The guy talking at about four minutes was right, it was all blown out of all proportion, I too was at Brighton during those bank holidays, I was a Mod on my Vespa GS 160 and although there were a few little bust ups, on the whole it was quite a good time to be there. I always thought that the guys on motorbikes would sort of look down on our scooters because we could not go as fast as them but then we used to look down on them because they could only wear scruffy clothes, we could dress up to look good when we went into the clubs to pick up girls but when we rode our bikes, we had our Parkers on to protect our clothing. Some girls preferred the Mods, some preferred the Rockers, it was like belonging to two separate clubs but overall, it was just young people having a good time and I loved that period of my life, it got boring once I got a car.
That's the difference between Mods and Rockers once a rocker always a rocker.. Mods were just a fashion statement, part of the system, pop music, fashion ect.. and although people thought Mods were like angels they weren't and the proof was lots turned to into skinheads, unlike rockers/bikers who remained Rocker bikers.. I got into rock at the age of 13 and I'm still into rock, I still ride a bike, I still wear a Brandon stye jacket with a cut, Boots and Jeans.. 🤟😎
@@OldSkoolBiker62 yes, of all the bikers that I knew and still ride bikes, the majority of them are still scruffy, just like they used to be and I don`t know of any Mods that turned to being Skinheads, we all just grew up and out of the phase of being a Mod. Being a mod when I was young was a terrific time but when I matured and started with cars, I never wanted to go back but I did have a Honda and two Kawasaki's but putting on the gear and wearing a crash helmet soon had me back in my car, it was fun but much nicer to travel by car. Sorry but I feel that the bikers that grow old and still think that they are rockers are fooling themselves, they are just old men that cannot accept that they are not just old men riding motorbikes.
@@honestchris7472 Well I don't think I'm a rocker I am a rocker lol.. always listened to rock and always will.. but I'm not scuffy these days.. I'm very clean cut.. but still have a beard and had long hair up until a few weeks ago when I decided to shave it off.. yes I'm old, and I'm proud to be old, a lot of my mates didn't make it.. I also love cars and would never sell my Gti..
@@OldSkoolBiker62 So, in fact what you are saying is that you are an older guy that listens to the same music that you used to listen to when you were young but really, you are not a Rocker, that was like being in a club, just like it was with the Mods, it was us just being part of something, a group of young people enjoying that way of living but that went long ago. As I said, old people that ride motorbikes are not Rockers, they just still ride bikes.
As a rocker I can remember fighting with the mods in Bangor near Belfast on most Bank Holidays back in the day. Now when I'm on my bike and I see some of the aging mod group I smile and give them the big thumbs up. Kids nowadays don't know how to enjoy themselves.....
I'm an original mod from the 1960's. I bought my 1967 Lambretta SX 150 in red and white brand new then decked it out with flyscreen, backrest and extra lamps. I subcribed to "Scooter World" magazine. Took my Lambretta to Brighton once but my favourite places to go were Wales and Derbyshire. My favourite mod music was The Who, The Small Faces and The Move. Sold my scooter in the 1970's. I like a lot of the mod-revival music from the 1980's though.
You have to remember every Mod would've been a Rocker one/two years earlier. I can remember looking forward to reaching that magic age of 16 and getting a Triumph Bonneville or Norton Dominator but just like the Teddy Boys to Rockers the Mods were the next 'fashion 'move. Rockers weren't called Rockers until there were Mods, that was the distinction. The Rockers stayed behind, the Mods were the new phase, a new phase with 'STYLE' metaphorically printed on their Suits, their Parkas, their Scooters their Image. I loved my copper plated GS160.....but I look at a Triumph Bonneville today.....and wonder... could I have been a Mod on a Triumph? What a machine!
Rockers and/or Mod...you either like the Beatles or the Stones..scooters or motorcycles... dedicated Rocker hang out or Mod places. The picture of a friend and l at 3.29 in about 63/4 ... it was a hell of a time to have ones youth...what ever your affiliations ..
My aunt was a Mod and she fell in love with a rocker they met on that weekend in Brighton but ended up staying away from the fights and later on they dated and eventually got married in 1970 and are still together today and they still go to Brighton where they met infact their just back from there
Yes I was a mod and fixed all the bikes and shooters for free I had the who and the jam playing while fixing my Yamaha RD350YPVS Scooter handled so bad but looked good with mirrors
1979 my ambition was to become an "Angel". My father had a different opinion. He got me a 1960s Li 150 Lambretta and one of his hairdressers. To be honest I didnt regret it. And to be honest - there wasnt much difference 😉
This is a classically British phenomenon that never materialized here in North America. There were always roving motorcycle clubs across this continent, which later became notorious via negative (mostly fictitious) news media coverage of a drunken riot at a rally in Hollister, California. It was never really mainstream. Most kids in the 60s fell in love with the hippie subculture, drugs and psychedelic rock&roll.
I remember our family driving down to brighton in our old Austin a 50 I was about maybe 7yrs old, when a load of rockers thundered past us the noise of the bikes was awesome, all in black leather girls on the back, I was hooked that's what I wanted to be when I grew up, of course by the time I did grow up it was all over no more mods or rockers, I think I missed out on something-------maybe?
In 1964 in upstate NY it was the Hoods vs the Squeaks. The Hoods being the bikers and the Squeaks being clean cut. I was a Hood, still am today at age 75. Still ride motorcycles too.
Growing up early 70's, here in the Massachusetts, us Hippies types were buds with the Greaser types. The greaser type loved their Budweisers (as did we), but us hippy types were into all kinds of psychedelic drugs too. If you were part of of the certain area of town (West End for me), we all got along. We were more into hippy type music and rock, and the Greasers were more into Zep and Alice Cooper and such.
@@teleguy5699I have been a Rocker/Biker since my teens.. I have as many hippie friends as I do biker mates.. In the 80's I even lived on the road with many Hippie traveller's/Convoy here In the UK.. I loved the music and the drugs.. we all grow up in the end so I stopped taking drugs but the rest remains. 🏍....... 🤟😎 🏴🇮🇪🇬🇧
@@OldSkoolBiker62I know some mods ended up becoming hippies once they realised the limitations of speed, but didn’t some rockers end up becoming hippies too? Also, didn’t some rockers end up getting into the leather scene?
I remember hearing about mods and rockers as a child in London in the early sixties and saw glimpses of them but was kept well away. In my early teens it was "skinheads and greasers," I was neither really but you had to follow something at my school or be outcast. To be honest I had a deep hate for skinheads, the ones I saw were like packs of dogs looking for someone vulnerable to pick on for no reason, kicking and stomping them on the floor with those "bovver boots." Plus I always preferred rock music, he long haired image. I think "glam rock" helped when it arrived because although the music was "iffy" it was mainstream but neither one nor the other. Where I lived it was all about not getting your head kicked in, without showing your fear. There were places I wouldn't go near, but mine was a small world, maybe it was different in other towns and regions. Its funny how childhood and adolescent experiences become part of you. Here I am after a full life travelling the world, enjoying a second youth at 60 with long hair and two very large motorcycles and nothing left to fear; yet even now when I see a group of resuscitated old mods (the same DNA as the skinheads that followed) on scooters and we are polite to each other, I can feel my hair stand on end and part of me wants to blow them off and cut them up on the road. If I met the same guys in some other situation I'm sure we would get on fine, but when you're "in uniform" the tribal instinct is hard to hold down. Explains a lot of history, probably.
@@grindupBaker rockers do ton up boys.if your refering rockers are greasers your wrong rockers are not greasers look the same in ways but style is different different likes two different subcultures.for example pirates are different to wreckers they both plunderer ships in a different way.its like some people teddy boys are greasers are rockers teddy boys are big difference yes they're all rock n rollers but different group subcultures.theys a lot confusion with all these groups if you don't know the difference.any way keep rocking 🤟🤟 stay safe 🤟🤟🏴☠️🏴☠️
@@cycologist7069 yeah mate absolutely. saying that tho loads of things happened because of punk it was a ground zero moment. amazing really mod revival skinhead revival then early goth bands then grunge later. being a music fan i love it all
@@karlclarke It’s funny. While I can see how 60s British rockers had some influence on late 70s/early 80s punk rockers, I always thought of the rockers as being the metal heads of their time and mods sort of being the punks. Over time, things cross over.
I always imagined Rockers to be mechanics or construction workers for a living. Mods on the other hand worked as shop assistants in M&S or British Home stores
That’s me and a friend at 3.29. This was actually at Southend - on- sea. not Brighton . My mother gave me hell for being on the BBC news something I wasn’t aware of. I never saw this newsreel until seeing this 55 years later..I was 18 at the time.....
I loved the music of the era, Beatles, Stones, The Who etc. and liked to dress smart. I also road a Norton 750 so tis era always confused me. I was a Mocker.
let a few of us Teds and rockers patrol some of our streets at night, i gaurentee the so called hard kids won't think themselves so hard after a few nights lol
Great mini series on TV. Reminds me of the Mockers events put on by John Martin in the 90's in Southend, playing both a mixture of Rock 'n' Roll, Northern soul and sixties music.
Bank holiday punch ups, it was great. I remember around 200 of us in cars and bikes being escorted through Margate by the local plod the beach front was lined with parkas. We ended up having a punch up in Ramsgate. I`m grown up and sensible now. LOL
Unfortunately a lot of people don't understand that the Ton-Up/Rocker subculture was and still is all about British motorbikes, Rock'n'Roll and Rockabilly, greased hair, and that smart looking style that began in the 1950s and evolved ever-so-slightly during the 60s. It was a uniquely British subculture based on American 50s music and a style influenced by the American Greaser look, the Teds and the RAF of WWII. "A youth cult based on a rebellious form of transportation; timeless music; and a style from a more innocent time, will never fade away."
I ride a Victory touring bike and occasionally an old 58 Harley 3 wheeler. My riding partner has a BMW that he never rides but he does ride his Honda scooter with me 2 or 3 times a week in the summer. Everybody in town laughs with us and we have great fun riding our scoots and handing out American flags to the little ones.
I was a young Rocker in 1964 and went to Brighton (not on Mayday though) I went with friends, 3 of us were Rockers and the other 4 were Mods, We all managed a day in Brighton without fighting each other. Good times.
I'm told I was born in 1964 in the US. I've been messing around with British bikes since I was 17. now got a 1951 Thunderbird almost ready for the road by springtime. I'd find them dirt cheap in the 1980s but those days are over!
Lots of fun as a kid growing up in Liverpool with dockers strikes ,every kid had a guitar wanting to be famous ,I was a mod ,boyfriend had a scooter we went everywhere on it .those were the days
I was a rocker from 1964 till now. How can vesper compete with a norton dominator 650. Of course wear a leather jacket and you were in league with the devil. Bikers forever
Agree, still ride British bikes, wear a leather with cut, jeans and boots.. and still listening to heavy metal. 🏍....... 🤟😎 Where I live 🏴 (40 yrs) My blood 🇮🇪 My nationality 🇬🇧
The press mostly set up the "mod v rocker" fights they would offer a few kids a few quid to mock a fight so they could sell a story to the papers.....the press will never change.
Yes I've been looking back at all this and now its strange Looking at the bigger picture I've come to think that it was a sham I think music and youth culture was used as weaponry We had a massive Soviet power near us and in days past the young would join political groups to rebel Post war they didn't want that so set up paper gods to turn to to entertain us Play a clash record put in a leather your rebelling, well no your not as the rich owned most music and the bad boys turned out to have dads in political power or from arts school What they gave us was music drugs fun gangs workers fighting workers What wasn't wanted was the young joining political gangs like in the 30s And the anti government things were set up by government think tanks to stop fascists as that needs 100% government worship like the ww2 Now music sucks we have more polarized political thinking Put a record on quick
@@somethingelse4878 YES hence Punk being born imo but Music has held the protest way before then. It's identity to the means (if that makes sense) is all rebelling when feel it's a lost cause that needs to be heard. There is some polarising music being made still
I have a factory BSA Lightning Clubman nearing completion. First stop the Ace Cafe. I missed it first time round as I'm a mere 52 yrs old but yes - I'd have been a rocker. My jacket will have a Slayer pentagram though :-)
1983 the back end of the Mod revival, I was a 13 year old Mod, fish tail, Fred Perry's , boating jackets, then that summer holiday my mate came back from Liverpool, all Tacchini, Fila and Adidas, we became casuals, football changed for us that year, never looked back, still got a bean can when I was 17...
Wimpy Bar at 3:25 ! Boy I loved that hamburger with hot greasy greasy greasy onions after my swimming at Porchester Hall & Baths in Paddington in 1957 when I was 10. I suppose my palate's ruined now and I'd complain because no pate & wine with it.
I know i was well past the times being born in ,87 ive still always been fascinated by the culture of the Times I watched qudraphenia about 10 years ago and I loved it. Being a brit I prefer British made films I still learn something new all the time about people and the way of life.
Some english nannys here in a pub ( ny- usa ) asked me which I was, a mod or a rocker. Well I was on my 1964 triumph bonneville. So I said rocker of course. They had a cute ac ent which I copied. Many people thought I was from the uk too. Ah the 60s. Miss those days.
now that im older i appreciate all species, even the mods, but you have to admit that if not for the ROCKERS we would be stuck in land of EOR, heavy metal can change the world, the power of the head banger should not be underestimated. and if not for the mods we may never have felt such a need to CHANGE THE WORLD, heavenlymetalmaiden
Even if I had money when I was younger I wouldn't have spent it on crap clothes designed by snobby designers.. mods were and still are a fashion/pop music culture.
@johncox2115 THAT was the whole point, rising above that is what being a mod was about. Scooters were more cost effective than motor bikes and still got you around leaving money for clothes. Apart from the fact Vespas are cool lol
Wrong.. Bikers are cool mods we're a fashion statementon two little wheels.. music was and still is crap.. But hey we have all grown up and if I see a mod riding solo and I'm in a good mood I will nod.. but memories are deep.
I was young, I was fresh faced, I dressed snazzy, in the blink of an eye it disappeared...............live your young lives fast and furious my friends and worry about the consequences later!
I know mods became skinheads, got into the northern soul scene or became hippies when they realised the limitations of speed. What did the rockers become by the end of the sixties? My mind’s eye has the image of rockers either joining outlaw motorcycle clubs, becoming Teddy Boys, getting into the leather subculture or becoming hippies. Am I right?
3.20 seeing that poor lad getting beat up seeing his face I felt really sorry for him 😢 as I've grown up i hate seeing people get out numbered and set upon by cowards
I was 16 years old In 1964 in Sothend all my friends were mods and rockers all had bikes and scooters. I was a little different l liked dressing nice but owned a c15 bsa and couldn't stand scooters but as soon as we where 17 straight into a car everyone either bought a mk 1 Ford consul or zephyr and after a year on to the mk 2 zodiacs got your parents to insure them and you as added driver , petrol was four gallons for a pound everyone had plenty of cash to spend what great times to be a teenager.
I was a young rocker in brighton and I can assure you all the fighting was minor, NO battles as the outdated BBC put it. It was more running back and forth. The real fighting was when we rockers became greasers and fought the scumbag skin'eads!
Strange: When ever you ask people who had been actually there they say, there wasn't much fighting going on. BBC and Newspapers picked out the most shocking pictures and thus produced a false impression.
I was at Brighton and believe me all the hype that the media put out was a load of crap, There was some minor trouble but when you get two opposites together you will get some sort of reaction, it was all about selling newspapers I worked on the door of a night club at the time and fights happened all the time but nobody got to hear of it because the press didn't know about it
Sunshine Saxon Pete Townsend wrote his interpretation of the sixtes a great film, but at the end of the day it was only a film get in the real world, if all that happened in real life then I would have thought that some one would have been serving life for murder
😂🤣😂 Very different from when I first got my licence here in the early 80s here in Australia. 😂🤣😂 Can see why my dad got arrested so much in the late 50s Britain being a Biker.
I was about for the second wave of the Mods late 70s early 80's I would be I suppose classed as a Rocker as I was into Heavy Rock / Metal jeans and leather jacket but there was also the Punk's , Skin's , Scooter scruffs Rude Boys about at the same time all fun and games
Ah clip ones, dustbin, Tritons, featherbed frames,North Country Night Riders, or was it No C#nt No Ride, oxo cube corner , the ton, punch ups, noddy bikes, those were the days my friends.
Do they still have any of these groups in England now, or what is the scene now? It looks like the beaches were not a warm enough place to swim so they just hang out on bikes and kept the jackets on, right?
The Rocker has always been associated with Rock n Roll and rockabilly, so yes they are still about, but not in the numbers they once were as the Rockabilly lifestyle now has over 60 years of fashion to choose from. The Mods are still around but like the Rockers smaller in number. The Mod scene has also spawned a child called scooter boys who seem to listed to Mod music and the Rockers music E.G. Two Tone and Psychobilly.
Not really, both mods and rockers were young working class people, there was no rich poor divide, they just liked different styles of music and fashion
Old Rockers never die,they only smell that way. Rock 'n' roll forever.👍🍺😎
Im 67 And Ive Owned My 56 T110 / TROPHY/BIRD EAST Coast Style !!! 😁I STILL Ride it g
they only fade away
The guy talking at about four minutes was right, it was all blown out of all proportion, I too was at Brighton during those bank holidays, I was a Mod on my Vespa GS 160 and although there were a few little bust ups, on the whole it was quite a good time to be there. I always thought that the guys on motorbikes would sort of look down on our scooters because we could not go as fast as them but then we used to look down on them because they could only wear scruffy clothes, we could dress up to look good when we went into the clubs to pick up girls but when we rode our bikes, we had our Parkers on to protect our clothing. Some girls preferred the Mods, some preferred the Rockers, it was like belonging to two separate clubs but overall, it was just young people having a good time and I loved that period of my life, it got boring once I got a car.
That's the difference between Mods and Rockers once a rocker always a rocker.. Mods were just a fashion statement, part of the system, pop music, fashion ect.. and although people thought Mods were like angels they weren't and the proof was lots turned to into skinheads, unlike rockers/bikers who remained Rocker bikers..
I got into rock at the age of 13 and I'm still into rock, I still ride a bike, I still wear a Brandon stye jacket with a cut, Boots and Jeans.. 🤟😎
@@OldSkoolBiker62 yes, of all the bikers that I knew and still ride bikes, the majority of them are still scruffy, just like they used to be and I don`t know of any Mods that turned to being Skinheads, we all just grew up and out of the phase of being a Mod. Being a mod when I was young was a terrific time but when I matured and started with cars, I never wanted to go back but I did have a Honda and two Kawasaki's but putting on the gear and wearing a crash helmet soon had me back in my car, it was fun but much nicer to travel by car. Sorry but I feel that the bikers that grow old and still think that they are rockers are fooling themselves, they are just old men that cannot accept that they are not just old men riding motorbikes.
@honestchris7472 😏 but it does require dedication, would you not say?
@@honestchris7472 Well I don't think I'm a rocker I am a rocker lol.. always listened to rock and always will.. but I'm not scuffy these days.. I'm very clean cut.. but still have a beard and had long hair up until a few weeks ago when I decided to shave it off.. yes I'm old, and I'm proud to be old, a lot of my mates didn't make it..
I also love cars and would never sell my Gti..
@@OldSkoolBiker62 So, in fact what you are saying is that you are an older guy that listens to the same music that you used to listen to when you were young but really, you are not a Rocker, that was like being in a club, just like it was with the Mods, it was us just being part of something, a group of young people enjoying that way of living but that went long ago. As I said, old people that ride motorbikes are not Rockers, they just still ride bikes.
As a rocker I can remember fighting with the mods in Bangor near Belfast on most Bank Holidays back in the day. Now when I'm on my bike and I see some of the aging mod group I smile and give them the big thumbs up.
Kids nowadays don't know how to enjoy themselves.....
like you say that was then.
@@jeffb9903!??!
@@Team-fabulous sorry i meant things are different now.
@@jeffb9903 unfortunately they are ha ha ha
All good fun. Once the angst has gone all theres left to do is laugh :)
So, being a Mod was a fashion trend but wearing a leather jacket & riding a motorcycle has never gone out of style.
No surprises there...
As it ever been in style??
No mods wore parkas and drove Lambrettas N vespers
@@JapatiYTP Yeah, just like no soldier ever carried a gun...
@kyfaydfsoab What? The whole idea of being a mod was to dress fashionably. Do you even know what a mod was?
@kyfaydfsoabDefinitely was and still is a fashion trend.. Part of the pop and fashion culture.
my dad was a rocker he only wore a crash helmet in the winter to keep his ears warm
Absolutely brilliant....
I remember it well, I was there, im still in the 59 club and ride my motor bikes at 73, 118 till I die.
Should have read 18 till I die.
rockers had a lot of style . leathers for the bikes . friday night down the pub etc it was smart suits . shaved up and hair immaculate.
I'm an original mod from the 1960's. I bought my 1967 Lambretta SX 150 in red and white brand new then decked it out with flyscreen, backrest and extra lamps. I subcribed to "Scooter World" magazine. Took my Lambretta to Brighton once but my favourite places to go were Wales and Derbyshire. My favourite mod music was The Who, The Small Faces and The Move. Sold my scooter in the 1970's. I like a lot of the mod-revival music from the 1980's though.
ive had bikes since i was 16. but ive had scooters as well . im 62 and still ride and still love both. ride free.
Wasn't mod culture pretty much gone by 1967? Anyway don't forget bands like The Birds (not to be confused with Byrds), The Creation, The Attack.
You have to remember every Mod would've been a Rocker one/two years earlier. I can remember looking forward to reaching that magic age of 16 and getting a Triumph Bonneville or Norton Dominator but just like the Teddy Boys to Rockers the Mods were the next 'fashion 'move. Rockers weren't called Rockers until there were Mods, that was the distinction. The Rockers stayed behind, the Mods were the new phase, a new phase with 'STYLE' metaphorically printed on their Suits, their Parkas, their Scooters their Image. I loved my copper plated GS160.....but I look at a Triumph Bonneville today.....and wonder... could I have been a Mod on a Triumph? What a machine!
Rockers and/or Mod...you either like the Beatles or the Stones..scooters or motorcycles... dedicated Rocker hang out or Mod places. The picture of a friend and l at 3.29 in about 63/4 ... it was a hell of a time to have ones youth...what ever your affiliations ..
BANG ON g
It is great the way you have worded that
My aunt was a Mod and she fell in love with a rocker they met on that weekend in Brighton but ended up staying away from the fights and later on they dated and eventually got married in 1970 and are still together today and they still go to Brighton where they met infact their just back from there
Romeo and Juliet story. Or "West Side Story".
@@teleguy5699yeah
Fighting with Rockers boosted Mod reputation.
Always Rockin'
I was a mod until my first ride on a Motorcycle then I bought one, still riding bikes now 50 years latter.
Yes I was a mod and fixed all the bikes and shooters for free
I had the who and the jam playing while fixing my Yamaha RD350YPVS
Scooter handled so bad but looked good with mirrors
Shite story
1979 my ambition was to become an "Angel". My father had a different opinion. He got me a 1960s Li 150 Lambretta and one of his hairdressers. To be honest I didnt regret it. And to be honest - there wasnt much difference 😉
Scooters are for sissies, motorcycles are for men ✌️
@@stevenr2463 but stevie boy, rockers had testicles 🍑, sweetheart,🌹just ride them 🛵perfume burners with the rest of the posing darlings 🌺😂
My grandad was a Mod in his time, he still has his isetta scooter and a few more to this day. Love that style
nice
rockers for life
This is a classically British phenomenon that never materialized here in North America. There were always roving motorcycle clubs across this continent, which later became notorious via negative (mostly fictitious) news media coverage of a drunken riot at a rally in Hollister, California. It was never really mainstream. Most kids in the 60s fell in love with the hippie subculture, drugs and psychedelic rock&roll.
I remember our family driving down to brighton in our old Austin a 50 I was about maybe 7yrs old, when a load of rockers thundered past us the noise of the bikes was awesome, all in black leather girls on the back, I was hooked that's what I wanted to be when I grew up, of course by the time I did grow up it was all over no more mods or rockers, I think I missed out on something-------maybe?
i just missed it too Kevin. would have been fun.... live in the states now and all folks say about my triumph is COOL BIKE MAN!
In 1964 in upstate NY it was the Hoods vs the Squeaks. The Hoods being the bikers and the Squeaks being clean cut. I was a Hood, still am today at age 75. Still ride motorcycles too.
Growing up early 70's, here in the Massachusetts, us Hippies types were buds with the Greaser types. The greaser type loved their Budweisers (as did we), but us hippy types were into all kinds of psychedelic drugs too. If you were part of of the certain area of town (West End for me), we all got along. We were more into hippy type music and rock, and the Greasers were more into Zep and Alice Cooper and such.
@@teleguy5699I have been a Rocker/Biker since my teens.. I have as many hippie friends as I do biker mates.. In the 80's I even lived on the road with many Hippie traveller's/Convoy here In the UK.. I loved the music and the drugs.. we all grow up in the end so I stopped taking drugs but the rest remains.
🏍....... 🤟😎 🏴🇮🇪🇬🇧
@@OldSkoolBiker62 Cool! Rock on my brother.
@@OldSkoolBiker62I know some mods ended up becoming hippies once they realised the limitations of speed, but didn’t some rockers end up becoming hippies too? Also, didn’t some rockers end up getting into the leather scene?
Thanks so much for posting this! We link to it in the shownotes for the Ace Cafe podcast with Mark Wilsmore.
I remember hearing about mods and rockers as a child in London in the early sixties and saw glimpses of them but was kept well away. In my early teens it was "skinheads and greasers," I was neither really but you had to follow something at my school or be outcast. To be honest I had a deep hate for skinheads, the ones I saw were like packs of dogs looking for someone vulnerable to pick on for no reason, kicking and stomping them on the floor with those "bovver boots." Plus I always preferred rock music, he long haired image. I think "glam rock" helped when it arrived because although the music was "iffy" it was mainstream but neither one nor the other. Where I lived it was all about not getting your head kicked in, without showing your fear. There were places I wouldn't go near, but mine was a small world, maybe it was different in other towns and regions. Its funny how childhood and adolescent experiences become part of you. Here I am after a full life travelling the world, enjoying a second youth at 60 with long hair and two very large motorcycles and nothing left to fear; yet even now when I see a group of resuscitated old mods (the same DNA as the skinheads that followed) on scooters and we are polite to each other, I can feel my hair stand on end and part of me wants to blow them off and cut them up on the road. If I met the same guys in some other situation I'm sure we would get on fine, but when you're "in uniform" the tribal instinct is hard to hold down. Explains a lot of history, probably.
You have to admit, the skins were into some pretty catch music: czcams.com/video/Oxicw1-7dOw/video.html
And: czcams.com/video/Bk1nDkHppDM/video.html
Well said.. I feel the same way.
The papers encouraged it, by saying they fear big trouble here or there!
still love me parka and getting out on my lambretta we do see the rockers down the pub sometimes it's all friendly now though
@Miss Take very funny lololol
greasers rule OK
Has your scooter four wheels and you drive it on the pavement lol
Yep just sold my ypvs sadly
@@grindupBaker rockers do ton up boys.if your refering rockers are greasers your wrong rockers are not greasers look the same in ways but style is different different likes two different subcultures.for example pirates are different to wreckers they both plunderer ships in a different way.its like some people teddy boys are greasers are rockers teddy boys are big difference yes they're all rock n rollers but different group subcultures.theys a lot confusion with all these groups if you don't know the difference.any way keep rocking 🤟🤟 stay safe 🤟🤟🏴☠️🏴☠️
Great to see that the Mods and rockers are still around today but thankfully not having punch ups on a bank holiday weekend on a beach
Mod and Rocker's music both had an influence on Punk Rock, The Who especially
So true. Also the 80s mod revival happened because of punk rock. So yes it was both.
@@cycologist7069 yeah mate absolutely. saying that tho loads of things happened because of punk it was a ground zero moment. amazing really mod revival skinhead revival then early goth bands then grunge later. being a music fan i love it all
@@karlclarke Fully concur.
@@karlclarke It’s funny. While I can see how 60s British rockers had some influence on late 70s/early 80s punk rockers, I always thought of the rockers as being the metal heads of their time and mods sort of being the punks. Over time, things cross over.
@@cycologist7069 yeah mate lol same
Im going on the may day run to hastings tomorrow and I promise you all as every year the mods and rockers will be riding together. Stay upright guys.
ManMultiBusa n(
Vespas? U can't be serious!. What a joke.
I remember Len from the 80's when he had high gear motor cycles shop ,went on a couple of the reunions too :)
I always imagined Rockers to be mechanics or construction workers for a living. Mods on the other hand worked as shop assistants in M&S or British Home stores
Lol g
That’s me and a friend at 3.29. This was actually at Southend - on- sea. not Brighton . My mother gave me hell for being on the BBC news something I wasn’t aware of. I never saw this newsreel until seeing this 55 years later..I was 18 at the time.....
I loved the music of the era, Beatles, Stones, The Who etc. and liked to dress smart. I also road a Norton 750 so tis era always confused me. I was a Mocker.
Who or what ever you are, never give up you're roots !
We need these people to come back and sort our streets out!!!!!!
Yeah there are a few pot holes need filling in 🙄🙄
They will be descriptive
let a few of us Teds and rockers patrol some of our streets at night, i gaurentee the so called hard kids won't think themselves so hard after a few nights lol
@@adeh503 😂
Great mini series on TV. Reminds me of the Mockers events put on by John Martin in the 90's in Southend, playing both a mixture of Rock 'n' Roll, Northern soul and sixties music.
Brilliant decade - whether Mod or Rocker!!
Rockers for life
Bank holiday punch ups, it was great. I remember around 200 of us in cars and bikes being escorted through Margate by the local plod the beach front was lined with parkas. We ended up having a punch up in Ramsgate. I`m grown up and sensible now. LOL
I do enjoy a proper bird in leathers. Do the ton. See you at the Ace cafe. Regards, lads from across the pond.
For once it's great hearing it from the guys themselves who actually did it.
Unfortunately a lot of people don't understand that the Ton-Up/Rocker subculture was and still is all about British motorbikes, Rock'n'Roll and Rockabilly, greased hair, and that smart looking style that began in the 1950s and evolved ever-so-slightly during the 60s. It was a uniquely British subculture based on American 50s music and a style influenced by the American Greaser look, the Teds and the RAF of WWII. "A youth cult based on a rebellious form of transportation; timeless music; and a style from a more innocent time, will never fade away."
I ride a Victory touring bike and occasionally an old 58 Harley 3 wheeler. My riding partner has a BMW that he never rides but he does ride his Honda scooter with me 2 or 3 times a week in the summer. Everybody in town laughs with us and we have great fun riding our scoots and handing out American flags to the little ones.
Nostalgia at its finest!
Rock on Rockers...Super Rocket...
There are great things about all these subcultures- especially the clothes and the music. They all have powerful influence on the way I dress today.
Hope current "style" would influence my sons to go opposite way 😏
During the 60s Beatlemania
Journalist/Interviewer: Are you a mod or rocker?
Ringo Star: I’m a mocker
I was a young Rocker in 1964 and went to Brighton (not on Mayday though) I went with friends, 3 of us were Rockers and the other 4 were Mods,
We all managed a day in Brighton without fighting each other. Good times.
mods never really died out up north,thats how we came to get northern soul
And casuals
Northern Soul is pish
@@benmacdui9328what a fucked up theory
I'm told I was born in 1964 in the US.
I've been messing around with British bikes since I was 17. now got a 1951 Thunderbird almost ready for the road by springtime. I'd find them dirt cheap in the 1980s but those days are over!
Lots of fun as a kid growing up in Liverpool with dockers strikes ,every kid had a guitar wanting to be famous ,I was a mod ,boyfriend had a scooter we went everywhere on it .those were the days
Had a Triumph T120, couldn't go anywhere without something falling off it!
Rocker box caps and pillion footrests !.
Right ?.... Badgern.
Old Triumph man.☺️🏴
Back when you had to be dedicated to owning AND maintaining a motorcycle...
*Reporter lady:* Are you a mod or a rocker?
*Ringo:* uh, no I'm a mocker 😘
Once a rocker, always a rocker !
No wimps allowed.
Agreed.... Proper order too....
Rocker- 1955-2019 & still going strong on my 69 Bonnie, on the Eastside of Detroit
Grow up Sacco
I was a rocker from 1964 till now. How can vesper compete with a norton dominator 650. Of course wear a leather jacket and you were in league with the devil. Bikers forever
Ok anyone out there who remember the HPMCC from Guildford 1968. All in our 60's now. Would love to hear from you
We will we will rock you,rockers kick ass🏍🏍🏍🏍🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🏴🏴🏴
Agree, still ride British bikes, wear a leather with cut, jeans and boots.. and still listening to heavy metal.
🏍....... 🤟😎
Where I live 🏴 (40 yrs)
My blood 🇮🇪
My nationality 🇬🇧
4:41 what a cool jumper!
The press mostly set up the "mod v rocker" fights they would offer a few kids a few quid to mock a fight so they could sell a story to the papers.....the press will never change.
Yes I've been looking back at all this and now its strange
Looking at the bigger picture I've come to think that it was a sham
I think music and youth culture was used as weaponry
We had a massive Soviet power near us and in days past the young would join political groups to rebel
Post war they didn't want that so set up paper gods to turn to to entertain us
Play a clash record put in a leather your rebelling, well no your not as the rich owned most music and the bad boys turned out to have dads in political power or from arts school
What they gave us was music drugs fun gangs workers fighting workers
What wasn't wanted was the young joining political gangs like in the 30s
And the anti government things were set up by government think tanks to stop fascists as that needs 100% government worship like the ww2
Now music sucks we have more polarized political thinking
Put a record on quick
@@somethingelse4878 YES hence Punk being born imo but Music has held the protest way before then. It's identity to the means (if that makes sense) is all rebelling when feel it's a lost cause that needs to be heard. There is some polarising music being made still
Deliciosa peli: Ha sido como una rama de "Black Leather Jacket". Enhorabuena!!
I have a factory BSA Lightning Clubman nearing completion.
First stop the Ace Cafe.
I missed it first time round as I'm a mere 52 yrs old but yes - I'd have been a rocker.
My jacket will have a Slayer pentagram though :-)
1983 the back end of the Mod revival, I was a 13 year old Mod, fish tail, Fred Perry's , boating jackets, then that summer holiday my mate came back from Liverpool, all Tacchini, Fila and Adidas, we became casuals, football changed for us that year, never looked back, still got a bean can when I was 17...
In Lancashire all bikers were mates. Most of the park and pub fights were between rockers from different local areas.
Ahhh this was what that scene was in “Brighton Rock”
Wimpy Bar at 3:25 ! Boy I loved that hamburger with hot greasy greasy greasy onions after my swimming at Porchester Hall & Baths in Paddington in 1957 when I was 10. I suppose my palate's ruined now and I'd complain because no pate & wine with it.
I know i was well past the times being born in ,87 ive still always been fascinated by the culture of the Times I watched qudraphenia about 10 years ago and I loved it. Being a brit I prefer British made films I still learn something new all the time about people and the way of life.
Some english nannys here in a pub ( ny- usa ) asked me which I was, a mod or a rocker. Well I was on my 1964 triumph bonneville. So I said rocker of course. They had a cute ac ent which I copied. Many people thought I was from the uk too. Ah the 60s. Miss those days.
Rockers forever
now that im older i appreciate all species, even the mods, but you have to admit
that if not for the ROCKERS we would be stuck in land of EOR, heavy metal can change the world, the power of the head banger should not be underestimated.
and if not for the mods we may never have felt such a need to CHANGE THE WORLD, heavenlymetalmaiden
the days you could ride a bsa 650 on a learners licence, as long you had a side car strapped in the bike
then early 1980's you could ride a 250cc on learners plates.
@@spitfire4206 you could all ways ride a 250 on L plates
but in 1983 you could only ride a 125 on a learner licence
I was a Rocker and so were my mates off the estate we lived. Looking back I think we had to be Rockers / Greasers as we had no money for posh clothes.
No money for posh clothes yet somehow you had money for leather jackets, crash helmets, motorbikes, etc?
@@bobblehat6603 Once you bought the bike, there was no money left.
Even if I had money when I was younger I wouldn't have spent it on crap clothes designed by snobby designers.. mods were and still are a fashion/pop music culture.
@johncox2115 THAT was the whole point, rising above that is what being a mod was about. Scooters were more cost effective than motor bikes and still got you around leaving money for clothes. Apart from the fact Vespas are cool lol
@@philippacrowe8499 the bikes we had were old and knackard made up of bits off other bikes. Cost very little.
I'm 26, a biker for life. Rocker all the way with my beat up leathers and Triumph. MODS just suck... everything about 'em!
Great to hear from a younger gen biker.. keep rocking pal and keep the shiny side up.
🏍....... 🤟😎
The point is Mods were super cool, well dressed, into fantastic music and venues and brilliant dancing. Great life...
Wrong.. Bikers are cool mods we're a fashion statementon two little wheels.. music was and still is crap..
But hey we have all grown up and if I see a mod riding solo and I'm in a good mood I will nod.. but memories are deep.
Good bikes back then.
yup wish i live back then
I enjoyed being a mod in 1983
@bossman1905 same and my Vespa SS!!
@philippacrowe8499 what part of the country did you come from ?
@@bossman1905 Australia mate
I was young, I was fresh faced, I dressed snazzy, in the blink of an eye it disappeared...............live your young lives fast and furious my friends and worry about the consequences later!
Always a rocker,
Bloody hell, mate
"all very minor" tell that 2 the poor beach chairs @ 3:42!
I do miss the Ace but get back at least once a year. Pleased though with me three Triumphs that keep be rollin.
Rockers the best good times
I know mods became skinheads, got into the northern soul scene or became hippies when they realised the limitations of speed. What did the rockers become by the end of the sixties? My mind’s eye has the image of rockers either joining outlaw motorcycle clubs, becoming Teddy Boys, getting into the leather subculture or becoming hippies. Am I right?
Rockers Ruled mods crawled 😄
Westside rule: if you have to pi search for a sot.
Come on, the mods were on scooters. 'nuff said.
Lulu seems to have become more appealing here, than when she was a youngster
Brilliant times. ( Overtakers face Undertakers ) Rockers forever.
If is wasn't for The Who's "Quadrophenia" A lot of Americans would have never known about the Mods & Rockers,
3.20 seeing that poor lad getting beat up seeing his face I felt really sorry for him 😢 as I've grown up i hate seeing people get out numbered and set upon by cowards
That was the day
rockers all the way .will be until the day I die ..
Are you dead yet coz rockers are dear 😂
@@sxbluerider3588 no still rocking dear.
I was 16 years old In 1964 in Sothend all my friends were mods and rockers all had bikes and scooters. I was a little different l liked dressing nice but owned a c15 bsa and couldn't stand scooters but as soon as we where 17 straight into a car everyone either bought a mk 1 Ford consul or zephyr and after a year on to the mk 2 zodiacs got your parents to insure them and you as added driver , petrol was four gallons for a pound everyone had plenty of cash to spend what great times to be a teenager.
Anyone know sapphire motorcycles in Staveley
Mods turned into skins The Who qudrophena movie covers the whole story. Got to love the French blues(speed)
@jaecrowther7869 not really was a difference between bovva boys, skins, skoota boys and mods
did it take long to learn that song
I was a young rocker in brighton and I can assure you all the fighting was minor, NO battles as the outdated BBC put it. It was more running back and forth. The real fighting was when we rockers became greasers and fought the scumbag skin'eads!
Strange: When ever you ask people who had been actually there they say, there wasn't much fighting going on. BBC and Newspapers picked out the most shocking pictures and thus produced a false impression.
I was at Brighton and believe me all the hype that the media put out was a load of crap, There was some minor trouble but when you get two opposites together you will get some sort of reaction, it was all about selling newspapers I worked on the door of a night club at the time and fights happened all the time but nobody got to hear of it because the press didn't know about it
Sunshine Saxon Pete Townsend wrote his interpretation of the sixtes a great film, but at the end of the day it was only a film get in the real world, if all that happened in real life then I would have thought that some one would have been serving life for murder
Now the genuine skinheads where a great bunch of guys but when the national front high jacked their image everyone was tarred with the same brush..
@@Team-fabulous True, even some blacks were skins. because it was all about the music and nothing else.
You've been to Greece? Wowser!
😂🤣😂 Very different from when I first got my licence here in the early 80s here in Australia. 😂🤣😂 Can see why my dad got arrested so much in the late 50s Britain being a Biker.
I was about for the second wave of the Mods late 70s early 80's I would be I suppose classed as a Rocker as I was into Heavy Rock / Metal jeans and leather jacket but there was also the Punk's , Skin's , Scooter scruffs Rude Boys about at the same time all fun and games
I love heavy rock, in fact all good music but still classify Mod
Ah clip ones, dustbin, Tritons, featherbed frames,North Country Night Riders, or was it No C#nt No Ride, oxo cube corner , the ton, punch ups, noddy bikes, those were the days my friends.
rock on
Do they still have any of these groups in England now, or what is the scene now? It looks like the beaches were not a warm enough place to swim so they just hang out on bikes and kept the jackets on, right?
The Rocker has always been associated with Rock n Roll and rockabilly, so yes they are still about, but not in the numbers they once were as the Rockabilly lifestyle now has over 60 years of fashion to choose from. The Mods are still around but like the Rockers smaller in number. The Mod scene has also spawned a child called scooter boys who seem to listed to Mod music and the Rockers music E.G. Two Tone and Psychobilly.
3:23 is Southend on Sea, not Brighton.
Rockers!! we will last
Just a question, are mods and rockers like a British version of socs and greasers?
Not really, both mods and rockers were young working class people, there was no rich poor divide, they just liked different styles of music and fashion
Karl Tempest i agree