I Predict A Riot: Panorama on Mods and Rockers
There are many great British bank holiday traditions; determined but ultimately doomed DIY projects, staring from stationary car windows in lengthy traffic jams or simply avoiding the predictable rain.
One tradition though which has largely been consigned to history is the invasion of south-coast seaside resorts by teenage youth cults; namely the Mods and Rockers.
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The seaside battles between the sartorially elegant and their leather-clad rivals fuelled much sensationalist media coverage in 1964.
As news of the fighting and arrests filtered out, these youngsters found themselves at the .
In fact, the Easter weekend shenanigans were pretty much the over a drug-taking, mindless, violent youth.
Of course there have been quite a few scares since.
Newspaper headlines from March 1964 screamed 'Wild ones invade seaside' and '97 leather jacket arrests; youngsters beat-up seaside' as fighting broke out in Clacton-on-Sea.
The trouble caused enough outrage for Panorama to investigate the groups and work out whether this would be become a regular feature of future bank holidays.
The results were strikingly candid; providing a snapshot of working-class youth at the point where deference to the establishment was beginning to wane.
The Mods preached a hedonistic take on life; enjoying drugs, music, clothes and violence to a lesser or greater degree and set a blueprint for many a youth tribe to follow.
The Rockers seemed more about .
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Perversely for a group with an anti-establishment reputation, the Rockers citied Mods lack of education and class as factors behind their behaviour. The reality though was that both groups were predominantly working-class.
The battles may have ceased almost as quickly as they began; but they have become the stuff of legend, immortalised in the album, film and now stage play .
But as with any legend, it has tarnished a little over the years amid claims that many seaside punch-ups were actually .
Both groups still thrive today albeit in smaller, underground circles. Yet witness singer Amy Winehouse's plentiful tattoos or the resurrection of the Rockers haunt the in north London, or the continued vogue for modish Fred Perry clothing and their mainstream influence is still evident today, although the violence is thankfully consigned to the past.
Comment number 1.
At 1st May 2009, mysterymod wrote:Interestingly, although these battles weren't as big as reported then or since, they are huge in the mind of most teenage mods. However, once a mod passes the 'aggressive' stage (which most did, do), they reach a kind of eureka moment: Knowing they're too cool to fight, but can strut down the street, safe in the knowledge they can certainly look after themselves ;)
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