Comments on: “Get Back” and Late Sixties Britain http://blog.oup.com/2009/04/get-back-britain/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:14:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Gordon Thompson http://blog.oup.com/2009/04/get-back-britain/comment-page-1/#comment-150262 Gordon Thompson Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:48:19 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=4142#comment-150262 Roger, thanks for the comments, especially coming from someone of your stature. I think we agree, even if we're calling things by different names. 1. I'm fully aware that so-called "blue beat" had been around Britain for a while and that some examples had been hits. (I'm specifically thinking of Millie Small's 1964 ska tunes produced by Chris Blackwell and directed by Ernest Ranglin.) By "new," I meant in reference to the Mods (more on that below), supplanting that demographic's penchant for Motown and James Brown. They had been cottoning to Jamaican music for a while, but it's not until 1968 that a ska or reggae tune--"the Israelites"--hits the top of British charts. 2 and 3. I see the first generation of short-haired "hard mods" (as distinct from their later incarnations) representing the same demographic as the Mods and dominated by the same profile: white working-class males. Maybe the fixation with Italian suits and Vespas was gone (long before replaced by Carnaby Street eccentricities), but the interest in an idealized black musical experience (whether modern jazz, R&B, or ska) remained. Each wave of this demographic expressed the same preferences in different ways. In my admittedly naive understanding of British youth culture in the sixties, as the mods replaced the Teds (with rockers an interesting, awkward, and doomed transition), so the skinheads replaced the Mods. The reality of this social transformation is admittedly much more complex than I'm capable of describing here (or maybe anywhere), but I recognize the apparent disjuncture you identify. Dick Hebdige's study on this era informs my understanding. All this goes to prove that you should have no fear of being pedantic with a professor. :-) What I found interesting was the conjunction in April 1968 of the changes in the voting age, the one-year anniversary of Enoch Powell's speech, Desmond Dekker's chart success, and the Beatles' "Get Back." Of course, all of this sits against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, riots and assassinations in the US, brewing student resentment throughout the Western world, and the Orange-IRA violence in Northern Ireland. Exciting and dangerous times, to be sure. I'd like to hear your memories of that era. Again Roger, thanks for your well-informed comments. Gordon Roger, thanks for the comments, especially coming from someone of your stature. I think we agree, even if we’re calling things by different names.

1. I’m fully aware that so-called “blue beat” had been around Britain for a while and that some examples had been hits. (I’m specifically thinking of Millie Small’s 1964 ska tunes produced by Chris Blackwell and directed by Ernest Ranglin.) By “new,” I meant in reference to the Mods (more on that below), supplanting that demographic’s penchant for Motown and James Brown. They had been cottoning to Jamaican music for a while, but it’s not until 1968 that a ska or reggae tune–”the Israelites”–hits the top of British charts.

2 and 3. I see the first generation of short-haired “hard mods” (as distinct from their later incarnations) representing the same demographic as the Mods and dominated by the same profile: white working-class males. Maybe the fixation with Italian suits and Vespas was gone (long before replaced by Carnaby Street eccentricities), but the interest in an idealized black musical experience (whether modern jazz, R&B, or ska) remained. Each wave of this demographic expressed the same preferences in different ways.

In my admittedly naive understanding of British youth culture in the sixties, as the mods replaced the Teds (with rockers an interesting, awkward, and doomed transition), so the skinheads replaced the Mods. The reality of this social transformation is admittedly much more complex than I’m capable of describing here (or maybe anywhere), but I recognize the apparent disjuncture you identify. Dick Hebdige’s study on this era informs my understanding.

All this goes to prove that you should have no fear of being pedantic with a professor. :-)

What I found interesting was the conjunction in April 1968 of the changes in the voting age, the one-year anniversary of Enoch Powell’s speech, Desmond Dekker’s chart success, and the Beatles’ “Get Back.” Of course, all of this sits against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, riots and assassinations in the US, brewing student resentment throughout the Western world, and the Orange-IRA violence in Northern Ireland. Exciting and dangerous times, to be sure. I’d like to hear your memories of that era.

Again Roger, thanks for your well-informed comments.

Gordon

]]> By: Roger Dopson http://blog.oup.com/2009/04/get-back-britain/comment-page-1/#comment-150260 Roger Dopson Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:57:35 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=4142#comment-150260 Hello Gordon: at the risk of sounding pedantic, I'd like to pull you up on your comment that "Throughout 1968, young British mods had latched onto a new music, embracing Jamaican reggae and ska..." A couple of points:- 1: It was by no means a "new music". Bluebeat and Ska had been hugely popular among Mods as early as 1963 - one of the first 'underground' successes in the UK was Derrick & Patsy's "Housewife's Choice", which is reckoned to have sold well in excess of 200,000 copies, not a single one of which passed through a chart return shop. Guys like Derrick Morgan and Prince Buster were hugely popular in the UK and sold shedloads of records, and not just to expat West Indians. During 1964, Bluebeat started crossing over to the UK mainstream, most notably via Millie's 'My Boy Lollipop', which reached No.2 (a feat it repeated in the US). But the first Bluebeat record to make the UK charts was Ezz Reco's "King Of Kings", in Feb '64. 2: However, circa 1967 Ska music was annexed by the first generation of Skinheads, who were the polar opposites of Mods, both attitudinally and sartorially ("Club Ska '67" was their seminal album, which charted in 1967). 3: Indeed, by 1969, there were no Mods - the very word had already become obsolete. The closest things to Mods were Suedeheads, who were essentially upmarket Skinheads (i.e. they dressed smartly and expensively). They were, in essence, what Mods had evolved into, although they regarded the term 'Mod' as an insult. Apologies if I'm being pedantic. Roger Dopson Hello Gordon: at the risk of sounding pedantic, I’d like to pull you up on your comment that “Throughout 1968, young British mods had latched onto a new music, embracing Jamaican reggae and ska…”
A couple of points:-
1: It was by no means a “new music”. Bluebeat and Ska had been hugely popular among Mods as early as 1963 – one of the first ‘underground’ successes in the UK was Derrick & Patsy’s “Housewife’s Choice”, which is reckoned to have sold well in excess of 200,000 copies, not a single one of which passed through a chart return shop. Guys like Derrick Morgan and Prince Buster were hugely popular in the UK and sold shedloads of records, and not just to expat West Indians. During 1964, Bluebeat started crossing over to the UK mainstream, most notably via Millie’s ‘My Boy Lollipop’, which reached No.2 (a feat it repeated in the US). But the first Bluebeat record to make the UK charts was Ezz Reco’s “King Of Kings”, in Feb ‘64.
2: However, circa 1967 Ska music was annexed by the first generation of Skinheads, who were the polar opposites of Mods, both attitudinally and sartorially (“Club Ska ‘67″ was their seminal album, which charted in 1967).
3: Indeed, by 1969, there were no Mods – the very word had already become obsolete. The closest things to Mods were Suedeheads, who were essentially upmarket Skinheads (i.e. they dressed smartly and expensively). They were, in essence, what Mods had evolved into, although they regarded the term ‘Mod’ as an insult.
Apologies if I’m being pedantic.
Roger Dopson

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