​So perhaps NG is have a touch of this nostalgia about the 1990s. Perhaps someone could give us their view in the comments below.

However, I do think the man has a point about the major bands. Oasis and their compatriots stand out in the 1990s as the cream of the crop. Perhaps it is about class, like he says. Kasabian, the Libertines and Arctic Monkeys just have a swagger and an attitude, whereas the likes of Coldplay and Two Door Cinema Club just seem a bit wet. 

And now nobody is taking on carrying the torch. There aren’t any standout bands for me at the moment, only a few good songs. Why? Perhaps I'm already past it.

​But I would say it seems a bit weird for NG to literally blame the AMs and Kasabian for this as if it’s their fault. I think perhaps it’s more to do with culture. NG mentions X-Factor dominating TV (with its emphasis on singing rather than instrument playing or songwriting) and so on, where presumably kids would have watched Top of the Pops in the past.

I have a theory that since everyone (including working class kids) started being forced to stay in school longer and encouraged more to go to university, their identity as strong-willed, independent people has been watered down by having to write essays when, in the past, they might have been having life experiences and writing songs. I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but modern student bands usually tend to chuck out pretentious rubbish.

Speaking as someone who did go to University, I don’t doubt that this cultural change is good news for some kids. University is certainly good for boosting the career prospects of the scholarly.

But it's not for everyone and I can’t imagine it’s that inspiring for songwriters. 

​Leather. Is it Mod? 

Ok obviously it’s fine for shoes, that’s a given. No doubt a pair of leather brogues or Oxfords or whatever go down a storm. Trousers? Unlikely. Leather jacket though… there is an interesting one.

I personally don’t own a leather jacket. I have a suede one, as I’ve mentioned before - brown, like Steve Marriott’s one. Suede is leather of course, but then again not really. 

Somebody in Quadrophenia (possibly Jimmy) explicitly says he won’t wear a certain thing “because it’s levver, innit” and he doesn’t want to look like a Rocker. I can see where he’s coming from. 

Apart from the obvious (conforming to the uniform of the very thing that the Quadrophenia Mods most disliked), the kind of leather jackets that Rockers were wearing were heavy things, full of metal and studs and all kinds of archaic shit that would probably pull you off your bike if you took a corner too fast. I read somewhere the jackets were supposed to be inspired by WW2 fighter-pilot style leathers, complete with those white scarves they’re all wearing in the film, and of course, the huge motorcycles. They just look oily tbh.

So obviously a Mod wouldn’t wear something like that. But times have changed. It strikes me that a slim-fitting, lightweight black or burgundy leather jacket (possibly Italian-made) might fit in quite well in the Mod wardrobe. For an example of what I mean, take a look at Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the film Looper.

​It’s not Ivy League of course, but it’s light, elegant and looks slick as fuck. Mod has always borrowed from other subcultures it has come into contact with over the years and it could be that this kind of jacket completes certain looks pretty well.

I might not go there just yet, but it’s something to think about.

Although we’re told don’t judge a book by its cover, those of us of the Mod ilk know that more often than not, what you’re wearing is the face you present to the world, so you might as well make it look good and perhaps a bit distinctive.

Nowhere is this easier to do than in the kind of shirts you wear. There are a billion combinations of colours, patterns and styles that one could look to for a distinctive look, but in this post I wanted to highlight something in particular that I thought was slightly missing its niche from the market at the moment and that is the military-style shirt.

“Style” might be a strong phrase. A shirt with any other pattern can be military style, but I would usually describe it as a shirt that is one colour, with epaulets on the shoulders and two front flap-pockets.

They're pretty rock 'n' roll and also, IMO, a good look for hot weather. Think Michael Caine, or Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. 

I always browse the usual clothing sites in my free time (/ time I’m wasting) at work just to see what goodies are bubbling away beneath the surface. This is usually quite rewarding, because I tend to just drift through the sites from page to page, clicking on links that I might not normally pay any attention to, just to see what’s there.  On Thursday, for instance, I was excited to see Adaptor had a few very bold polka dot numbers from Relco. Likewise they have a bit of paisley. Then I went to DNA Groove and Art Gallery just to have a browse and there are some serious checks and stripes going on in those places. At the moment, my favourite is the Noddy from Art Gallery, great colours, strong pattern. Then to Ben Sherman of course, where they can always be relied on to produce a powerful no-nonsense Oxford that always goes well with a jumper or suit.

But of a “military style” there is nothing to be seen.

It doesn’t have as strong a popular tradition as some of the other styles, but it was a thing. They were prominently worn by the Who some of the early pictures (especially Keith Moon), as well as by the Creation on the cover of their How Does it Feel to Feel record. If anyone’s got any other band examples, I’ll be happy to post.them here.

In the 2000s, DNA Groove had a good series of smart shirts with their classic collars, but with epaulets on the shoulders and a distinctive button style. They also had contrasting colours. All the ones I’ve got are ones I’ve designed myself on iTailor.

But I guess the only conclusion can be that this type of shirt just doesn’t sell as well as I think it should!

Our fortnightly piece on our favourite bands...

The Small Faces are on the spectrum. I don’t mean that in the health sense, but in the sense that they are on the far end of the Mod Spectrum.

Quick explainer: the Mod Spectrum is a handy tool I’ve made up to organise all the different strands of Mod style that have been used by bands and public figures from the Sixties to the present day. It basically arranges them by how smart they look. Oasis and bands similar are on the scruffy, Madchester end. The Small Faces are on the opposite end, what I call the “Ultras”. I will have to explain more about this in a later post I feel.

Anyway so the Small Faces are the blueprint for Mod. It was the Jam that got me into Mod, dragging me in via their music. And from Paul Weller talking about his influences, there I discovered the Small Faces. Strong music and an even stronger look. They are one of the few bands that seem to look as good off-stage as they do on-stage.

There are plenty of examples of how good they look, but their style can be summed up from a few specific sources. 

The first is a photograph of the band in one of those massive Sixties egg chairs in the middle of a street, with Marriott at the front, grinning. Not the one where he’s lying across his bandmates but the one where he sits up straight. They’re all in sharp black suits and coloured Oxford shirts, repping that style. Any of these shots from their early days before they all became hippies are great - perfect exemplars of the early Sixties style.