A History of the Mod Movement, Part Three

Of course the Mods and Rockers clashed, themarijuana-infused contemplation of esoteric ideas
antagonism reached its peak in the summer ofand aesthetics, which contrasted sharply with the
1964, when hundreds of youths fought runningfrenetic energy of the mod ethos.
battles with themselves and the police in theHowever, there was a small core that did not
seaside resorts of Clacton, Margate, Bournemouthrelate to the middle-class hippie movement's
and Brighton. However, the media reports of thedrug-oriented and intellectual music. They began
time greatly over-exaggerated the severity oflistening to Jamaican Ska and attending
these incidents causing some moral panic andunderground house parties and clubs and adopting
vindication by the older generations that thesethe Rude Boy look of pork-pie hats and too-short
youth movements were decadent rabble.Levi jeans. These 'Hard Mods' soon evolved into
As psychedelic rock music and the hippiethe first skinheads, a non-political group who hung
subculture began to become popular in the UK,with black Rude Boys in West Indian clubs. These
the Mod lifestyle began to peter out. Some of theearly skinheads retained some of the basic
great Mod bands such as The Who and The Smallelements of Mod clothing such as Fred Perry and
Faces had changes their styles and really noBen Sherman shirts, Sta-Prest trousers and Levi's
longer considered themselves as Mods. Thejeans but they mixed them with working-class
"peacock" or "fashion" wing of mod cultureoriented accessories such as braces and Dr.
evolved into the Bohemian style of London hippieMarten work boots.
culture, which favoured the gentle,