UpStart

My submission for Upstart..

"We hope to highlight the importance of creativity and ingenuity when society is in need of direction and solutions" UpStart

Rockers

The rockers originated in the UK in the 50’s coinciding with the mods. They came about due to the same factors of the mods, their rivals, rise in youth’s disposable income in working class areas, and youth rebelliousness. They have very similar traits to teddy boys in terms of their attitude, garish and rebellious.  And were a predominantly masculine subculture, the only females involved were the girlfriends

They were totally absorbed by their music and motorcycles. Listening to rock n roll, artists such as Elvis Presley Eddie Cochran and Chuck Barry

They wore their hair greased in place with Brylcream and dressed in leather jackets, leather trousers or jeans, metal studs, t-shirts, leather caps and leather boots.  Their style clearly came form a practical sense.

They created moral panic with their rivalry with the mods. This was due to the media exposure it got when they had gang fights at places such as the seaside in Brighton. All this media coverage which is believed to have been exaggerated, encouraged the youths even more to act unruly and also encouraged more to join these subcultures and these gang fueds. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn5vYOwCTak

Mods

They took some influence from the teddy boys but were a lot more subtle and not as aggressive, more aspiration than perspiration. There was no exaggerated masculinity and there were as much females as males. And were also influenced by French cinematic and American jazz.

They had a very polished look, styled their hair in quiffs, wore Italian suits, thin ties, pointed toe leather boots shined to the max. They drove scooters, Vespas or Lambrettas cutomising them with two tone paint, extra mirrors and chrome bumpers  

The girls were very boyish looking with short haircuts, men’s trousers and shirts, and little make up. As their fashion leaked into mainstream, the likes of twiggy exhibited their mod look and with that came the introduction of the mini skirt in the mid 60’s.

As this subculture progressed into the 60’s it became about the music and drugs and not just the fashion. They danced in clubs to jazz, rhythm and blues sca and the likes of The Who, The Kinks and Small Faces and are thought to have been associated with amphetamines available at the time.

They had rivalry with the rockers with was which got a lot of media coverage.

Subcultures

Heres an interesting chart I found showing when the subcultures came about and how they are inter related..

Bell Pottinger

The chart is interesting but im not sure how accuate it is.  Subcultures only really came about in the 50’s with the teddy boys so the ones before that im not sure whether they were as significant, there’s no dominance to it at all. Theres no mention of the spivs and it doesn’t relate the mods to teddy boys. I think a lot  of  them are pretty accurate tho all them same.