"We tried not to age, but time had its rage"
Pete Townshend
Today I turn 39. The dreaded 3-9. I have one desert boot in the grave. You’ll soon see me skanking on the dance floor with a cane. I'm considering buying those electric wheelchairs and adding a ton of Stadium mirrors and a bunch of fog lamps on it. Alright, maybe I'm over dramatizing things just a tad.
Seriously, I think I might have a legitimate question here. Am I too old to be a Mod? Modernism is supposed to be a youth subculture. When you're a teenager, you feel invincible. You look at the world with a carefree attitude, thumbing your nose at society. I don't have time to do all that; I have a mortgage to pay!
Even though I feel like I'm not a day over 25, am I pushing it? Is an almost 40-year-old geezer supposed to prance around on a vintage Vespa in a parka? Is this the start of a mid-life crisis? Am I holding on to the last throws of my youth with both hands and not letting go? When you stop and ponder, it does sound pathetic. But before I go in a dark alley and shoot myself in the head, let me play devil's advocate.
If you ask most of my coworkers, acquaintances, neighbors and a lot of my friends what they thought about me being a Mod, they would most likely answer: "What the hell is a Mod?" Besides, since I'm French Canadian, they usually get confused about the word itself. Mode in French means fashion. So its gets even more complicated when you try to explain that the Mod movement is more than just about fashion.
The point is that a Mod can be very anonymous in a crowd. Your attire is sharp, smart and clean. You can pretty much blend in everywhere. It's not like if I was a huge hip hop fan, wearing a crooked cap, pants that can fit two and enough chains around my neck that the weight could break a few vertebrae. I have no piercings, no tattoos and no wild haircut. I have nothing against any of those things. In fact, most of my friends have tattoos and piercings but they don't teach elementary school kids either.
The Mod movement is also rooted in a lot of things that are retro. The music, the fashion, the art, the scooters, all get their inspiration from the past. Therefore, you don't have to keep up with the latest trends to feel that you are part of it. There's no real street lingo attached to it anymore. Modernism used to be synonymous with everything that is now and upcoming. I think that we can all agree that it's not really the case anymore. You can have a firm hold on the present while having a foot (or boot) planted in the past. That's what makes the Mod movement unique. For that reason, I think that I can keep being myself without being looked upon as being out of touch.
Modernism is not a religion. You can embrace it without being fanatical about it. It doesn't define me. It's simply part of who I am. You won't find a target logo on everything I own and I don't wear a suit to the grocery store. On the other hand, I will drive my '59 Vespa VNB to work every once in a while. I think there's a difference between wearing a nice Fred Perry to work, with nicely pressed Farah trousers at 39 and looking like Marilyn Manson. And if you do, well more power to you!
"People try to put us d-down (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
Just because we g-g-get around (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
Things they do look awful c-c-cold (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
Yeah, I hope I die before I get old (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
This is my generation
This is my generation, baby"
My generation, The Who, 1965
From now on, I have to accept the fact that I'm getting old. I will only sit in rocking chairs...
Posts
Youth subcultures, no matter which particular one someone chooses to identifies with, are about rebelling against the status-quo and setting themselves apart from the regimes previously established by the old generation.
ReplyDeleteAt the age of 39, what are you rebelling against?
In my opinion, identifying yourself as, giving a label to and assuming the said identity of "mod" ( or whatever subculture belief one may subscribe to) only undermines the orginal intent of said movement. I could give more credit to it, if say, you were in you mid-40's or 50's and had been a part of the original movement or revival and had always been part of it (such as one of our clubmates who I have complete and utter respect for being 100% himself for the past 30 years and whom I have never heard actually label himself and has outside interests)...and I feel it is just as equally riduclous for someone in their 30's and beyond to still call themselves a "skinhead" (which I have complete authority to say, having been one and invovled heavily in that scene throught my teen years and early 20's). I can safely and easily tell anyone the exact reasons why I identified as one...and the exact reasons I no longer do.
At 39, you are not what is considered to be a "mod", you are merely an anachronism, not much different from those who belong to the SCA and dress medieval and go to their IT jobs everyday, who LARP and go ComCons on the weekends. And you only are an anachronism because you choose to directly label yourself. The clothes you wear, that is a costume, a uniform. It is the decorum of the 'tribe' you self-identify with and without wearing those laurels and piping, for one example, you would not be identified as a member...you would not be wearing the costume of the other masses. It is also qualified by possessions...i.e. "I have this scooter, I have this furniture, I have this book and that qualifies me as this, I belong because of these things." To me, that is souless. I'm not a number, I'm not a part of a mass army of clones who all wear and do and listen to the same thing and act the same way because their counter subculture dictates they have to, to be considered a part of it. I have soul and don't care if I belong. I have my musical and other interests because I grew up with them and was exposed to them at an early age, not because I saw a film or read a book or fell into a particular group of people in high school. They are things to me that are real and something to believe and take comfort in and take to heart, not to be co-opted by the masses.
So ask yourself, why do you chose to identify as what you do? Is it because it provides a social circle, a "just-add-water" way to belong and a bunch of really cool crap? Or is it something deeper than that? Especially on the edge of 40? And why is it nessecary to feel the need to share it with the rest of the world and explain it to them? If it IS something deeper and meaningful, then there is absolutely zero need to justify or label it for the world and negates you even having this blog. It's just you and who you are, not "Pat the Mod" and you would be perfectly comfortable with being just "you". People accept for who you really are inside, not what you present yourself as or the things you own.
Why do you think Jimmy pushed the scoot off Beachy Head? If you think it was out of anger or revenge, you missed the entire symbolic point last 20 minutes of the film...cast off labels and be the real you, not what is dictated to you to be to belong and be accepted.
(Hey, you asked what we thought...just my opinions ;) )
Jesus. You take your self way top seriously man. That guy is a mod and it's not really for you to decide
DeleteAlso...I know 2 elementary school teachers...and both have piercings and full sleeve tattoos. It's no longer taboo and is accepted as part of "normal" society. So that point gets thrown out the window. ;)
ReplyDelete"I have my musical and other interests because I grew up with them and was exposed to them at an early age, not because I saw a film or read a book or fell into a particular group of people in high school."
ReplyDeleteThis comment is silly, how do you get exposed to "other interest" or influences if not by movies you watch, music you listen to or friends who introduce you to new things. developing these new interests over the course of your life is what makes things interesting and worth living.
Hmmm, the proverbial can of worms methinks...
ReplyDeleteA funny thing happened to me around 3 years ago : I had been a bit of a Mod in the late 70's/early 80's, but then got into rock music in a big way. Over the next few years my musical tastes progressed along with me and became more and more eclectic. I've always been in bands since I was around 15, all with their own style and sound, and around 3 years ago (getting to the point!) I took on the role of lead singer for one of these bands. I decided that I didn't want to look like I had just walked in off the street, so I bought myself a nice fitted 3 button vintage jacket from ebay, and by doing so I realised that something was creeping up on me...mod style! I'm 41 now, so can empathise with what Patrick is saying;am I too old to be a Mod? I don't think so. I've made a concious decision to smarten myself up and have immersed myself in something which must have always been lurking in the back of my head (once a mod always a mod). Just because you want to look a certain way, and let's face it Mod is all about look, doesn't mean you have to embrace everything about a particular sub-culture. I'm not going to start abusing rockers or looking for a fight on Brighton beach, but I will wear things that I believe make me look sharp and/or cool just because I want to. And at my age I personally don't give a shit if someone wants to tell me otherwise. If I want to wear a parka I will, and anyway, desert boots are so comfartable on my old feet...
Couldn't of said it better myself Ross.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a link to your band or some way I can listen to your music, I would love to hear it. Maybe I can send so publicity your way.
"Youth subcultures, no matter which particular one someone chooses to identifies with, are about rebelling against the status-quo and setting themselves apart from the regimes previously established by the old generation."
ReplyDeleteOne could also say that many youth subcultures find their raison d'être in rebelling against norms established by the newer generations. Have you seen what's considered cool these days? Can you blame someone for being nostalgic, even of eras in which one wasn't even born?
"In my opinion, identifying yourself as, giving a label to and assuming the said identity of "mod" ( or whatever subculture belief one may subscribe to) only undermines the orginal intent of said movement. I could give more credit to it, if say, you were in you mid-40's or 50's and had been a part of the original movement or revival and had always been part of it..."
Adherence to a subculture isn't restricted to those who were part of the original movement (unless you're an elitist snob, who's individuality is threatened by the slightest hint of change). Like any other culture out there, mods and skins evolved with subsequent generations joining the party, incorporating newer styles of music and dress as the years passed on. Was Oi! part of the original skinhead movement? Does its emergence at a later date deny it any legitimacy? One could voice such an opinion (just do it under your breath at a show, and be prepared for reprisals not always in spoken format, though) The original style of dress and musical taste was passed on with younger crowds. To argue that those who provided us with the original movement excluded anyone who was younger with an exclusive clubhouse mentality is far beyond nonsensical. It stinks of insecurity and jealousy.
More to come...
"and I feel it is just as equally riduclous for someone in their 30's and beyond to still call themselves a "skinhead" (which I have complete authority to say, having been one and invovled heavily in that scene throught my teen years and early 20's)."
ReplyDeleteI wonder...is the hypocrisy in your rebuttal is by accident, or design? You criticize people for adhering to subcultures revivalist in nature if they haven't been part of the original movement (thereby offending your puritanical views, and automatically relegating everyone born the wrong year to the status of a poseur), and now denigrate people who still hold onto those traditions in their later years. You're a fake when too young, and outdated if you're too old?
"At 39, you are not what is considered to be a "mod", you are merely an anachronism, not much different from those who belong to the SCA and dress medieval and go to their IT jobs everyday, who LARP and go ComCons on the weekends. And you only are an anachronism because you choose to directly label yourself. The clothes you wear, that is a costume, a uniform."
People dress the way they do as a form of expression, it's what people notice about you (and more often than not, judge you by) Your argument could be used against anyone for doing anything. LARPers engage in role playing precisely because they love it, not because they feel a need to fit in (since when has LARPing been considered cool?)
"It is the decorum of the 'tribe' you self-identify with and without wearing those laurels and piping, for one example, you would not be identified as a member...you would not be wearing the costume of the other masses. It is also qualified by possessions...i.e. "I have this scooter, I have this furniture, I have this book and that qualifies me as this, I belong because of these things."
Wrong. The younger mods and skins in the sixties barely had any money for records and fancy clothing, many would resort to loitering around clubs to hear the latest tunes, not having enough cash on hand to buy the records themselves. The older crowd had record collectors and clothing aficionados, many of them having stable jobs which finally permitted them to start collecting their respective subcultural paraphernalia.
"To me, that is souless. I'm not a number, I'm not a part of a mass army of clones who all wear and do and listen to the same thing and act the same way because their counter subculture dictates they have to, to be considered a part of it. I have soul and don't care if I belong. I have my musical and other interests because I grew up with them and was exposed to them at an early age, not because I saw a film or read a book or fell into a particular group of people in high school."
ReplyDeleteBut you WERE part of a mass army of clones, since you were once a skin yourself, weren't you? (although from what you've been writing, your reasons for being part of that scene were holier and more pure than those of anyone else, save a few hardcore longtime subscribers) People are exposed to everything in different ways, be it a movie, music playing at a club, advertising, or a group of friends. These subcultures were propagated in precisely those ways. We're talking about music and a way of dress, not a secret society gathering.
"They are things to me that are real and something to believe and take comfort in and take to heart, not to be co-opted by the masses."
Just what masses are you referring to, exactly? Have I been out of the loop for that long? Has skinhead and mod become the latest trend? I for one hope it gathers millions of new adherents and DOES become the latest trend, then I could listen to some good music on the radio and get a Fred or a Ben for cheaper...to the utter dismay of the snobs who think these subcultures are only reserved to a very few. It's not a religion, it's simply a way of life characterized by taste in music, clothing, and depending on your situation in life and age...a little aggro (was that too British a term? Since I'm not British...I guess I must be a poseur...DAMMIT)
"So ask yourself, why do you chose to identify as what you do? Is it because it provides a social circle, a "just-add-water" way to belong and a bunch of really cool crap?"
YES! That's exactly why I do it! Cool crap is cool and music SUCKS these days goddamit, and having a healthy social life is very fulfilling, especially on weekends when I have money for drinks and food at restaurants. Good music, nice clothes and great friends who like to have fun and dance to great tunes. What more is there to like? What reasons *should* I have for being a skin or mod or whatever? More importantly...why the fuck would I care what ANYONE thinks?
Continued...
Wow. I'm amazed you guys take yourself so seriously. I'm a mod. I choose to be a mod. It fits in with my character. I dig it. I don't need any of you self important types to tell me other wise. In fact I'm only reading and responding to this droll as I'm in a hospital waiting room.
Delete"Or is it something deeper than that? Especially on the edge of 40? And why is it nessecary to feel the need to share it with the rest of the world and explain it to them? If it IS something deeper and meaningful, then there is absolutely zero need to justify or label it for the world and negates you even having this blog. It's just you and who you are, not "Pat the Mod" and you would be perfectly comfortable with being just "you". People accept for who you really are inside, not what you present yourself as or the things you own."
ReplyDeleteI personally hope Pat's blog creates one hundred thousand adherents to the skin and mod subcultures. All clad in Freds, Bens, Crombies, sheepskins, donkey jackets...wearing Loakes and brightly coloured socks with their sta-prest trousers. At least by reading his blog they'll get a great sense of style, and more importantly...learn to love and respect the subculture they adhere to.
"Why do you think Jimmy pushed the scoot off Beachy Head? If you think it was out of anger or revenge, you missed the entire symbolic point last 20 minutes of the film...cast off labels and be the real you, not what is dictated to you to be to belong and be accepted."
Jimmy was a junkie and you negated the importance of films, books and groups of people and in your post. Who cares why the fuck he pushed his scooter off anyway, what bearing does it have in our lives?
Cheers (trying to be British again...who knows why?)
"Or is it something deeper than that? Especially on the edge of 40? And why is it nessecary to feel the need to share it with the rest of the world and explain it to them? If it IS something deeper and meaningful, then there is absolutely zero need to justify or label it for the world and negates you even having this blog. It's just you and who you are, not "Pat the Mod" and you would be perfectly comfortable with being just "you". People accept for who you really are inside, not what you present yourself as or the things you own."
ReplyDeleteI personally hope Pat's blog creates one hundred thousand adherents to the skin and mod subcultures. All clad in Freds, Bens, Crombies, sheepskins, donkey jackets...wearing Loakes and brightly coloured socks with their sta-prest trousers. At least by reading his blog they'll get a great sense of style, and more importantly...learn to love and respect the subculture they adhere to.
"Why do you think Jimmy pushed the scoot off Beachy Head? If you think it was out of anger or revenge, you missed the entire symbolic point last 20 minutes of the film...cast off labels and be the real you, not what is dictated to you to be to belong and be accepted."
Jimmy was a junkie and you negated the importance of films, books and groups of people and in your post. Who cares why the fuck he pushed his scooter off anyway, what bearing does it have in our lives?
Cheers (trying to be British again...who knows why?)
@ Drunkenambition: You cannot base your arguments upon personal experience and then denigrate someone else for sharing their own. Your vicious, pseudo-sociological dissection fails on all points precisely because its subjective ramblings masquerade as some sort of "objective," authoritative truth. A polarizing us-vs.-them mentality permeates your writing, making it easy to detect the position of weakness and petty narrow-mindedness that belies your attitude and most likely your entire personality [I do not pretend to know you, but since you clearly feel justified in surmising - and then attacking - the author of this blog, I figured why not. Someone this emboldened must be able to take it as much as s/he can dish it out, no? ;)] You say:
ReplyDelete"In my opinion, identifying yourself as, giving a label to and assuming the said identity of "mod" ( or whatever subculture belief one may subscribe to) only undermines the orginal (sic) intent of said movement. I could give more credit to it, if say, you were in you mid-40's or 50's (sic) and had been a part of the original movement or revival and had always been part of it (such as one of our clubmates who I have complete and utter respect for being 100% himself for the past 30 years and whom I have never heard actually label himself and has outside interests)..."
Poor syntactic structure aside, I fail to see the point you are trying to make here. If we are to understand youth subcultures as the exclusive domain of the young of yesteryear, then why bother even *attempting* to perpetuate any of them (punk, skin, mod, whatever) today? More importantly, why did *you* choose to join the skinhead subculture when you did? Unless you were a 12-16 year old living in the East End of London walking around in the mid-to-late 1960s with no cash, a Cockney accent, and a major chip on your shoulder then by your own logic you yourself were imitating - dare I say co-opting? - a lost subculture which you had no right to in the first place. Unless you were part of the first wave, then by your own admission you were always an anachronistic facsimile of some truer, lost essence that I guess should have been left alone where it could remain in all its fossilized glory.
But ah! I I forgot: you were "exposed [to the scene] at an early age" (whatever that implies) not because you "saw a film or read a book or fell into a particular group of people in high school," thus enabling you to transcend your own failed logic and attain that elitist purity you seem to hold in such high regard. So you still get to parade around as having been the real deal while ridiculing those you deem inauthentic. Give me a break!
The cherry on top: despite your vehement rejection of aging subculturalists (read: "I feel it is just as equally riduclous [sic] for someone in their 30's [sic] and beyond to still call themselves a "skinhead") you subsequently revel in a holy "clubmate" who automatically occupies a higher position in your little scenester hierarchy simply because of his seniority. Something's gotta give: either the scene's dead and gone, open only to its original members - now all dead, Herberts, or something in between - or it is a vibrant, living culture capable of change, growth, and social change, despite your elitist deconstructions. As Steph commented, "You're a fake when too young, and outdated if you're too old?" It's time to break out of this limiting and completely self-obsessed opposition that you, and others like you, have been whining over for far too long now.
I could go on, but really, 'nuff said. It's perfectly fine that you used to belong to a particular group, and it's alright that you chose to leave. Just please don't impose that choice on others who are still having fun and doing what they love, no matter what their age.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91yMM8xzZ4M
ReplyDeleteJe vois que cela ne change pas!
ReplyDeleteJe suis mod depuis 1982, je peux pas m'en empêcher, on se dit pas à 42 ans:" bon maintenant, fini les conneries de jeunesse, je vais arrêter de tripper sur les belles chaussures et les scooters italiens vintage, rêver de costumes taylor made, capoter sur le design et l'architecture, écouter de la musique... fini ces histoires d'ados! Allons acheter un survêtement et des sandales...".
Être mod est affaire de style, en constante évolution, mais toujours avec la même base, solide, classe, qui en fait est ,en partie, la base de toute la garde robe masculine depuis plus d'un siècle : le costume bien coupé, la belle chaussure...
On a rajouté la petite twist pop, rock'n'roll,la touche individualiste, tout ce qui fait que même aujourd'hui, le mouvement mod est à l'avant garde! Nos racines sont dans les années 60 ( moi-même, je suis né en 1968!), c'est exact, mais à choisir, s'habiller comme Eminem ou Jean Paul Belmondo dans Pierrot le Fou...
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm past 40, by a couple of years. I have been in "this thing" of ours since 1980. I have never left it. I never became a punk or rockabilly or Goth or whatever. I’ve never left to have a family or become “something else”. I've been a psychedelic mod, a hard mod and even briefly a "Sharpie" (though sans the ugly shoes and mullets)and I'm always particular about the cut of something or a pattern or shape of a garment or the tilt of a hat or width of a lapel. I don't call myself a mod but let's face facts, because of the clothes I wear and the music I like, I am no matter what I feel about it. In fact now I am at the place in my life where I can afford nice clothes and dress 100 times better than the stuff I wore when I was 17 or 21 or 30. I'm very uncomfortable with calling myself one but at the same time perplexed by the "I used to be a mod", I hear that and sometimes my nose wrinkles and my brow automatically furrows and I realize, this isn't a religion, nobody swore an oath and at the end of the day the world still turns. Sometimes in my narrowed with age perspective I feel that, like the mafia says "if you were ever truly in it then you know that you are never out" and sometimes I could care less as long as it doesn't bother me. It’s what you make of it and that’s something no one can take you away from. When "Madmen" and "Austin Powers" and "Quadrophenia" are barely recollections I'll be in a wheelchair wearing a button down collar shirt with four inch collars or Weejun's loafers. But that's my 5 cents.
ReplyDelete@ Drunkenambition: Don't know how old you are, but when you're forty and you know half your life is behind you it's nice to think you belong somewhere and that there still are people just like you. Who are you to judge and label people the way you do in your first post?
ReplyDelete