The 1960s was a time in recent history known for its counterculture and revolution in society ranging from clothing and music to drugs and sexuality. The 'Swinging Sixties arguably remain the defining decade for Great Britain, London especially saw this growth as transitioned from a conservative, overcast city only just getting over the Second World War into a world capital representing freedom, hope and excitement.
The teenage generation of the Sixties were the first generation that was significantly different to their parents generation, they were now conscription free and were able to have both more fun and freedom.
One of the biggest changes to this generational gap of the Sixties was the emergence of two groups, The Mods and The Rockers:
The Mods were a subculture that originally started in London which then spread throughout the UK as well as influencing fashions and trends across the globe. Their main focus was on music and fashion, mainly Modern Jazz. 'Mod' was short for Modernist which first appeared in the East End of London around 1958, they fused fashioned from across Europe to get their unique style but mainly used inspiration from both the French and Italian fashions. As mentioned they
were at first focused on Modern Jazz but eventually started to move more towards Rock, their chose of transport was Vespa and Lambretta scooters. This way of life, taking speed or amphetamines and dressing the way they did provided this teenage subculture an escape from their limited or otherwise normal suburban lives.
"Now we could do what we wanted, go where we wanted, and have it all on our own terms. We at whelks and ice cream and pissed about the pier. It was a different buzz to the smoke (London)", Charlie Steele, Former Mod.
The Rockers unlike the Mods were 1950s 'Throwbacks' who name come from their love of Rock n Roll. They wore ots of leather, silver studs and heavy boots - the complete opposite to the Modernists of the 60s. They modelled their beer drinking, cigarette smoking look on their 1950s Hollywood heroes such as James Dean and Elvis.
Although the Mods were an important and famous subculture in the Sixties, their war and seafront conflicts with the Rockers of the 60s were front page news across the country. The government at the time saw these two groups in particular as a major threat to law order, due to the fact that the people involved were not from the backgrounds usually involved in these types of 'Moral Panic' and disorderly behaviour. The Governments initial reaction was to not actually do anything with this 'problem' although it did subsequently raise fines for perpetrators as the situation worsened. It also linked the problem to Juvenile Delinquency which was an easy out and way to describe this teenage revolution.
The famous 'Mods vs Rockers' battles, especially that of the one in Margate in 1964 which saw 4 men imprisoned, and 36 people fined a total of £1,900, was seen as the first 'Moral Panic'. Although the media portrayed this in a negative light, many of the younger generation saw this as advertising new and exciting lifestyles that they liked the look of and could use these groups and style as a way to escape their own lives and experience something new for the time.
This idea of generational conflict in the Sixties with all of these subcultures such as Mods and Rockers seems to be exaggerated and not as negative as what is first seemed. An opinion poll from the start of the Sixties stated that 59% of Britons had a generally positive impression of the young generation. Therefore despite this 'Moral Panic' over the youth in Britain, it was a relatively good place to be a younger person. It even goes as far as the fact that many other European countries such as Germany regarded Britain as the 'Promised Land' due to the fact that no other country had accepted this youth freedom as much as us Great Britons.
Joe Keeley
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