Yes. I know it’s sacrilegious in the extreme. But I haven’t lost my mind. I feel like I’ve found it.
 
One day I just absolutely unloaded on somebody about the Who and what I really thought about the standard-bearer for the Mod movement (at least, from the outside). And then I thought back to myself. Did I really believe that? Turns out, yes.
 
Think about it. Not only were the Who “manufactured” into Mod by their early manager Pete Meaden (who admittedly was a top face, whatever this means now), but if you look at the pics, you can tell. It’s gimmicky. Pete Townshend wearing a union jack blazer. Roger Daltrey wearing that silly shirt that makes him look like a clown. They’re like a pop art version of what a Mod band would be. If you were going to paint a picture of a stereotypical Mod band (i.e. all targets, union jacks, etc.) it would be the early Who.

And as for their music. Let’s put Quadrophenia aside for a moment. That is an album I listened to death two years ago and it even sounds fab now. Some of those songs really capture the attitude I expected of being teenaged in that 1960s period. Spitting anger, bottomless despair and strutting cockiness, all in a mob who shared your sensibility. But rioting on the beach isn’t uniquely Mod. Being part of a gang isn’t either. The album was written a long while after the golden days were dead and was set in a time when Rome was burning. For many hardcore Mods, 1965 is the year to forget rather than to remember.
 
If you go to The Who’s greatest hits album, I almost never listen to any of their early stuff. Just look at the track listing... Boris the Spider. Happy Jack. I’m a Boy. These songs are all ridiculous, and you’d almost certainly skip them if they came on your playlist at a party. It’s the gimmicks, back again. I Can’t Explain is decent, but My Generation, supposedly the anthem of a movement, is actually pretty stale a few years on unless everyone is already sloshed.
 
I’m not going to lie. It was a wrench. And it’s going to come as a shock when you wake up and realise it, but the standard-bearer for Mod is actually barely Mod at all.
 
To strike a sympathetic tone, I’d say The Who are the gateway drug that leads you into the scene... but when you go back to them after trying the harder stuff... you have to wonder what all the fuss was about.

This is pretty neat - check out the guy who posted it on Facebook here.

Jimmy's back with a good ride. Wish he'd smarten up a bit though.

Things are heating up over the recent news of Quadrophenia sequel.

Round 1: Roger Daltrey kicked off about the new film, saying it was a blatant attempt to cash in.
​
“It's just a money-making exercise. Quadrophenia stands on its own and is an iconic film. We haven't given this project our blessing.”

Bill Curbishley, the Who’s manager and producer of the original film said:

"Quadrophenia has an enduring appeal and will forever be THE definitive mod film. Quadrophenia is a significant and influential film based on The Who’s music not some Carry On franchise. Any follow-up to this film could only be made by the authors of the original and would need to be worthy of the name. This karaoke sequel announced recently in the press would be totally ridiculous."

He also said the film:

“...quite clearly isn’t a sequel”

Round 2: The new film’s director Ray Burdis said he wouldn’t be using any of The Who’s music in the new film, claiming the songs were “over-exposed”.

“If The Who's management had actually read the script of To Be Someone, they would have realised it is a stand-alone film based on modern day Mod culture.”

"It’s a feelgood, fun, fashion and music extravaganza.”

Ray originally said about the film: 

“We need to have young blood in this film - and young talented bands. Obviously we’ll have a couple of classic tracks too, for the original generation.”

So I guess it’s a draw so far. We’ll have to see how the film turns out, although various people I've chatted to expect it to be total crap. 

I’m all up for there it being a new film. But some rehash that includes all the old characters and old cliches might be a bit dodgy. 

In a way, it’s probably about time the film was updated. It would interesting to see who they cast in particular roles, especially as the Ace Face. 

Although I respect Sting as a musician, I’m not sure he’s the greatest actor they could have chosen for the role in the original.

Plus, the film does have this tendency to be a “how we were” type of thing, a film for people who wish it was still 1964/5, which is fine, but I don’t think there’s anything particularly Mod about that. The Mods of ‘64 were not looking back to films for inspiration before (save perhaps the mid 1950s and Roman Holiday perhaps but even then probably only for the style). They were probably looking forward to the next thing they were going to get for their expanding wardrobes.

So I am in two minds. I want to know what they do with it as a film, but I am also not really bothered whether it is a success or not. Mod’s moved on - it’s not all about fighting on the seafront anymore and it finds itself as much at home in the modern world as it did in 1964. 

If people do go down to Brighton or Clacton at the bank holiday (as they may indeed this very day), it’s probably through nostalgia rather than the seaside being in any innate sense closer to Mod. A 1960s Mod brought forward in time to now probably wouldn’t be seen dead in today’s Clacton on the bank holiday. Brighton is a bit different - I think its fame and continued popularity has seen it adjust towards a more modern perspective. Perhaps because of Quadrophenia itself.

So let’s see how it goes.

Frequently lampooned, popularly unpopular, Sting's portrayal of the Ace Face in Quadrophenia is legendary.

But what do we think of his look?

​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.