Sure, I can spend the next page showing off photos of me in my favorite outfits. I can brag about a tie I own or a pair of shoes I've been lucky to find. I can spend the day celebrating myself and acting like Mr. Cool. But that's not really who I am. Me, I like to give to others. And because I'm such a giving person, today, I give you a birthday gift... examples of me at my worst. So, here you go, my Top 10 Personal Fashion Failures!
1. Sure, I'm wearing a suit at around the age of 6. But, look at those lapels, will ya. They're wider than my head (and that's sayin' somethin')! It looks as if I'm wearing my father's dress shirt, what with my pencil-neck and all. And that beautifully '70s tie... it's a clip-on! Faux-pas! Hey kid, what, did your mommy dress you? (Well, probably...)
2. While many of you '80s Mods were riding around on scooters, attending Untouchables shows, and wearing high-water pants with white socks, I was hanging out at home looking like this. A rare photo of me in shorts as it's photos like these that keep me away from shorts these days. Yes, those are Velcro shoes and yes those are white tube socks. (Hey, maybe some of you '80s Mods can relate after all!) Of course, there is a dash of cool going on with that Admiral Ackbar t-shirt. Hey, I may not be looking Mod here, but this was the height of 11-year-old fashion in 1985!
3. Oh yeah, sure, you might think I was a junior high stud, but the reality is that during one week of dating, this was the only time we held hands. I'm pretty sure this young girl was a tad embarrassed by my kinda new wave outfit. Plain, untucked white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and, it's true, acid wash Bugle Boy jeans! Really, the only new wave going on here was my Flock of Seagulls haircut and pointed Dr. Martin shoes (cut off in the photo). By this time, though, I was already starting my Mod path. Despite what those acid wash jeans are saying.
4. Okay, I've mentioned before how I wasn't one of those kids that transformed over night. Remember those guys back in high school? Punk rock on a Friday, Mod on a Monday. A week later, Rockabilly. A week after that, Skinhead. Not me, boy. No, I took my time slowly morphing into a Mod kid. And this photo proves it. I was super into the Jam, but walking around in a 2-tone t-shirt with my residual skater haircut (I wasn't a skater) that would be shortened in about a month or two. I felt that if I was going to get into something, I wasn't going to rush it. Otherwise, what was to stop me from rushing away from the Mod thing if I was able to get into it so easily?
5. 18 years old and full-on Mod. But darn it... high-water pants with white socks! I think I'm wearing the same Dr. Martin shoes from the Bugle Boy photo above. And look at that... Mod pins/badges on my suit lapel! See, back then, I think I needed those pins just in case anyone walking by had any doubts about what I was. The 'Mod' pins just confirmed my existence. Ugh...
6. Three words: bottom button buttoned.
7. Hey, I'm man enough to admit it when I go overboard in the color department. On paper, this all looked great: turquoise jacket, green shirt, turquoise/green paisley tie, with a spot of purple pocket square. Unfortunately, it was just too much color and too obvious of a color coordination. Yes, I get it... trying to match the colors of the tie, but sometimes, you just gotta contrast the tie a bit more. Don't let it control you.
8. Superman has Kryptonite. Green Lantern has the color yellow. And Freddy Krueger has a cup of espresso. Me, I have humidity and heat. Those are my weaknesses. Unfortunately, on a trip to Greece, when this photo was taken, my arch-enemies were out in full force. The heat and humidity joined together to muddle up the synapes in my brain so that I couldn't put a decent outfit together. Look how confused I look here at the airport. Obviously, I don't travel well under these conditions. Cole Haan sneakers (which are actually pretty cool), flared jeans (which look really baggy here thanks to the expansion caused by the heat), an untucked Ben Sherman shirt, and a light jacket that I didn't want to pack away. On this day, I lost the style game.
9. Hey, I'm man enough to admit it when I go overboard in the pattern department. I actually really like this photo of me with my wife. But, man, this is what I get when I try to push boundaries. Striped shirt, paisley tie (with colors too light to really stand out), and a polka-dotted pocket square. I'm surprised I wasn't also wearing a Madras jacket! The main problem I have here is that these patterns don't really work well together. That shirt should have been pin-striped instead of bold. Maybe the tie would have stood out more instead of being lost. And that pocket square should have been a less obvious color. Aw well, lessons learned.
10. And this, right here, my favorite Fashion Failure photo. You know why? It's shown up on Facebook and other discussion groups, posted by people who think this is how I actually dress! The sad thing is that there are Mod types out there who do dress like this, normally. So, it's natural for someone who doesn't know me to think this is my Friday night Ace Face wear. No, no, this was actually a Halloween costume: me as the teenage me. But I don't mind it when strangers think this is the real me (can ya? CAN YA? Sorry... force of habit). I get a kick when I see this posted on Comedy Mod sites and all... because really, this was a damn good costume!
Alright, there you have it. Day in and day out, I toss my opinions out there on what I think Mod fellows should be doing. But as you can see, I'm not perfect and I don't mind showing off my mistakes. Hopefully, as the years go by, there'll be less examples to share with you.
Well, whaddya know? Seems today is the ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the MOD MALE blog! Holy-moly! A year ago today, I decided to start flappin' my own gums about what I thought was so great (and not-so-great) about Mod stuff, starting with this post.
In honor of the 1-year anniversary, I'm having a little giveaway contest! If you want to skip this next boring story, just head straight to the bottom of this post. If you want to stay and read on, I decided to talk about what first got me into this whole Mod thing and why it's still such a big part of my life. To today I present to you... MY SECRET ORIGIN!
Let's get into the ol' time machine and head back to 1987... a horrible year in pop music, TV idols, and fashions. It was also my first year of junior high school and I was getting my first taste of acne. I hated 1987.
By the end of the 7th grade, I decided I just didn't share any of the same interests as my peers (see 1987 links above). My friend, Robert A., had already turned me on to The Smiths, the radness of Pretty in Pink's Ducky, and the coolness of pointed creepers. At this stage in my life, I wanted to be 'unique'. That's an important thing for a new teenager, wanting your own identity. And back then, liking a band like the Smiths really set you apart from the norm. So, I got full on into them and other assorted new wave acts. By the time I was in the 8th grade, I was walking around in black & white creepers and hair spiked up on one side. But even before then, on the last day of 7th grade, I read something that would end up seriously changing my life.
In our yearbook, if you had the money, you could buy a 'graffiti' square on a page and write whatever you wanted to write. Most people wrote messages to their best-frenz-forever or messages to their boyfriends/girlfriends about how they would be together 4-EVER. Well, these two 8th grade girls, who I remember walking around in black hair and 'new wave' stylings, bought a couple of squares and went in a different direction. Here is what they wrote:
'Mod'? I don't know what it meant, but it sounded cool and must have had something to do with all those bands I liked (with the exception of The Scorpions). The name floated around in my head, sounding mysteriously simple. Mod...
Later that summer, I was hanging out with a couple of cousins and they noticed my Smiths records in my room. One of them said, matter-of-factly, "We have a friend who likes The Smiths. Yeah, she's mod too." There was that word again. "Mod?" I asked. "Yeah, she's into all that weird music you like."
I remember looking through an issue of one of those Columbia Music House catalogs (remember, 12 records for the price of 1?) and in there was a section on all the new wave stuff I liked. You know what that section was called? 'Modern Rock.' Ah-hah! I figured it all out. 'Mod' was short for 'modern rock!' It totally made sense.
I couldn't wait for the 8th grade to start so I could share this info with my friends. They had to know that we weren't new wavers because new wave music was already old by 1987. No, now that music was called modern rock and we were mod because we liked it.
Further proof hit me at the beginning of the 8th grade when I was looking through my School is Hell book and noticed a comic dealing with the 81 Types of High School Students.
One of the 81 types of students was... The Mod. And he looked exactly like what I would expect one to look like (minus the duck-bill).
This discovery was extremely important to me. Not only did I have an identity separate from my peers (who were still listening to Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam), but, more importantly, I was into something that my dad and his generation were not a part of. See, when he wasn't talking about how great The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and 'TheSixties' were, he was always trying to school me on my own music: punk and new wave.
My dad was living in the Bay Area around this time and kept up with cool music. He had albums by the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and Elvis Costello. He was aware of bands like the Meat Puppets, The Smiths, and Flock of Seagulls. And he used to rub it in my face that he knew my music more than I did! In the 7th grade, when I told him I liked Echo & The Bunnymen because of their song 'People Are Strange' off the Lost Boys soundtrack, you know what he did? He made me a cassette tape of the Lips Like Sugar album and included the original Doors' version of 'People Are Strange'. Not only did he know my music more... he knew the original stuff being copied! And this drove me crazy. He was always one up on me.
But now... I was one up on him. I was mod. And this was such a new thing, there was no way he'd be in the know about it. Finally, I had my own thing. Well, one day while visiting him in Berkeley, he and I were walking back from a day on Telegraph Avenue. I had a little skip in my step as I listened to him go on about Bob Dylan and the Beatles before trying to talk to me about my own music. I lured him into trying to act cool with me so that I could get him with a gotcha question. And then I went for it.
"Oh yeah? You think you're so cool, Papa? Man... I bet you don't even know what a mod is."
He looked down at me in surprise and paused.
"Oh yeah, kid... okay, tell me. What's a mod?" I had him!
I told him all about how new wave just wasn't new anymore and how it was now called 'modern rock' and how kids that were into that music were called 'mod' because it was short for 'modern rock'. I smiled knowing I had just widened that generation gap.
Then he responded, "Really, kid? That's what you think a mod is? Interesting..."
I looked up at him, "What do you mean? That's totally what a mod is!"
He sighed... "Kid, let me tell you what a mod really is." This conversation wasn't going like I planned. But then he gave an explanation that still resonates with me to this day.
"Kid, mods were around in the sixties. They were young guys, teenagers, who rebelled against the society they were living in through the types of suits they wore. You know how punks dressed shabby in torn-up clothing? Well, mods wore really nice suits with thin lapels and skinny ties. They wore army jackets called parkas to protect their clothes and rode around on Vespas, italian scooters. And they used to get into fights with Rockers."
His statement about rebelling against society by wearing nice suits hit my 13-year-old mind hard. I was used to seeing people dress outlandish in order to be somewhat 'unique.' But my dad just turned me on to a wild idea of dressing nice as an act of rebellion. I pictured myself in a suit with 'thin lapels' and a 'skinny tie' and walking through a crowd of kids in bad mullets, baggy pants, and Reebok hi-tops. I was utterly fascinated...
...until he said, "The Who were a mod band." It was like a record needle scratching across my mind. The Who? The band I read about in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the loudest ROCK band in the world? The band that looked like this?
At that, he turned me off. No way were those guys 'mod'. When we got back to his place, he started pulling records out. He wanted to show me a photo of them as mods. The photo he showed me did NOT win me over.
All I saw was a geeky guy with a big nose in too-crazy-and-colorful-for-my-thirteen-year-old-mind clothes. I didn't buy these guys as anything having to do with what I thought mod was, but I was still interested in the concept of this subculture of kids walking around in suits as a way of snubbing the society around them.
The 8th grade went on for me and I delved further into all the music KROQ was playing at the time. And despite my dad thinking The Who were a mod band, I still asked him about what sixties mods were like. He would talk to me about Dick Hebdige's Subculture book and would go on and on about how mods were 'working-class' kids. I loved hearing about them. And even though mods only existed in the 1960s, I still pictured them being into stuff like Echo & The Bunnymen.
One day, I was hanging out with one of my uncles. I sat on his bed relaxing while he was playing me various songs from the sixties, something he used to love doing. I endured it, even though I didn't really care for The Byrds, The Beach Boys, or any of the other bands he made me sit through. Then he told me, "Okay, I'm going to play you a song but I don't want to tell you who it is. Just listen and let me know what you think." "Oh geez," I thought. "Here we go with more..."
The song he played me was unlike anything he ever played me before. It was loud, manic, and totally punk rock! I looked at him in surprise. "You like this kind of music?" I asked. He just smiled. Yeah, you know what song he played me, don't you?
When it was done, I asked him who it was. "That's The Who?!" was my response when he told me. And that's the song that completely sold me. From that point forward, I wanted more than anything to be a mod. I wanted to be the only mod at my school, maybe even the world.
Later that year, I learned about the Jam from another student who claimed his brother used to be a mod. The Jam led me to the Mod revival, which jived more with the music I was into at the time. Plus, it made me realize that there were mods after the 1960s. By the beginning of high school, I was getting into ska music, which would sidetrack me for a bit. Eventually, though, I'd finally get my first suit and, in time, my first parka. Sure, over time, I'd make several mistakes while slowly morphing from new wave kid to mod kid, but I learned from them and hopefully improved as I got older (open to debate).
Soon, I discovered that there were Mod scenes happening all around, from Berkeley to Los Angeles to other parts of the world! Looking back, it's funny to me that on that walk with my dad in 1987, when he first told me what a mod actually was, there was a whole rocking Berkeley Mod scene going on around me. And as I sat in my bedroom in La Puente, CA, thinking about being the only mod around, my future wife was blocks away already part of a Mod scene.
This whole Mod thing has been a huge guiding force in my life. It's turned me on to great music, great clothes that I still obsess over, and even great design. I've met amazing people through it who have become life-long friends and have helped me become a better person over time (open to debate). Through the Mod thing, I've met the most amazing woman who continues to tolerate my behavior, even though we still fight over closet space. And each day, I still find something about this subculture to get excited over.
Thank you all for sticking with this blog over this past year and I hope it hasn't bored you yet.
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Okay, in honor of the 1st year of the MOD MALE blog, I'm having a little give-away thing. What can you win?
The 2011 book, The Perfectly Dressed Gentlemen by Robert O'Byrne!
A great little guide on how to be an even more dapper Mod (or gentleman, in general), with illustrations by the talented Lord Dunsby. You can read more about it on the Retro To Go blog. Please keep in mind that this contest is not affiliated with any of these people. I just happen to have an extra copy and would like to give it to a Mod Male blog reader.
Here's all you have to do:
Become a follower of this blog, if you're not already, and leave a comment on the blog telling me how you got into the Mod thing OR how you got into whatever it is you're obsessed with (i.e., goth music, a baseball team, your favorite author). Doesn't have to be Mod-related.
Or,
'Like' the MOD MALE Facebook page and leave a comment on the page, telling me how you got into the Mod thing OR how you got into whatever it is you're obsessed with (i.e., goth music, a baseball team, your favorite author). Doesn't have to be Mod-related.
Contest will end next two weeks from today, on August 9 at 6:00pm PST. That evening, I'll put all the names in a bowl and pick a name at random. (And if you 'share' the Mod Male status update for this post on Facebook or share it on Twitter (@modmale), I'll add your name TWICE to the bowl!
On Friday, August 10th, I'll announce the winner on this very blog! That's right, this contest will last two weeks only! GOOD LUCK!!
Alright, as much as I hate to admit it, summer is upon us. I'm sure I've said this before, but I just don't do well with summer... or hot weather, in general. (What do you think spurred my move from Southern California to Northern California?) However, summer is a great time to finally bust out a nice madras suit jacket!
For those of you who don't know (and are having a hard time connecting to Wikipedia), madras is a lightweight cotton fabric, named after the Indian city of Madras. As the Ivy Style blog illustrates, madras was imported into the U.S. as far back as the turn of the century, but once Ivy League students latched on to the fabric in the middle of the century, its popularity grew more and more, despite the bleeding quality of the fabric (which became a large selling point). Although madras can come in plain colors, stripes, and other assorted patterns, the plaid design is probably the most recognizable.
This look was an early influence on the Modernists of the late '50s/early '60s which continued to spread to the point where madras jackets could be seen on many English youth (and bands) throughout the early to mid-sixties. Georgie Fame and the Small Faces are probably some of the more famous examples of the madras jacket in action, but here are some more:
Now, the first time I ever really noticed a madras jacket was in the inside sleeve of my very first Small Faces CD, From the Beginning:
Yes, my eyes were a tad blinded when I first saw this photo, but it was an image I kept turning back to, curious as to how wild their whole look was, while still keeping within the ol' suit-and-tie realm. Although Ronnie Lane's jacket fit my tastes more, the plaid madras of Steve Marriot and Kenny Jones totally challenged my perceptions of a 'mod' look back then. It was a loud look but, as a teenager, that's what I was after. Would I have worn a checkered tie with a madras jacket like that? I can say now that I probably would have avoided that look... but the 16-year-old me, if truthful, would have totally tried it. Good thing none of those pieces were anywhere near me!
A few months later, I was definitely sold on the madras jacket. In June of 1991, I went to my first ever 'Mod' show and saw a band that helped blow away my power-pop, revival leanings: The Loved Ones. (But, that's a story for another time.) Not only was I taken with their mid-sixties R&B sound (I still remember them covering 'I Just Want To Make Love With You', one of the few R&B songs I actually knew from a cover done by The Rolling Stones) but their outfits on stage were in stark contrast to just about everyone in the audience. All around me, people were dressing in black, navy, or dark brown suits, but up on stage were these guys:
A hard-to-see Nick Rossi, Bart Davenport, and Xan McCurdy of The Loved Ones - June 1991 at the Mount Baldy Lodge in Southern California.
And the outfit that most opened my eyes was that light-brown plaid madras blazer! I had to admit it... he looked more styling than either of the Small Faces in the previous photo. There, in front of me, was a loud Mod look done so right, that eveyone else in the crowd, including me, looked just so wrong. Turned out, this was a look that other Berkeley Mods had adopted. When my buddy, Juan G., picked up a copy of the Loved Ones debut 45, further proof of the slickness of the madras jacket was demonstrated:
Drummer John Kent in his madras jacket which he handed down to me later on in life.
By the time I moved to the Bay Area and met up with these guys, well, I must have gone on and on about how much I loved that light-brown madras jacket. For me, it was a reminder of the first Mod show I ever attended and a symbol of the look that really increased my interest in Mod clothing. Well, eventually, that jacket (along with others over time) was handed down to me and still remains in my closet, waiting to fit again.
Photo from around 1994 in that same madras jacket. NOTE: This was NOT my scooter.
John Kent passed on his jacket as well and I still continue to appreciate it to this day. Here's one of the only photos I could find, wearing that jacket:
Only photo of me in the jacket, from around 1996. The label inside the jacket reads 'IMPORTED HAND WOVEN Bleeding India Madras' from Lord & Taylor, Fifth Avenue.
As I mentioned previously, plaid isn't the only variety of the madras jacket. Here's a shot of The High Numbers' John Entwistle in a striped madras for you:
And here are couple of batik-patterned madras jackets you can find around:
George Fame in a madras jacket patterned in a mix of plaid and batik.
I'm still a huge fan of the madras jacket and love that many others are into the look as well. As I got older, there was a brief moment when I thought they might be too loud to get away with... but then, I regained my senses. I don't care how loud they are... the jackets are the way to go, especially now that the weather is perfect for them! Here's one of my favorites, worn during our trip to Europe last year:
Bart Davenport, me, and my wife Irene, spending time in Paris.
If you look around the internet, you'll see that the madras jacket is really coming back and not just for fans of Mod styles or the Ivy League look. And my guess is that you'll be seeing more and more madras jackets, thanks to that show of shows: Mad Men.
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.
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!
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:
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.
We all have to start somewhere. After all, no one is born with a paisley tie, french-cuff shirt, slim-fitting jacket, well-creased trousers, argyle socks, and almond-toed shoes. And boy, let me tell you, I went through some doozies on the way to getting my act together!
So, today, I turn the Mod Gone Wrong focus on myself as I go through my Top 5 Mod Growing Pains (in no particular order):
1. New Wave Hair
When I was in high school, I never ever wanted to be an 'over-nighter'... y'know, those kids who showed up to school on a Friday in a Depeche Mode t-shirt and returned on a Monday in a shaved head and flight-jacket covered in ska pins. To us, people like that were poseurs, the worst thing you could possibly be called in high school!
So, although I was already learning everything I could about Mod life throughout high school, I knew I couldn't just show up, cold turkey, in a parka with Mod badges after all those days in Smiths t-shirts. People would think I was crazy! No, I wanted my transition from new-waver to Mod to be very gradual. I wanted it to happen step by slow step, starting off with a Jam t-shirt here, a Specials pin there, until eventually, I had my look down complete... over time. Unfortunately, as a result, photos like this exist:
So, in my attempt to avoid poseur-ism, I most likely gave many people the idea that I was a poseur, what with walking around with new-wave/skater hair and a ska t-shirt. Still, even by this age (15-16), I knew what the what was with The Who, The Jam, and 2-Tone! I just wasn't ready to express it fully quite yet. (By the way, this guy knows what those days were like!)
2. Ill-Tapered Sta-Prest
I'll never forget my first experience with a tailor, who wasn't my mom. Early on, in my first year of college, I found a couple of vintage sta-prest at a local Goodwill: a navy pair and a white pair. Oh boy, was I excited! Only problem was that I thought they were too wide. (Looking back, they were probably the width I wear my pants these days!)
Luckily, near my dorm, I found a cool storefront with a sign that said 'Jim the Tailor'. I knew Jim would know what to do. So, I took my two pairs of pants and asked him if he could taper them to about 6.5 inches wide... yes, 6.5 inches! (If that sounds impossible, then maybe it was 7 inches... either way, too tapered for my tastes nowadays!) After waiting about 2 weeks, I went back to pick the pants up. Jim told me he was running behind and asked if I'd come back in another week. So, I did. Jim said they still weren't ready. So, I waited another week. Was this how long tailoring took? I didn't know and had no real experience with this.
Finally, after that other week, I went back and this time Jim asked me to come back in another 2 days. Now, I was getting irritable. But I waited 2 days, came back and the pants were finally ready! I brought them back to my dorm and tried them on, ready to strut out onto the avenue in my new Mod trousers. But something wasn't right with either pair... not only were they tapered from the knee down, but, well, he only took them in on one side and ironed in a new crease to erase the old one! Don't know what I'm talking about? Here, allow me to illustrate:
The dotted line represents the original sta-prest crease. He tapered the pants in from one side only so that I had to walk around with mixed-up creases on each pant leg! Yes, I still wore them, and my Berkeley friends were nice enough to ignore the travesty. This was my first tailoring experience and a hard lesson learned.
3. Too Big Bowling Shoes
Early on, I was dying to get a pair of bowling shoes, just like I had seen The Jam wearing. I had no luck, though, whenever I went thrift-shopping. But during my first year of college, a friend handed me down a couple of his old pairs. I felt like I had just conquered another Mod hurdle: I finally had bowling shoes!
Unfortunately, they were about 2 sizes too big! Still, I wore them, flappity-floopin' throughout my school day. What made them look even more ridiculous was the fact that I wore them with my high-watered, too-tapered, ill-creased sta-prest! But really, it wasn't like I had Ebay back then to find a pair of bowling shoes. And it wasn't like there were Mod companies then making bowling shoes, not for bowling, but for Mod purposes only. So, I walked around, looking like a clown and wearing them out to the point that the soles started to come undone.
My friends, this is how I started.
4. DIY Tab-Collars
Tab-collar shirts were just as hard to find back then as they are today. They were my most sought-after target (no pun intended). With no luck finding a real tab-collar shirt, I picked up on the old idea of taking an item of clothing and, if it wasn't 'Mod' enough, making it 'Mod' yourself. DIY tailoring, if you will. For instance, I was able to make my own shirts with button-down collars just by sewing buttons over the collars and onto the shirt. Sure, the buttons couldn't function, but they looked cool!
After reaching some success with my DIY button-down collars, I felt I was on a roll, so I decided to move on to making my own tab-collar shirts. Friends, I don't mind sharing my secret if you're looking to do this at home, but I wouldn't suggest it.
Step 1: Find a shirt with a plain collar.
Step 2: Cut a couple of small rectangular 'tabs' from the bottom of the shirt.
Step 3: Sew a small button onto one tab and cut a small hole into the other tab.
Step 4: Sew each tab onto the inside of each side of your collar. Voila! Home-made tab-collar shirt!
Step 5: DON'T BE STUPID... THIS WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA!
I only actually succeeded doing this with one shirt, one with a light-brown check pattern. Luckily, it wasn't vintage. Oh sure, for a while, I was actually able to button the 'tabs' together, but after about 2 wears, the tabs began fraying! Tab-collar shirts don't look cool when fraying tabs start sticking out from under your tie.
5. Crew-Cut Hair
In my senior year of high school, I was reading about some of the Mod hairstyles and the one that stuck out in my head was a 'French Crew.' I really had no idea what that meant at the time, though. But after studying haircuts I had seen in Modzines and certain LP covers, I noticed that many of the Mods had really short hair, but long enough to at least comb a little. For instance, in the shot of The Chords, take a look at the guy on the far right:
That was the hairstyle I was after, what I thought was a 'French Crew.' So, I went to a local hair stylist, without a picture, and asked for a 'crew' cut. The barber looked at me and said, "Are you sure?" Of course, I was sure! I was walking in with 'normal, short hair, and walking out with 'Mod' hair. Then he asked what 'clipper' number he should use: 1, 2, 3, or 4? Aw heck, I didn't know... 4 sounded good since he said that would leave my hair slightly longer.
Next thing I knew, he was clipping off all of my hair! When he was done, hills of hair were at my feet and I was left looking like a skinhead, the one thing I was not and never have been. What's worse is that this was at a stage in my life when I was still wearing a burgundy flight jacket with ska patches and pins.
For a portion of my senior year, I was pretty much walking around as a rude-boy/skinhead thanks to this mess up. Gradually, it grew out, but I learned something else about my hair. It was so straight that as it slowly grew longer, I began to look more and more like a monchichi, something a female classmate liked to mention whenever I was around.
Eventually, my hair returned to normal, but for that brief period, I was mistaken too often for a skinhead... not a good thing when most people had different ideas of what a skinhead was. Heck, I remember getting hassled one evening by a bunch of guys calling me White Power. Y'know, me, the Mexican kid walking back from the local library, after a long night of studying, with my two Asian classmates.
So, there you have it... my Top 5 Mod Growing Pains. Oh, there are probably more, but for now it just goes to show that we all have a hard road to travel before reaching that Mod goal.
