1960's Mod Artists: Drug Use

By: Michael Pedrotti


          Drugs had a major impact on many, if not all of the bands in the 1960's Mod movement. This was largely due to the fact that many of the bands started out playing in night clubs where drugs were very much part of the scene. Just like the old Blues artists of the early part of the century who they got many of their musical inspiration from. Also, in the 1950's and early 1960's, the use of amphetamines like cocaine and heroin were legal and beginning to become widespread among the younger crowds. 

          Many of these artists played several shows a week when touring Europe and the United States. When they weren't touring, they were recording, writing songs, and partying non stop. To keep up with this hectic schedule, most bands began using amphetamines just to make it through the week. some of the new drugs were referred to as purple hearts or purpies, French Blues or black bombers. Artists of this movement also began consorting with and trying to emulate early jazz musicians. This included using marijuana, and later LSD. References to these mind-expanding drugs began appearing in many of the popular songs of this era.

         These new drugs had a very influential effect on many of these artists. They began getting high or tripping on various hallucinogens like shrooms, peyote, and acid to help them come up with new song ideas. This can be seen in the lyrics of their songs and even the song titles. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by the Beatles, about LSD, is just one example out of many where this can be seen. A few more are "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix and "Light my Fire" by the Doors. Amphetamines and pain killers gave them energy and numbed the senses so that they could give wild and crazy performances and get as high as their crowd.

          From the outside looking in, it may have looked like fun and games, but eventually, drug abuse and the insane lifestyle many of these Mod artists lived caught up with them.  Jimi Hendrix was found dead Sept. 18, 1970,  in a London flat of an apparent overdose of prescription sleeping pills. Keith Moon, one of the greatest drummers in history and played for The Who, overdosed on prescription sedatives taken with heavy amounts of alcohol September  7, 1978 in London, just a few weeks after the release of their new album Who Are You.

Works Cited:

Casburn, Melissa M. "A Concise History of the British Mod Movement." (n.d.): n. pag. Web.

Goodwin, Susan and Becky Bradley . "1960-1969." American Cultural History. Lone Star
    College-Kingwood Library, 1999. Web. 7 Feb. 2011.

Gener Roles in the Mod Movement



By: Kendall Pass

Gender roles in the 1960s were changing dramatically. With the rise of the feminist movement, women were becoming more independent and slowly breaking the stereotypical thoughts of the world. Women started to enter the workforce, which in turn, made women realize they did not have to live up to society’s standards.  There was also an increasing number of jobs in boutiques and women’s clothing stores which gave women income. The end of domestic violence was a key factor for women in this era. Because of this movement, women are thought as equals and not as inferiors. Men started to be more accepting at the fact the women were not just “meant for the household.” During the 1960s, there was in creation of birth control which made women have more freedom and changed the traditional role in the family. Feminists demanded the right to abortion on demand, free childcare provisions and equal pay. This led up to the sexual revolution in the 1960s. This revolution brought in many groups including feminists, gay right campaigners, hippies, and many other political movements. The women of Britain were scorning the masculine world of hard work and honest labor by spending their time listening to music, collecting records, socializing, and dancing in night clubs.

With more freedom came more opportunity for women to express themselves; this includes music. For years women would have the same type of song that would be acceptable for society. Yet, in the 1960s Mod movement, female singers would be forever changed. Some key female singers of the decade include Janis Joplin, Carole King and Joni Mitchell, and Aretha Franklin. In particular, Carole King and Joni Mitchell sang about their thoughts and feelings which were new to this era. Women were not holding back when it came to musical expression; they wanted to be heard. The mod movement changed the way music was forever, especially when it came to the female artists of the decade.

Sources:

Friedan, B. (1983). The feminine mystique (20th anniversary ed.). New York: Norton.

 

Davis, F. (1991). Moving the mountain: the women's movement in America since 1960. New York: Simon & Schuster.

 

 

 

The Music of the Mod Movement

 After the post-WWII baby-boom, London was a young and progressive city filled with teens and young adults who often aligned themselves with various movements. Many of these movements had a strong connection with music and the mod movement was no different. The insatiable desire for everything cool that was ever-present in the affluent working class mods lead them to R&B  and jazz music. It appealed to them because it was off the beaten track and went against that status quo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izzKUoxL11E

The Supremes were an example of the type of music that appealed to early mods. Black, American music was extremely popular among them and could be listened to on records or in coffee shops ( a favorite meeting place of mods). This music was soulful and passionate, and certainly different from what had been popular in the country before the mod movement.

But this soulful American music didn't captivate the mods for too long. Soon, mods were producing their own music. And no one had quite the affect that the Who did. The Who was the quintessential mod band. In fact Pete Townshend - the songwriter and guitar player for the Who even said "I am a mod." The Who and other such mod bands were huge trend setters and took pride in that fact. They - the musicians themselves were members of the movement, not some outside force, and they tried to impact it in anyway they could. Townshend claimed that "what was interesting about what the Who did is that we took things which were happening in the pop genre and represent them in a new way." Very clearly, mod musicians gave a lot to the movement but took a lot from it as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7FrIt352VE

This song, The Punk and the Godfather by the Who displays the feelings of the mods at the time. Here, Townshend feels betrayed and disappointed by the modern rock movement, a feeling many mods at the time shared.

The music the mods listened to was their music, it was written by their own. It was relateable and listening to it now, it's a direct connection to the movement that started over 50 years ago. Eventually though, the movement began to decline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU5zqidlxMQ

This song by the popular mod band, the Yardbirds was an example of a mod band beginning to appeal more to the masses. It's cited as the reason guitarist Eric Clapton left the group. He claimed it was too similar to pop music and a departure from the R&B style music they had played in the past.

The movement would eventually be replaced by other movements, such as the hippie and punk mpvements, but the music, and the movement it represent continue to influence our modern culture.

Sources:

Townshend, Pete. Who I Am: A Memoir. New York: Harper, 2012. Print.

Gambaccini, P. (1982). Ageing rock superstars. the who: Now for their first final appearance? Listener, 108, 22-23. Retrieved

Mod Movement and Mod Revival

Mod Movement and Mod Revival

  by Hongbeom (Jacob) Shin

When one hears a name “The Who”, “The Yardbirds” and “The Kinks”, it is very easy to associate the name to “Mod movement”. Rising new style of music, artists during this era, starting from late 1950s to 1960s, attracted lots of young British teenagers as well as American listeners. For example, most of the people, not just ones who are from that generation, when they listen to “Who are you,” will immediately recognize what that song is either they know The Who or they have listening to the theme song of CSI. Therefore, it is clear to say that the mod movement affected many generations and have been a great part of our culture.

            “The [Mod’s] era began with Bill Haley’s ‘Rock around the Clock’ at the top of British chart” but around mid 1960s, mod music culture declined its peak after the generation from 1950s and 1960s became adults and had to change their lifestyles. Not only the audiences but the bands also slowly changed their musical style to more psychedelic rock kind of music. Its music was outgrown by other styles of music, rock, that they both have been fighting against each other in order to maintain to be a mainstream. So after rock music took over the public, it seemed as if mod style wouldn’t come back again.

A scene from Quadrophenia. Phil Daniels as Jimmy with
his mod mates. This picture shows typical mod style-
mod fashion and most importantly, the scooters.

            In 1979, Franc Roddam produced a movie named Quadrophenia which was a movie based on The Who in the 1960s, the Golden days of the mod movement and created millions teenage mods. Triggered by this movie, the “Mod Revival” started. The revival started from late 70’s and lasted until early 80’s. It was not very long period of time, but it affected many other musical genres which followed mod revival music. As the revival started, young teens brought their scooters out and started exhausting their engines like old original mod days. And they perused for the similar idea that the original mods had in earlier generations. Many famous bands were created such as Secret Affair, “one of the most creative neo-mod groups of the late 70s… debuted supporting” The Jams, The Prisoners, etc. Some of them are still surviving and are performing. With better sounding systems, for example, when fans of a band group went to their concert to see them but not to listen to them (since the audio system/microphone system weren’t as developed so that they couldn’t afford to make the music loud enough for all the audience to listen), it allowed neo-mod performers to perform in live more often. 

The Who's famous song "Who Are You"

Secret Affair's "My World"

The Chords' "Maybe Tomorrow"

Larkin, Colin. (2003) Eighties Music. London: Muze UK Ltd.

Thompson, Gordon. (2008) Please Please Me Sixties British Pop, Inside Out. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 

50-60s Surf Music in the Mod Era

50-60s Surf Music in the Mod Era

            

        The 50s-60s Mod movement involved several elements other than just music. The movement also had influences on fashion by incorporating tailor made suits as well as helping to bring motor scooters to the frontline of popularity. Music was of course the largest element though and was what really set the tone for the Mod era. The music of the mod era “included Jamaican ska, African American soul, British beat music and some R&B.” Originating in London, England in the 50s the Mod movement influenced people across the globe with a wide variety of followers. The main association that people typically make with mod music is the drugs and dancing/clubs because that was the “scene”. Amphetamines were used to fuel the all night dancing and partying that was done at these clubs. Another element that was influenced by the mod movement that was a bit less recognized was the surfing community. Overall, the surfing community adopted music of the Mod era because it was upbeat and energetic music which well suited them because of their upbeat and energetic lifestyles. Drugs were another common factor between the surfing community and the Mod movement for the same reason that people used them at the clubs: fueling the ongoing party. However, marijuana was the more prevalent drug in the surfing community as opposed to amphetamines. A few of the more popular Mod surf musicians include “Dick Dale, The Shadows, Link Wray, and the Ventures.”

Blair, J. (1978). The illustrated discography of surf music, 1959-1965. Riverside, Calif.: J. Bee Productions.

Crowley, K. (2011). Surf beat: rock 'n' roll's forgotten revolution. New York: Backbeat Books.

1960’s Mod Movement: Overview and Origin

By: Tyler Sandman

The mod movement can be classified as the time where modern ideas and major culture aspects of the new age started to originate. Ideas started to form post civil war but the movement essentially originated in the latter part of the 1950’s. The culture originated in London, England and then later resurrected in the west. It was a transition from a period of jazz and blues music into a time of rebellious music that was a bit heavier sounding. The movement was really based upon a new set of values and thinking of the youth of the time. The movement is characterized by its clothing, music, ways of thinking, influence of drugs, and in whole a new redefined way of life. The backbone to this movement in culture is the impact of affluence and education. These provoke more thinking and ideas, with the ability to act on them, resulting in the production of a new era. The increasing population due to baby boomers, acted as a catalyst to the spread of ideas because with more people in the world, the more likely people are going to hear of things, and the greater the opportunity for talent. Mass media was also a factor in the extension of the movement with television and radio. The most important media in the movement however, was music. Popular music of the era included artists such as The Beatles, The Who, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. These artists were able to revolutionize music of that time and their music is still played today. The popularity of these artists was due to their new ways of thinking and rebellious mindsets.

The mod movement started to die off at the end of the 1960’s because of changes in public interest. Then, a revival started in the late 1970s in the United Kingdom, with thousands of people meeting in places such as Scarborough and the Isle of Wight. This revival was followed by a revival in North America in the early 1980’s.

Overall the modern movement was a time for new, rebellious ways of thinking and a great time for music in general.




Here a few videos of the movement and popular music:

 

 

 

Works Cited:

 

Casburn, Melissa M. "A Concise History of the British Mod Movement." (n.d.): n. pag. Web.

 

Pollock, Bruce. When the Music Mattered: Rock in the 1960's. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1984. Print.

 

Drugs and their Influence on the Mod Movement

By: Matt Tucker 421001604

Anyone studying the mod culture immediately cites the use of amphetamines as an integral part of the movement.   After the sexual revolution in the 1950’s, fueled by the creation of Rock and Roll and the dancing that accompanied it, the youth of Great Britain began to congregate in night clubs to dance and listen to the new generation of music.  This new nightlife was supplemented by new types drugs that didn’t create the same intoxication effect that alcohol did. This was noted in an article for the London Evening Standard written by Anne Sharpley

They [the teenagers] are looking for, and getting, stimulation not intoxication.

They want greater awareness, not escape. And the confidence and articulacy

that the drugs of the amphetamine group give them is quite different from the

drunken rowdiness of previous generations on a night out (3 February 1964).

The stimulating effects of the drugs were often used as an excuse to escape the mods “hostile and daunting everyday work lives and the inner world of dancing and dressing up in their off-hours”¹.  It was a common thing to see young people wandering out of clubs early in the morning with dilated pupils and large bags under their eyes, and even at times, suffering from severe hallucinations.

 Naturally, since the drugs were being used by the followers of the subculture, the leaders, the bands themselves, began to use them and it inspired several famous songs that are still popular today.  One such song, The Kinks ‘Big Black Smoke’, mentions the drug Dexamyl² under its street name purple heart in the line ’And every penny she had was spent on purple hearts and cigarettes’.  Purple heart was used very often, and was known to cause euphoria and even sometimes hallucinations.

Another very popular song from this time period is The Beatles ‘Day Tripper’.  Unlike Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which many people theorize is about LSD, Day Tripper is without a doubt about acid.  Acid is a hallucinogen, and it is well known that The Beatles used to use this psychedelic drug to inspire a lot of their lyrics.

1. Dr. Andrew Wilson (2008). "Mixing the Medicine: The unintended consequence of amphetamine control on the Northern Soul Scene" (PDF). Internet Journal of Criminology. Retrieved 2008-10-11.2.

2. Hebdige, Dick. "The Meaning of Mod," in Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain. Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson, eds. London. Routledge, 1993. Page 171