The Story of British Youth Subcultures

We are going to embark on a journey into music, fashion and ideas. All the subcultures we will learn about are quintessentially British. It may surprise you that there is no mention of the Beatles or the hippy movement as they both part of a global phenomenon, having their roots in the USA.

It's a story that began shortly after the end of the second World War. No longer did young men have a war to fight, conscription into the army or a uniform to wear. So instead kids began to create their own uniform. What followed was an intense period of creativity based around music, fashion and style. Beliefs were developed, attitudes changed, and mainstream societal and political ideologies were challenged.

Teddy Boys - 1950s

A Teddy Boy, also known as a Ted, is often typified to be the beginning of British Youth Subcultures. The war was over, people started to have a bit more money in their pockets, and new sounds in the form of rock'n'roll music were coming over from America. Young men began wearing clothes inspired by dandies in the Edwardian Period after tailors began re-introducing them following the end of World War 2. And thus the Teddy Boy was born.

Although the Teddy Boys are so often associated with Rock'n'Roll music, before the advent of that music genre, they mainly listened to Jazz and Skiffle music.

Mods and Rockers - 1960s

The Mods and Rockers were two conflicting British youth subcultures that started to spring up in the early 1960s. Famously labelled as Folk Devils, the Mods and Rockers had many physical conflicts throughout the period, famously in Margate and on Brighton beach in 1964.

The Rockers

Centred around motorcycles and Rock'n'Roll music, they started to appear in the 1950s, but much like the Mods, gained recognition in the mid 60s. The clothing included, leather jackets, Levi or wrangler jeans, leather trousers, and large motorcycle boots.

Originally it has been stated that many Rockers opposed recreational drug use, and this actually created more friction with the rival subculture, The Mods.

The Mods

The marks of the Mods were tailor made Italian suits, Lambretta or Vespa scooters, and Ska, Soul and R&B music.

Modernists, usually known as Mods arose in the late 50s, but become more popular in the 1960s as bands like The Who and The Small Faces began sporting a Mod style. Unlike the Teds, they were a more forward-looking subculture that wanted to be at the forefront of fashion, music and style. They were the first subculture to be properly associated with drugs. Clubs such as 'Tiles' opened where kids would often be fuelled up on amphetamines.

Mod had several revivals, particularly in the late 70s and early 80s, inspired by the formation of bands like The Jam, and particularly their lead singer, Paul Weller.

Skinhead - 1960s

The Skinhead subculture arrived in two waves. Initially in the late 1960s, and then again in the 1980s. Originally a mix of British and Jamaican working class youths, Black and white young people danced together with no racist overtones.

Often said to be a descendant of the Mod, it was an exaggeration of the neatness and cleanness that came with the Mod culture. The boots got bigger, the hair got shorter, and a distinctive 'not for the likes of us' attitude spawned. Mainly in reaction to the more psychedelic side of Mod that moved into the Hippies. Skinhead was extensively influenced by the Rude Boy culture that came in with the rise of multiculturalism in Britain. This is where the relation to the likes of Ska music and Jamaican styles originated.

The early skinheads were not particularly involved with any kind of political movement, that didn't arise until the 1970s. From then, there was a rise in racially motivated skinhead violence, which shifted mass media and the public's view that the skinhead subculture promoted racism and Neo-Nazism.

Fashion

The Skinhead fashion has been and is one of the most timeless, definitive and striking styles of all the British subcultures.

Usually wearing a buttoned up shirt, or polo shirt often from the likes of Fred Perry, Ben Sherman or Brutus. Commonly over that, they would sport a Harrington or bomber jacket. On the bottom half Skinheads usually wore jeans, often Levis or wranglers, however also sometimes wore combat trousers.  Army style boots, and later Doc Martens, were the Skinheads favoured choice of footwear. Famous  for wearing braces, in various colours, they usually had an 'X' shape at the back, although some of the 'Oi!'-generation wore their braces hanging down. Alternatively traditional skinheads sometimes would wear suits.

Subcultures from the 1970s to the present day will follow in a later post…