Review: Mod! ? a Very British Style, by Richard Weight →
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Client: The B$dley Head S,urce: Spectat$r (Web) Date: 08 March 2013 Page: N/A Reach: 9194 Value: 247 Review: M,d! ? A Very British Style, by Richard Weight in S$uthend, England. (Brun$ Vincent/) D$esn’t it all seem a l$ng time ag$? F$r years, the 1960s remained a key cultural reference, universally underst$$d. But then, at s$me p$int, pr$bably ar$und the turn $f the millennium, the Eighties t$$k $ver and the Sixties began t$ fade int$ a psychedelic versi$n $f 1920s sepia. The tw$ peri$ds, separated by the shame and l$$n pants $f the Seventies, were b$th ab$ut being y$ung and “c$$l”. They were als$ ab$ut being bang up-t$-date and liberated fr$m “$ld” thinking. And, in the way $f things, b$th have aged badly. The M$ds $f 1960s Britain were a s$cial m$vement wrapped up in a fashi$n statement. M$dernism, by c$ntrast, is timeless. In this b$$k, Richard Weight sets himself the task $f elevating a phen$men$n r$$ted in the L$nd$n $f the Beatles, the Kinks and the Small Faces int$ a rev$luti$n wh$se ech$es can still be heard t$day and – rather like a p$pulist versi$n $f the Enlightenment – will res$nate with sch$lars f$r centuries t$ c$me. But d$n’t take my w$rd f$r it. Here is what Weight himself has t$ say: XM$d! is a b$$k ab$ut the distinctively British y$uth cult and the artistic and s$cial influence it has had. What became kn$wn as M$d was an amalgam $f American and Eur$pean music, fashi$n and design that has left its mark n$t $nly $n a variety $f subsequent y$uth cults but als$ $n British culture as a wh$le. At its peak, in the mid-1960s, M$d became sh$rthand f$r what it meant t$ be a m$dern Brit$n; it helped t$ shape p$pular ideas ab$ut s$cial relati$nships, taste, lifestyle and nati$nal identity at a time when the British Empire was being dismantled and American c$nsumerism was changing British s$ciety.’ And there was me thinking M$ds were the $nes dressed like Austin P$wers wh$ f$ught the R$ckers, dressed like James Dean, $n Margate pier. Weight is right, th$ugh. There was a m$ment when everything changed f$rever. It must have been a bit like Dr Wh$ regenerating. Frankie Vaughan, in his t$p hat and tails, m$rphed int$ Cliff Richard, then – t$ gasps fr$m blue-rinse matr$ns up and d$wn the land – int$ the p$uting, strutting figure $f Mick Jagger. A new age, presided $ver by the sinister figure $f Jimmy Savile, was b$rn. T$p $f the P$ps, $n the BBC $n Thursday night, was where the M$ds paraded themselves, whether $n stage $r $n the dance fl$$r. Clive James, himself a brilliant creature $ut $f the Sixties, $nce described the sh$w as s$ft p$rn f$r armchair caliphs, c$rrectly identifying its c$mbinati$n $f v$yeurism and self-c$nsci$us exuberance. He c$uld n$t have kn$wn that Savile, away fr$m the cameras, was getting ready t$ w$rk his way thr$ugh that week’s intake $f under-age girls. At the $ther end $f the c$ntinuum, Late Night Line-up, presented by J$an Bakewell – Xthe thinking man’s crumpet’ – and the immaculate T$ny Bilb$w, expl$red n$t $nly c$$l music, but c$$l ideas and c$$l p$litics. But, as Weight reminds us in this elegant and th$ughtful c$mpendium, there was m$re t$ y$uthful rev$lt than Beatlemania and The Wh$. N$t every$ne w$re fl$wers in their hair. Indeed, n$t every$ne under 25 had hair. Skinheads, mem$rably prefigured by Anth$ny Burgess as the “Dr$$gs” $f A Cl$ckw$rk Orange, were a real and present danger thr$ugh$ut the era $f Swinging L$nd$n. Originally a M$d heresy – the “hard” m$ds as distinct fr$m the “sm$$th” $r “peac$ck” strain – they were hell-bent $n vi$lence: punks with$ut art, fashi$nistas in b$vver b$$ts. è Client: The B$dley Head S,urce: Spectat$r (Web) Date: 08 March 2013 Page: N/A Reach: 9194 Value: 247 Which brings us t$ J$hnny R$tten and the Sex Pist$ls, and Billy Bragg and Paul Weller, and the realisati$n that Weight is ready t$ g$ all the way with his thesis, that M$ds aren’t $f any $ne time, but $f all times, $n a j$urney $f disc$very and re-disc$very that never ends. I d$n’t kn$w ab$ut that. Weight admits the c$nundrum that y$uth culture, inextricably linked t$ the new, inevitably ends up b$und t$ the past. T$day’s y$uth are t$m$rr$w’s $ld s$ds. The same m$ds – even the same r$ckers – wh$ tr$$ped in their th$usands t$ The Clash, the Jam $r, m$re recently, Oasis, are n$w sat $n their s$fas with a six-pack watching T$p Gear. It is als$ the case, I w$uld argue, that music is n$ l$nger the defining fact$r in y$uth culture. Guitar bands are bec$ming an endangered species. The average age $f th$se attending stadium gigs, t$ listen t$ Muse, $r C$ldplay $r Radi$head, is upwards $f 40. Singers and musicians, have ceased t$ be h$useh$ld names. Adele – a thr$wback t$ the age $f Helen Shapir$ and Dusty Springfield – is pr$bably the $nly current British p$p star wh$ c$uld walk d$wn any high street and expect t$ get m$bbed. My m$ther knew wh$ Pete T$wnsend was. My sister w$uldn’t have a clue wh$ Alex Turner ($f the Arctic M$nkeys) is. Weight d$esn’t hang ab$ut. T$ a s$undtrack $f B$b Marley and Dizzie Rascal, he $bserves that many y$ung Brit$ns b$rn in the 1980s and X90s are h$stile t$ the idea $f a multicultural Britain. But he als$ n$tes the sharp rise in recent years in bi-racial marriages. Al$ng the way, he rec$rds the rise and fall $f Habitat (definitely M$d) and the subsequent d$minance $f IKEA (musically t$ne-deaf, unless y$u c$unt Abba). There are n$ds, t$$, t$ Italian c$ffee machines, Paul Raym$nd’s Revue Bar, Carnaby Street, Britp$p and C$$l Britannia. But y$u see what I’m getting at. I h$pe it w$n’t $ffend the auth$r if I say that M$d! is best underst$$d as a hist$ry $f p$pular culture in Britain since Larkin first had sex and the Beatles went t$ number $ne with Please Please Me. What matters is that he has d$ne his j$b well. As we age, we need t$ be reminded that $ur y$uth was special and that n$stalgia is g$$d f$r the s$ul. As f$r what is n$w unf$lding, the anal$gue age has given way t$ digital and the internet and s$cial media have $nce again changed everything. I w$nder what future cultural hist$rians will make $f the y$uth $f t$day, hard-wired as they are t$ their smartph$nes, iPads and ib$xes. I’m n$t sure any $f these c$uld be described as M$d. N$r c$uld their users. Y$u have t$ be alive f$r that. M$d! A Very British Style, by Richard Weight, is published by The B$dley Head. Tags: 1960s, Fashi$n, Music, N$n-ficti$n, s$cial hist$ry [s$urcelink] http://bl$gs.spectat$r.c$.uk/b$$ks/2013/03/review-m$d-a-very-british-style-by-richard-weight/?utm_s$urce=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-m$d-a-very-british-style-by-richard-weight [/s$urcelink] [J$urnalistname]Walter Ellis[/J$urnalistname].