBC only had 1 to 2 hours a day for this massive market! 

The British government of the day fought hard and aggressively to close those stations down.

Mod culture brightened up dreary and finically crushed post war Briton and also with the international success of bands like The Beatles opening the flood gates for other Brit pop outfits sending mod culture all over the world!

The British Taxman had a huge mod smile on His or Her face!

Piagio whom make vespa scooters and lambretta scooters the two most popular brands of motor scooters amongst mods also did very nicely out of the mod explosion! 

My 1996 PX 200 Vespa is a pleasure to ride! Motor bike riders just don't get it! They still feel the need to ride up along side me and the drag me off! As if i don't know a motor 10 times the size of mine has more power...

But hey.... They can't understand can they? It's a way of life!

 

ELO.

                                                                            ELO. 

Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) were a British rock group fromBirmingham, England, who released eleven studio albumsbetween 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO was formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones. After Wood's departure following the band's debut record, Lynne wrote and arranged all of the group's original compositions and produced every album.

Despite early singles success in the United Kingdom, the band was initially more successful in the United States, billed as "The English guys with the big fiddles". They gained a cult following despite lukewarm reviews back in their native United Kingdom. By the mid-1970s, they had become one of the biggest-selling acts in music. From 1972 to 1986, ELO accumulated 27 Top-40 hit singles in both the UK and the US, with 20 Top 20 UK singles and 15 Top-20 US singles (as charted by Billboard magazine). The band also holds the record for having the most Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits, 20, of any group in US chart history without ever having a number one single.

ELO collected 19 CRIA, 21 RIAA and 38 BPI awards, and sold over 50 million records worldwide during the group's original 13 year period of active recording and touring.

The Raspberries

                                                                 The Raspberries

The Raspberries were an American power pop/pop rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. They had a run of success in the early 1970s music scene with their crisp pop sound, which Allmusic later described as featuring "exquisitely crafted melodies and achingly gorgeous harmonies." The members were known for their clean-cut public image, with short-hair and matching suits, which brought them teenybopper attention as well as scorn from some mainstream media outlets as 'uncool'. The group drew influence from the British Invasion era—especially The Beatles, The Who, The Hollies, and Small Faces—and its mod sensibility. In both the U.S. and the UK, the Raspberries helped pioneer the power pop music style that took off after the group disbanded. They also have a following among professional musicians such as Jack Bruce, Ringo Starr, andCourtney Love.

The group's 'classic' lineup consisted of Eric Carmen(vocalist/guitarist/bassist), Wally Bryson (guitarist), Jim Bonfanti(drummer), and Dave Smalley (guitarist/bassist). Their best known songs include "Go All the Way", "Let's Pretend", "I Wanna Be with You", "Tonight", and "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)". Producer Jimmy Ienner was responsible for all four of the Raspberries' albums in the 1970s. The group broke up in 1975 after a five-year run, and Eric Carmen proceeded to a successful career as a solo artist. Bryson and Smalley resurrected the group's name in 1999 for an album, which included singer/songwriter Scott McCarl working as the vocalist. In 2004 the original four-man lineup reunited and undertook a well-received reunion tour in 2005.

David Essex!

                                                                    David Essex!

David Essex OBE (born David Albert Cook, 23 July 1947) is an English musician,singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones), and sixteen Top 40 albums. He has also had an extensive career as an actor performing on stage and screen.

Essex was born in Plaistow, London E13 His father, Albert, was an East End dock worker and his mother, Olive (née Kemp), was a self-taught pianist and an Irish Traveller. His grandfather, Thomas Kemp, was named 'Philimore' which was the anglicised version of 'Philly Mor' - being Irish for 'Big Philly'. Essex was two years old when his parents moved out of the overcrowded home the family was sharing with relatives, to Canning Town where he grew up. Essex attended Star Lane Primary School. He loved playing football and did not answer any of the questions in the Eleven plus exam for entry into a Grammar School, so that he could ensure he attended Shipman County Secondary School where he knew they played the game. He was also a member of West Ham United Juniors for a while and dreamed of one day being a professional player.  He then also became interested in music and played drums with a local band, before becoming a singer.