How I Learned To Stop Worshipping The Parka

I remember those hot, humid, sunny days, walking around my neighborhood in La Puente, CA, sniffing the roses and enjoying the smoggy air... all while wearing a parka! Yes, when I was younger, I wore a parka... rain or shine.

There was a time when my parka, or anorak, pretty much defined me... mainly, because I usually had 'M-O-D' spelled out somewhere on it, either in badge or patch form. I was proud of that parka. I felt like I was carrying on a tradition started by sixties Mods, popularized by Quadrophenia, and celebrated by bands like the Merton Parkas and The Sussed. But then, gradually, I phased the parka out of my wardrobe completely. Well, here today, I'll explain how I turned away from worshipping wearing a parka.

I was about 16 years old when I bought my first 'parka,' which was really just a short non-fishtail army jacket with a hood that you could zip up inside the jacket to hide it away. Sadly, I don't remember much about the patches and badges I stuck to this jacket, but I do remember what I did to the back of it. One evening, while watching an episode of Twin Peaks, I took up some fabric paint (red, white, and blue) and MOD-ified my anorak with a famous Mod song title, Mod symbology, and some 'Mod' band logos spanning the '60s-'80s. Since that jacket was lost during one of my family's moves and I have no pictures of it, allow me to re-create it here through the magic of Photoshop:

Recreation of my first high school parka.

Yup. I used to walk around my high school campus letting people know my butt was the Face. No joke. And, yeah, those were the bands I flaunted to the world. Uh-huh, The 2nd Generation.

I only wore this for about a year or so because my father soon handed down his own army parka to me. No, he didn't earn it fighting overseas... he picked it up at a surplus shop. But for me, this was the real deal! Now, I don't really know a whole lot about the different types of army jackets there are, but once, I walked into an army surplus shop while wearing this anorak, and it really impressed the Korean store owner. He told us it was pretty rare and offered to buy it from me. But I kept it. I had to... it was Mod.

Of course, there was no way I could walk around campus in a plain ol' army parka. No, I had to add the 'Mod' touch to it. So, I took my old Jam t-shirt, cut out the design, and sewed it on to the back. Now, everyone would know who my favorite band was! Then, I added a couple of rally patches, a Who target patch, some Mod badges to the front and voila! I was a walking Mod advertisement! The only thing missing was an "EAT AT MOD JOE'S" sign somewhere on the jacket.

My parka... today.

I wore this parka for a few years, from high school and into college. It kept me warm in the winter and smothered me in the summer, but I didn't care. In college, it kept my clothes clean during the Bay Area rains. It kept me warm when I rode on the back of someone's bike, especially across the Bay Bridge. Sometimes, it acted as a warm blanket when I partied too hard and had to spend the night over someone's house. I wore this thing even when it began to fall apart. But eventually, I phased the parka out of my wardrobe.

The older I got, the more I realized that I didn't want or need a parka to speak for me. I didn't care if the whole world knew I liked whatever Mod bands were on the parka. And as my wardrobe improved over those early years, I didn't want to cover it up with a beaten-up old army anorak. I started to see so much more value in a nice overcoat, something that looked sharp on the outside, while protecting the clothes underneath. I thought Paul Weller was on to something in those early Style Council photo shoots. And I saw other friends who demonstrated just how much more polished a sharp coat looked over the typical parka:

Photo from around 1994 of old pal, Jarrod L., of the Le Drugstore 1968 blog.

Really, after seeing a photo of the style gauntlet being thrown down like that, how do you go back to the parka?  I was ready to move in a different, more stylish direction. So, I hung my parka deep in the back of my closet, and replaced it with a variety of overcoats. At age 18, this was my preferred cold weather jacket:

These days, I prefer this look:

Fellow dapper-nisto Douglas Dillon, my wife Irene, and I, enjoying an evening out. Photo courtesy of Douglas's more stylin' half, Rosa Dillon.

Now, the thing to remember is that the parka has one main function: to keep your clothes clean while you ride your scooter from point A to point B. That's really it. But that same function can be accomplished with a nice, slick overcoat.

Oh sure, I understand how useful parkas can be in certain situations*. They're probably great for riding through a dirt storm on your scooter or protecting your clothes from all those bugs flying in to you. And I understand their use in the foggy weather conditions of London, the harsh winters of the American east coast, or the never-ending rains of the upper west coast. But why on Earth would you wear a parka in the warmer states, warmer countries, or, heck, south of the San Francisco Bay Area?

Heck, I live in the Bay Area and no matter how cold it gets here, I still don't toss on the ol' anorak! Why would I want to cover up a nice ensemble with an army parka or let the parka display what I'm about? I don't need a parka to announce to the world what I'm into. That's what my actual clothes underneath are for. I'd rather have a nice, sharp suit take precedent over a parka covered in patches and buttons.

And yes, I know plenty of Mods wore them in the sixties. They were probably affordable, accessible, and really useful in protecting your clothes in harsh weather or while fixing your scooter. But hey, as this photo shows, not all Mods wore parkas! Or at least they didn't wear them all the time.

Photo of Nottingham Mods, courtesy of the Jack That Cat Was Clean blog.

Yes, the parka has risen in prominence since then thanks to the 1970s revival.

During this time, the anorak became a canvas on which to display all of your Mod interests, just in case wearing slick Mod clothing underneath it wasn't enough. As noted previously, even I was guilty of this. Targets, Union Jacks, band logos... heck, I was a walking Modvertisement! These days, however, I follow the Booker T. and the M.G.'s school of thought: less is more. Remember, subtlety goes a really long way. These days, my parka is long retired. I believe this is its last reported public sighting, around 7 years ago:

Photo of Karen F., of the 97 Things To Do Before I Turn 97 blog, hi-jacking my parka. Photo courtesy of my wife, Irene (who says she never went through a parka phase).

Some of you out there still think the parka is a Mod gem, I know it. In fact, you're probably humming this in your head right now, while reading this post... in your parka. Well, alright then, let's take a trip in the Wayback Machine to see how the parka would have affected some classic, stylin' looks.

First up, let's check out Mr. Modfather himself, Paul Weller, back during his early Style Council days when he started wearing a beautiful white mac. This was probably one of my early non-parka influences:

Well, imagine if he was walking down the road, parka-fied!

Okay, remember this dapper little kid?

Now, let's see how he comes off with a parka covering up his threads:

Okay... the kid's got enough sass to almost pull it off...

Let's move on then to a sixties Mod icon. What about Steve Marriott? Here he is, sharp as ever.

Now, imagine if he time-traveled to today, visited Carnaby Street, and found the Pretty Green shop. OH NO!

Now, if all these arguments fail to convince you that it's time to trade in your parka for an overcoat, well then, think of this: remember Sting's 'Ace Face' character in Quadrophenia? Y'know, the guy with bad hair who Jimmy had a total bro crush on? Yeah, not even that guy wore a parka:

'Nuff said!
  
Obviously, these opinions are all my own and probably in the minority. 
For further info on parkas as a part of Mod history, please visit the following sites:
http://anorakthing.blogspot.com/2010/09/parka-power.html
http://www.fishtailparkas.com/fishtail_parkas.html
And, I'm happy to see I'm not the only one who thinks the parka has had its day. The ModCulture site was 10 years ahead with this opinion:
http://www.modculture.co.uk/the-death-of-the-mod-parka/

*The parka can also be used creatively as in the band name, The Merton Parkas, and in the name of one of my fave blogs, Parka Avenue.

My Teenage Top 10 Mod Revival Records

I used to be a power-popper. Yes, it's true.

Once upon a time, I used to quote Quadrophenia lines, wear a parka in the summer, and sing along to The Key's 'Feeling Special.' In high school, after discovering that some record shops actually had "Mod/Ska" sections, I used to hunt down whatever 'Mod' records I could find, and most of those were 1970s/1980s revival records. A lot of those power-pop Mod sounds helped bridge my junior high new wave/punk tastes to my latter-teen R&B/freakbeat obsessions.

Of course, whenever I went record-shopping, the easiest targets (no pun intended) were those albums that trumpeted "MOD!" anywhere on the cover or within liner notes. In fact, the more blatant the 'Mod' imagery, the more likely I was to grab it... quite the opposite of my record-buying habits these days.

My record collection started off with a Who LP, a Jam LP, and 2-Tone records, but soon, it was filled with revival records, Unicorn Records offerings, and... more Jam LPs. A lot of that music worked for me at the time, because it captured the frustrations I felt as a teen, the ones I, uh, wore like a suit (**groan**). Y'know, I didn't want to be 'the same as everybody else,' I wanted to be 'away from the numbers,' yadda, yadda, yadda... (Oh, to be young again.)

But enough of me prattling on. Let's climb into the ol' time machine and go back to that magical age of 17, at the dawn of the 1990s... a time when girls still swooned over their favorite New Kid on the Block, a time of bike shorts and hi-top Reeboks, a time when we tuned in to see whether Dylan would choose Brenda or Kelly... are you scared yet?

...DIDDLY-DOOT...DIDDLY-DOOT...DIDDLY-DOOT...

Okay, here I am in my bedroom, feeling angsty. There's some girl I'm thinking about who probably doesn't know I exist, or worse yet, does know I exist and still doesn't like me. Let's see... I'm wearing tapered Dickies pants, a Fred Perry one size too large, and my parka (in my room, mind you). Hmm, let's look in the mirror to see how cool I look. Aw man! I forgot... bad acne at age 17! AWAY FROM THE MIRROR! AWAY FROM THE MIRROR! Okay, let's forget that and let's move on to the records in my collection. And let's get into what were probably my TOP 10 Mod Revival/Power-Pop Records at that time (in no particular order)!

1. The Risk - Good Times - The Risk were a band I dug on heavily back then. Songs like this, "Carrie Ann," and "Whiskey and Wine" were played often on my cheap little record player. One of the things about The Risk is that they turned me on to the idea that there really were other Mods out in the world, still. Even though these songs were already several years old (the lifetime of many Mod bands), they were still recent enough to make me think that somewhere, outside of La Puente, CA, people were still forming Mod bands and playing to Mod crowds.

2. The Chords - Maybe Tomorrow - Okay, these guys are one step behind The Jam, in my book. Out of all the revival bands, I can still listen to their songs and enjoy them, not out of nostalgia, but out of an honest liking. They were great! I don't listen to this stuff much these days, but The Chords are always welcome on my turntable. Unlike many of their contemporaries, they weren't whining about wanting to be different. They seemed a bit more thick-skinned than that.

3. Squire - My Mind Goes 'Round In Circles - For me, Squire were one of the more accessible Mod revival bands, thanks to their happy pop sound. No matter how angst-ridden I got, these guys could always snap me out of it.

4. Three O'Clock - Sorry - So, I hear these guys were pretty big in the L.A. music scene back in the early '80s. I wouldn't know... I was still too busy playing with my Star Wars action figures back then! But when I finally did catch up to them, I fell full-on into this sound. This song was one that especially grabbed me... little did I know at the time that it was an Easybeats cover.

5. The Key - Feeling Special - This was one of those albums that had everything I was looking for in a Mod LP cover. A moddish band name, arrows in the logo, and a dude sporting an op-art shirt with a 3-button jacket. The only thing that bothered me was that guy wearing those horrible white Dr. Marten boots up front. Of course, this song was the only song I really liked off the whole album. And no, I didn't know what "straight-edge" meant at first when I used to sing along to it. I did find out later. Now, I look at this album as a bit of preachy silliness. 'Mod/Skin unity?' Again, oh to be young again.

6. The Moment - And With This Ring - Another one-hit-wonder album for me. In all fairness though, this song is still pretty excellent all these years later. After listening to it recently, I think I like it more today than I did back then. Makes me think I should give the rest of the LP another listen. What I remember most about this album, though, are the pictures of the guy blowing a whistle on stage. I really didn't know what that was all about, but I remember seeing an L.A. band a couple of years later at a New Sounds of the Sixties show, also using a whistle. Someone out in internet land, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that band was Neighborhood Bully.

7. The Purple Hearts - Millions Like Us - And you wonder how I went from listening to punk music to listening to this stuff? Same sound, different clothes! But, songs like this made that transition into the Mod thing a little more smooth for me.

8. Nine Below Zero - Homework - This band was a stark contrast to (and welcome relief from) the typical power-pop sounds I was into at this time. The sounds off this album were ones I found myself liking more and more. As much as I liked power-pop and punk as a teen, it was this hard-driving R&B sound that I found much more exciting.

9. The Prisoners - Hurricane - Okay, maybe I should not have put these guys on this list. I don't really consider them 'revival.' But I'll tell you what I do consider them: the best $2.95 I ever spent on an '80s 'Mod' band! These guys sounded so much tougher than many of the late '70s revival bands, but still had that great '60s edge. They weren't about Mod anthems or teen angst... they were just about powerful music that still sounds great today.

10. Secret Affair - Time For Action - Yes. That's right. As much as Mod anthems became tired for me, this was one I fully got down with back in high school. If sweet Julia in the song didn't care about people laughing at her because of the way she dressed, I wouldn't care. Because, y'know, we were right... looking good was the answer. Unfortunately, as much as I liked this song, the Secret Affair became symbolic of what would end up turning me off to this era. Whiney vocals, the whole 'Glory Boy/Girl' idea, hating something called 'the punk elite,' and an album pretty much filled with teen anthems. Those themes, for me, would become very dated very soon.

Well, there you go... some of the songs I would have been rocking modding out to back in high school. There were other songs I would have liked to have included, many of which were just too hard to find on YouTube... songs like "Long Time Ago" by The Mondays, "High Numbers" by The Scene (from NY/NJ), "Point Me In The Right Direction" by Raw Material (off a Unicorn compilation), "Of Heart and Soul" by Manual Scan, "Try" by The Idea, "I Want You To Know" by The Mod Fun, and even "Changing Faces" by The Second Generation.

See, I was a power-popper.

It didn't last long, though. Over time, those same records began to grow stale to me. Usually, I'd buy a revival album and end up liking only about one or two songs. I remember buying a Lambrettas LP and really liking "Poison Ivy," thinking they wrote it. They didn't. Along with that album, I purchased The Yardbirds' For Your Love LP and loving just about every song on there. Guess which one was played a couple of times before getting shelved and which one still gets played on the turntable today.

In fact, by the time I started college, I was already burnt out on most of those '70s/'80s Mod bands. I grew bored with all the Mod 'anthems'; grew bored with the use of words like 'faces,' 'numbers,' and 'crowds'; and grew bored with the power chords. I realized I was buying those records up mainly for the Mod imagery/connection.

Plus, in my freshman year in college, my pal Sean C. made me two compilation tapes featuring all the output (available at the time) from The Action, The Creation, The Artwoods, and John's Children. Those bands hit my ears in ways The Merton Parkas never could. And by the time I was 19 years old, I was itchin' for stronger, more experimental sounds (along with more soul) and that's where British R&B, freakbeat, and, eventually, psychedelia would come in. After getting into these sounds more heavily, power-pop, for the most part, just became bland to me.

After all those years, though, I have been giving some of this stuff another chance. Maybe it's nostalgia, I don't know. Some of it sounds good (or better) to my ears and some of it sounds worse than I remember. That's just the way things go, I guess, when you're no longer living in the age of the power-poppers! (Thanks for that, The Idea!)

So, here are some questions for you: What were/are some of your favorite revival songs? I got burnt out on this era, but did you? If not, what songs still stand out for you?

Me at around 17/18 years old... my Mod power-pop phase.



Mod Gone Wrong: Scooter Madness

Okay, when does one cross the line into self-parody?

Want this photo on your wall? Just go here!

Hey, I'll give this guy credit for having the chutzpah, not to mention time and dedication, to blanket his scooter like this. Seriously, it's an insane feat of energy to get a bike this blinged-out! I just can't quite figure out what he's using to weigh the back of the bike down for balance... I mean he's not a big guy!

I understand that decking out your scooter is a unique thing to Mod culture and something that really helps identify the look. But I have always wondered when you know you've reached the "too much" mark. It was refreshing to hear, a while back, the attitudes of some of the original Mod(ernists) in regards to scooters. Many didn't adorn them this heavily (or at all) and some had no problem moving on to slicker cars when they had the ability. Scooters were an inexpensive way of getting around, and although you wanted to keep a nice bike, you didn't worship it. Along those lines, I subscribe to the Booker T. way of thinking: less is more.

Although I'm not into this style of decking a bike up, I really do hope it's on display in a museum somewhere. I'm getting down on the poor kid, but he must have blown his friends' minds when he first pulled up on this.

Mod Gone Wrong: Another Mod Revival. Of A Revival. Of A Revival. Of A...

When there's a Mod "revival" every 2-3 years, is it even a "revival" anymore?

With MySpace and Facebook constantly churning out people with re-invented new Mod profiles, a guaranteed Mod spread in fashion magazines at least once a year, and Paul Weller/The Who/The Small Faces gracing the cover of Uncut and Mojo several times a year, you would think that there's nothing here that really even needs "reviving." But, it seems I'm incorrect.

For the latest news on the latest "Mod revival," read on: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3782284/Sun-joins-revival-of-Mod-culture.html

Now I present to you the 5 things that bug me most about this article:

1. "Known for scooters, amphetamines and punch-ups, the Mod sub-culture sprang up in the late Fifties."Yes, the essence of Mod distilled into 3 ingredients and not one of them is style. Or fashion. Or 'attention to detail.' Heck, not even a love of soul music made it into this description or the article itself! Well, Quadrophenia (the movie), you strike again. To an outside observer, this is the legacy you've left behind: a bike, a pill, and a fight.
    
2. "It peaked with startling clashes between Mods and their arch rivals the Rockers – who rode motorbikes, wore leathers and listened to rock 'n' roll. "
   Yes, Quadrophenia (the movie), it seems you've helped glamourize thug battles so well that this is what Mods are remembered for by the general public. In fact, the primary focus of this article really seems to revolve around the fun days of handing out black eyes and bloody noses to guys dressed different than you.  According to the author of this article, this is the peak of Mod culture. Sigh...
   
   For all the "Mod vs. Rocker" events that still seem to go on these days, thank you. Thank you for keeping the dream alive.
   
   
3. "On the seafront, everyone looks the same – green parka jackets, smart haircuts and pointy shoes. "
   For a sub-culture that stresses the idea of not wanting to be like everyone else, the people involved sure do like to be like everyone else. Let's remember the basics of how this whole Mod thing started: a group of like-minded young guys who strove to dress better and look better than those around them through the power of their own pocket books and their own set of rules. Constantly, they developed new detailing to their outfits to set them apart from everyone else, other Mods included. Fast-forward 40 years and it seems a good number of the originals' ancestors are happy enough with a parka, a smart(?) haircut, and pointy shoes. Progress.
   
4. "And his experience of Mod culture goes way beyond fashion."
   Luckily, they've tracked down an 'original' Mod to give us some insight into those days. No, not one of the actual originals who helped create the look over 5 years before the riots took place, but rather someone who was there in the heat of battle. In 1964.
   
   Now, up to this point, this article has defined Mod 'fashion' as green parka jackets, smart haircuts and pointy shoes, along with wearing badges on a jacket. (Come to think of it, this article only mentions fashion around 5 times while anything violence-related is mentioned at least 12 times!) Mod fashion really takes a back seat here.
   
   But this guy, see, he goes beyond that. Yup, he goes beyond fashion straight to the violent side of Mod culture. In fact, this is the stuff he's actually nostalgic for: fighting Rockers at the beach!
   
5. "'I went to all the riots. I remember in Clacton that one of my mates was stabbed in the back and through his hat, too. ... But he was all right in the end – and the guy that did it regretted it. I threw him through the window of a Wimpy.'"
   So is this how aging gangsters fondly look back upon their gangbanging youth? Will the gangs that were around when I was growing up come together to celebrate an anniversary release of the 1988 film Colors or 1992's American Me? (Yes, I know there's a whole escalation of violence thing here, but still.) There was just something about this guy waxing poetic about a beating he gave that made me feel a little weird.

It's easy to get down on 'the media' for articles like this, but seems there's plenty of subject matter out there on Vespas strengthening the stereotypes we see all the time. Sigh again... It's too bad too, since these days a lot of people who grew up and still actually take part in the Mod thing have actually tried to start businesses reflecting their love of it. We've got people trying to sell their original clothing designs, records, graphic work, etc. Yet, people celebrating the 'Mod vs. Rocker riots' get the press.

Well, I've griped long enough.  If you've read the article, what did you take away from it? In the mood to beat someone in a leather jacket up? Is this a proper Mod revival, even?