LONG VIEW, WRONG VIEW?

It was interesting reading Chris Welch’s Rock’n’Roll Diaries in RC 389; I grew up reading his and Roy Carr’s comments in the MM and NME. By Chris’s own admission, however, he never indulged in the skinhead side of things, and unfortunately did not understand the culture. There are several glaring mistakes in his piece – understandable coming from someone on the hippy side of life!

I was in my early teens when mods were about but most would say they didn’t listen to The Who much, more soul music. Later, I was a skinhead; that was more to do with fashion than anything. Tonik suits, Ben Shermans, Sabre jumpers, sheepskins, boots – when we could afford them, most bought eight-hole DMs but a few had steel toecap versions.

Yes, some of us listened to reggae, ska or bluebeat, but it didn’t stop there. Soul was still prominent – the charts would verify that – but a lot of us liked all sorts of music. I loved rock, folk, blues and R’n’B, and attended many free festivals. I remember going to Parliament Hill Fields to see Duster Bennett and Poet And The One Man Band.

Regarding racism, what a paradox: love reggae, hate black people? It was something I never indulged in, although I saw examples. The media made it worse: some skins saw it as a chance to get publicity. We even had reporters from Sweden come to our youth club in East Ham to interview us.

It’s a shame Chris was given space to write on something he was not part of.

Thanks for your mail, Mick. I think Chris was the first journalist ever to write about skins, although that early piece was a bit harsh. We asked him to write about it again to take the long view and his column is simply how he sees it. And you’re right: soul has been written out of mod and skin history to a great extent.

by Mick Dark
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