Early Skinheads & Soul / Rare Soul 68-72

[viphitman]

Can any of you shed some lights on how popular soul/rare Soul was with the original skinheads !!! A few stories & pictures about it would be fab too !! Ady Crosdale mentioned his early beginnings were with skinheads who were mainly into soul !!!! It would be great if some of you could set the record straight of how popular soul & rare soul was with the old boot boy brigade !!! I guess Soul was more popular with the early skinheads up north 68-72 ???

[Kegsy]

Can any of you shed some lights on how popular soul/rare Soul was with the original skinheads !!! A few stories & pictures about it would be fab too !! Ady Crosdale mentioned his early beginnings were with skinheads who were mainly into soul !!!! It would be great if some of you could set the record straight of how popular soul & rare soul was with the old boot boy brigade !!! I guess Soul was more popular with the early skinheads up north 68-72 ???

As far as I can remember the rare soul scene was really in its infancy around the time

of the main skinhead era 68/69. The coffee bars and youth clubs where skinheads gathered

would be playing a mix of Reggae and what is now called "club soul". Some Wheel/nighter type

rare records did get an airing occasionally if the DJ was in the know.

I dont remember many skinheads attending the early nighters Wheel/Up The Junction/Torch and

many smaller lesser known ones around 70/71/72, although many Ex skinheads did (Suedeheads).

I wasnt going to nighters in 68/69, but I was running with loads of skinheads, and dont remember

many, if any, going to nighters, although they may have been a few.I would say that around 70-72

most nighter goers had more in common with the old Mods than Skinheads.Out of all the lads I knew

who had been to the Wheel I cant remember any of them being skinheads.

Kegsy

Edited November 15, 2012 by Kegsy

[Sweeney]

I have older cousins from the Ladbroke Grove area who were early suedeheads/skinheads.

They were as into soul as much as they were the Jamaican musical forms.

I guess the answer is going to be some were, some weren't.

[viphitman]

I found a few nice pictures from around 1968-1970 from skinheads attenting market harborough allnighter 68-69 & Wilby Northampton !!!

[viphitman]

another one..

Edited November 15, 2012 by viphitman

[Petedillon]

I think a few of the northern skinheads, certainly in Leeds, were mods who shaved their heads, then became suedeheads whilst continuing to frequent the mod/soul scene. I certainly followed that path and I know a few others did. From 67 to around 70, I had a skinhead then a suede which I kept during the time of my first appearances at all-nighters. There was a cross/fusion of styles in the very early 70's then with people growing there hair longer. But certainly doc martens( a couple of guys I know burst the soles of the boots/shoes to make them less rigid) & sta-press etc were not unusual at all-nighters usually as a Sunday morning change of clothes.

The Shipley skins(Jack Slinger & company) who I think you hung with were more out-and-out skins though Kegsy. They were never a soul influenced crowd, I dont think. Whereas in Leeds it was a spin-off from the mod scene and as such blurred the edges somewhat of 3 scenes..mods/skins-suedes and soulie all-nighter crowd who really at the time were just the more adventurous ones from the local Leeds mod scene.

I think by the time of the Torch longer hair was the norm and very few skinheads remained apart from the loyal die-hards who kept the 'torch' burning, sorry!

By 70-72 most had returned, as you say, to a more mod look which was the natural (re-)progression back from the suede look.

great pics indeed! but they are suedeheads , not skins..I'd also bet they are nearer 70 than 68 too.

Edited November 15, 2012 by PeteDillon

[viphitman]

great pics indeed! but they are suedeheads , not skins..I'd also bet they are nearer 70 than 68 too.

I found them a while ago somewhere on the net and I think a few old skinheads were posting & commenting on some of them and said they were taken 68-70 at an Allnighter !!! C'mon Ady get on here I think you mentioned market harborough allnighter 68-69 as well

[Davenpete]

When you look at the old pics of the Wheel from the late 60s whether they are mods, skinheads or suedeheads is very much in the eye of the beholder - I think there's not much distinction between suedes and mods anyway (after all what's the difference between a mod with a crop and a skinhead or a mod with a mod haircut of the turn of the 70s and a suede), especially when you remember there was reggae being played as well (though not obviously in the same amounts as r'n'b and soul) at these venues.

I know Pete considered himself a mod at the time though.

Dx

[Kegsy]

The Shipley skins(Jack Slinger & company) who I think you hung with were more out-and-out skins though Kegsy. They were never a soul influenced crowd, I dont think. Whereas in Leeds it was a spin-off from the mod scene and as such blurred the edges somewhat of 3 scenes..mods/skins-suedes and soulie all-nighter crowd who really at the time were just the more adventurous ones from the local Leeds mod scene.

Hi Pete

Yes thats the point I was trying to make, they were out and out skins and never

had anything to do with the soul scene, although a few did become suedes and get into nighters later on.

I agree regarding your clothes/style/fusion comments almost everybody wore Shermans,fairisles,loafers and tonics

regardless of being Skinhead/suedehead/pillhead/ etc.

I would also agree that the pics are mostly suedeheads, ex skins who had moved on.

kegsy

[Ady Croasdell]

As I remember it I was in Leicester city centre about 1968 and I saw a bunch of mods who I knew including my future best mate and they had all had their hair cut so short they were skinheads. I didn't like the look, my hair was down my back, to be a bit different. I hadn't even heard the word skinhead mentioned until just after that and then I thought it was just a derogatory term coiuned by the press to poke fun at this rather ugly trend (some kids didn't realise what ridiculous shaped heads they had until it was too late); it was a great aggressive punk type statement though and really shocked the older generation. I thought the lads were still totally mod and that was the latest mod style. It was DMs at the time and when they started growing their hair again and wearing the bigger rounded collars on the shirts and going back to different style shoes, I considered that the next development. Some of those would have stuck with the skin look and maybe adapted it (severely bleached jeans perhaps), then I would have called them skins, but the first lot were really mods on a new style.

Fantastic photos of our old crowd, I only recognise the guy on the right of the first picture who was from Desborough or Rothwell. The photo on the cover of Right Back Where We Started From is the Harborough lot at the Harborough all nighter.

We were all around at the same time as the Wheel lot so I'd have thought that a similar fashion trend would have occurred there as a lot of our crowd went north to nighters and vice verca (Swish and Judy being cases in point). The scene was so small that anyone who knew what it was was a potential best friend.

[Petedillon]

Yes so did I. We would be called skinheads by the outside world, but really a skinhead/suedehead hair cut was just the latest 'mod' style, so in truth just mods.. I dont think I ever wore ultra-short trousers, maybe ankle-bone length at best.. although the sheepskin stuck with me for a long time after that..

[Ady Croasdell]

My recollection differs from yours Kegsy in that the mods became skins and then later suedeheads. I'm pretty sure skinheads came before suedeheads though maybe the first skinheads were slightly hairier than the eventual accepted look.

I'm tieing myself in knots here. How about this for a theory for kids on the Old Soul scene; the mods shaved their heads as a new style but when it got adopted by non-mod type scrappers they grew it out to suedeheads and concentrated on the nighter scene while the ones who would be full on skinheads got into reggae and a different world?

Fell free to criticise, I'm just postulating.

Ady

[Ady Croasdell]

Yes so did I. We would be called skinheads by the outside world, but really a skinhead/suedehead hair cut was just the latest 'mod' style, so in truth just mods.. I dont think I ever wore ultra-short trousers, maybe ankle-bone length at best.. although the sheepskin stuck with me for a long time after that..

Yeah tonic trousers cut a bit short, sheepskins, crombies (Randy Cozens bought a £100 Crombie in 1966 which I eventually bought off him), red or white socks (I hitched a lift in the back of a greaser van to the California Ballroom and they were telling me how they kicked skinheads in while I was trying to pull my tonics down over my socks; luckily I had the long hair and they were very dumb), DMs or brogues.

[Kegsy]

My recollection differs from yours Kegsy in that the mods became skins and then later suedeheads. I'm pretty sure skinheads came before suedeheads though maybe the first skinheads were slightly hairier than the eventual accepted look.

I'm tieing myself in knots here. How about this for a theory for kids on the Old Soul scene; the mods shaved their heads as a new style but when it got adopted by non-mod type scrappers they grew it out to suedeheads and concentrated on the nighter scene while the ones who would be full on skinheads got into reggae and a different world?

Ady

May not have expressed myself properly.

Indeed some mods did become skinheads, some remained older mods.

However most later skins had never been mods or into soul and just jumped

on the football hooliganism bandwagon.

I would agree that skins and suedes did split, with many suedes not wanting the football

shit and many of these became part of the early nighter crowd.

Since they were all essentially youth cults they did however frequent many of

the same coffee bars/youth clubs whichever sub cult they belonged to.

Since the original skins were primarily London based (West Ham/Chelsea) not

many would know much about the nighter scene outside London.

kegsy

[bri phill]

From the Manchester perspective and The Wheel I don't remember seeing any skinheads down there.

We had short hair around 67 and later by 69 it was getting longer and more casual dress with it.

Most of the original soul allniter crowd (and last of the Mods)were moving on by the end of 68 to more mainstream drinking clubs.

Edited November 15, 2012 by bri. phill

[Roburt]

Our kid (smudger on here) should know sumat bout Dony skinheads back arounf 69/70 as some of his school mates were local skins.

At least, he used to fetch em round to our house to buy reggae 45's off me.

[Kegsy]

Our kid (smudger on here) should know sumat bout Dony skinheads back arounf 69/70 as some of his school mates were local skins.

At least, he used to fetch em round to our house to buy reggae 45's off me.

You must have been around the nighter scene back then, do you

remember many skins at nighters ?

Kegsy

[Mark B]

Too young at around 68 for all nighters but skinheads around old Trafford and moss side and hulme were mostly into reggae and soul as Kegsy says more club soul the type of stuff that we listened too at our school disco 1969 70 ish motown atlantic blue beat stuff, as our Dj was my mates Older brother both him and his mate had scooters and dressed skinhead like but there wasn't much difference in the dress style it was crombies, jaytex or Ben Sherman shirts fred perry polo's, Levi jeans and 16 hole cherry red doc martens, most became suede heads later, I was more of the long haired style didn't get to all nighters till 1973 first rare soul night in 1972.

Mark

[Roburt]

Our kid (smudger on here) should know sumat bout Dony skinheads back arounf 69/70 as some of his school mates were local skins.

At least, he used to fetch em round to our house to buy reggae 45's off me.

You must have been around the nighter scene back then, do you

remember many skins at nighters ?

I was going to niters from 66 onwards (till around 70/71 at least) ......

I don't recall seeing any skinheads at clubs like the Mojo, Nite Owl, Crystal Bowl (all too early for skins) or the Wheel.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Roburt

[Anais nin Carms]

In 71-72 where I lived the fashion was skins , it was a smart look , rather than an aggressive one , there were those that liked the monkey boots braces and sideburns look , but I knew more the types that wore button down shirts with a crombie overcoats and Two tone suits V-neck sweaters and loafers.

This then evolved into the smoothie look where the collars became round and the hair longer and feathered , clothes stayed pretty much the same

Football was King , lots of aggro as they would say

Sounds .. club soul is what I listened to and Motown along with Reggae and the album to have was Tighten up Volume 2

I knew lads that used to be into soul who at weekends traveled to well known soul clubs in Manchester , being in the forces they were natural skinheads Top Rank Hanley , Wheel , and King Mojo in Shefield to mention the names that came up in conversation

Edited November 15, 2012 by Anais nin

[Gogger]

Our kid (smudger on here) should know sumat bout Dony skinheads back arounf 69/70 as some of his school mates were local skins.

At least, he used to fetch em round to our house to buy reggae 45's off me.

got the skinhead late 70 early 71 while still at school , had hair almost collar length before that ,even me mam didn't spot me straight away , lots of skinheads in donny around that time , they used to go into that pub where the tut and shive is now , forgot the name oldtimers kicking in , lots of west indians used it to , if i remember right music policy was always soul and reggae , few used to be into slade , before my time there was a pub in armthorpe they used to go , played soul and reggae , our lass will remember she was a skinbird before i got into it ,(being a skinhead not our lass) her mates sister used to hang around with the big boys. we used to go to that place at retford on a friday night broken wheel or something ,trouble was it usually ended in fisticuffs , memory just needs a little jog and it will come back. Edited November 15, 2012 by gogger

[Pete S]

By the time I started senior school in September 1971, there were very few skinheads left, if any, they were all suedeheads - stapress trousers, red socks, proper brogue shoes, button down or penny round collars, crombies. Also worn were two tone trouser/jackets/suits and Prince of Wales aka Rupert Bear check. Harringtons still popular as were Doc Martens shoes but not boots.

[Mak]

My recollection differs from yours Kegsy in that the mods became skins and then later suedeheads. I'm pretty sure skinheads came before suedeheads though maybe the first skinheads were slightly hairier than the eventual accepted look.

I'm tieing myself in knots here. How about this for a theory for kids on the Old Soul scene; the mods shaved their heads as a new style but when it got adopted by non-mod type scrappers they grew it out to suedeheads and concentrated on the nighter scene while the ones who would be full on skinheads got into reggae and a different world?

Fell free to criticise, I'm just postulating.

Ady

Your right Ady it was Mods then Skins and later Suedeheads . As for music , my recollection was that Rock Steady was being played in the mid sixties along with various other Jamacian types of music . From the late sixties it was Reggae being played in the clubs . My first Reggae record was Skinhead Moonstomp by Symarip released in 1969 , still have the same copy today .

In my first era of Skinheads we wore Doc's turned up Levi's and Grandad vest's and the obligatory braces . it was always the done thing to get a Wrangler Jacket , remove the Wrangler label from the inside collar and sew it above the top pocket on the front of the jacket . As the movement progressed the code of dress change , out went the vest's and Denim's and in came Ben Sherman's and Levi Sta-Press.

I always thought the Suedehead era was the better of the two , musically and style of clothes . Soul became more upfront along with Reggae artist's such as The Maytals , The Pioneers , etc , etc. As for the style of clothes , I loved my Loafers , tonic sta press and Blazer with a regimental badge sewn on the chest pocket , and of course my brollie . Good days to be sure.

''Come on all you Skinheads , put your braces together and your boots on your feet and give me some of that ooool MOON STOMPIN

[Iancsloft]

When I went for my first skin cut in late 68 I had quite a good head of blonde hair went to the barbers and showed him a picture I had cut out of the paper he was hesitant at first to do it but he did .Got home from the croppers my mum and grandma where sitting in the living room when I walked in my Gran started screaming out Brenda Brenda oh my god look what's happened to our Ian's hair they where both nearly in tears he he he I got a right bollicking. A lot of the lads around 1969 / 70had skin cuts around Leigh /Wigan and where all into Ska..Blue Beat Regg and what's now termed club soul ie Go Go Girl Lee Dorsey Ride your Pony, Shake , land of a thousand dance

Girls are out to get you, The beat, Someday we,re gonna love again, wade in the water,Mr bang bang man ect ect and a lot of the

stateside and Tamla Motown sounds a few of the lads like myself collected soul records which we use to take around the local clubs and get ( threaten ) the DJ to play them Breakout, Agent double o soul Back Street you,ve got to pay the price ect ect the one that always eluded me was Chubby Checker At the Discotheque Uk Cp it was massive I spent a few years trying to get a copy .

We got most of our clothes Ben Shermans two tone trousers from Tony Sampsons shop in Leigh and Levis &bakers pants ( the white ones ) from the army navy store along with our Doc Martins ox blood boots. The Harringtons we got from Oasis market in Manchester where later on we got our Crombies from , another thing about the skins around this area we all had made to measure suits in sky blue or two tone colours from Alexandra tailors .It was around 72 that are hair started to get longer ie suede heads and buy 73 my hair had got pretty long like Kegsy,s ha could,nt pay for a haircut all mi money was going on rare soul records..

Regards Ian Cunliffe

I see loads of baldies at Northern do,s are Skins makin a comeback lol

Edited November 15, 2012 by IANCSLOFT

[Smudger]

At our local Doncaster soul nighter The Attic in the old co-op emporium ballroom over the top of the shop up about 5 flights of stairs, first it was mainly mods and kids into soul,Bluebeat and ska records used to get played but not that many.Mainly soul and as i remember about 69 that's when we started taking more of an interest in reggae.We used to go to the Drum back room in Bentley (Friday night) and that was mainly reggae Upsetters {Clint Eastwood) Hippie Boys {Reggae Pressure) and loads of other obscure label items.Pete Smiths site really brought some memories back looking at some old reggae labels i'd forgotten about .Ben Sherman's , jeans with sewn up turn ups at half mast or stay press red braces and Docs. were the order of the day.Always remember one night walking into back room of drum and looking around to see if any of mates were in ,not seeing anyone went to bar when i was accosted by the biggest skinhead who accused me of looking at him and wanted to sort me out.That was my first encounter with Big Les from Bentley.We used to go to jumbo's at Leeds looking for records always remember them selling loads of reggae.

We still used to listen to soul as well ,a massive record in Doncaster when it first came out was Honk Kong Flu (Ethiopians I think ?),can't remember the racism being a factor at all though all mates together.

You know how it is when the charts were full of reggae it all seemed to die a death for us,plus people started pairing up and drifting off never to be seen again so we all got back into soul,although still love to hear a long lost reggae tune.

Edited November 15, 2012 by smudger

[Dave Moore]

I see loads of baldies at Northern do,s are Skins makin a comeback lol

Beat me (and I bet loads of others!), to it.

Regards,

Dave

[Gogger]

At our local Doncaster soul nighter The Attic in the old co-op emporium ballroom over the top of the shop up about 5 flights of stairs, first it was mainly mods and kids into soul,Bluebeat and ska records used to get played but not that many.Mainly soul and as i remember about 69 that's when we started taking more of an interest in reggae.We used to go to the Drum back room in Bentley (Friday night) and that was mainly reggae Upsetters {Clint Eastwood) Hippie Boys {Reggae Pressure) and loads of other obscure label items.Pete Smiths site really brought some memories back looking at some old reggae labels i'd forgotten about .Ben Sherman's , jeans with sewn up turn ups at half mast or stay press red braces and Docs. were the order of the day.Always remember one night walking into back room of drum and looking around to see if any of mates were in ,not seeing anyone went to bar when i was accosted by the biggest skinhead who accused me of looking at him and wanted to sort me out.That was my first encounter with Big Les from Bentley.We used to go to jumbo's at Leeds looking for records always remember them selling loads of reggae.

We still used to listen to soul as well ,a massive record in Doncaster when it first came out was Honk Kong Flu (Ethiopians I think ?),can't remember the racism being a factor at all though all mates together.

You know how it is when the charts were full of reggae it all seemed to die a death for us,plus people started pairing up and drifting off never to be seen again so we all got back into soul,although still love to hear a long lost reggae tune.

hi smudger , bet your on about les genders , still see him knocking about today , he still lives in bentley , got a big reggae collection he's trying to get rid of , or he was last time i saw him , he's got bigger to. i was a bit young for the attic , but went to the drum when they had the northern soul nights , bet we no a lot of the same people. all the best john

[MrsWoodsrules]

Did 'A Clockwork Orange' actually influence the Suedehead look at all?

I mean, which came first, the film or the Suedehead style, If that makes sense.

Or is it just coincidence that kind of style was adopted by 'the kids' on the street?

Aid

[SHEFFSOUL]

Can any of you shed some lights on how popular soul/rare Soul was with the original skinheads !!! A few stories & pictures about it would be fab too !! Ady Crosdale mentioned his early beginnings were with skinheads who were mainly into soul !!!! It would be great if some of you could set the record straight of how popular soul & rare soul was with the old boot boy brigade !!! I guess Soul was more popular with the early skinheads up north 68-72 ???

as a 15 year old in Skegness..i used to see all the skinheads in the summer..and the fights in the compass gardens!..now as skins began to fade..and smoother haircuts and fashion grew..some remained skins, usually from the backwaters where fashion trends were slower to move..at the Gliderdrome Boston soul music was at the forefront..and die hard skins,smoothies and suedes mixed even when pop bands appeared..so, 70-72 was a big transition..until by 72 long hair was the thing..but still wore skinners to Doc martin boot-tops..and chart reggae was still popular..i guess rarer soul came along in 71..and definitely by 72..when i was looking thru junk shops for 'competition ain't nothin'..'..and some footy fans from London that came to Skeg at that time were amazed at short hair and boots saying''we ditched that look years ago!'..fashion moved more slowly back then..but it was amazing when all the hip guys used buzz words like stomper, sliced tomatoes,sam & kitty..Torch..

[manus]

Did 'A Clockwork Orange' actually influence the Suedehead look at all?

I mean, which came first, the film or the Suedehead style, If that makes sense.

Or is it just coincidence that kind of style was adopted by 'the kids' on the street?

Aid

Hello Aid - Suedeheads were around a couple of years before Clockwork Orange ( the film) was released

.

[TOAD]

i do rember the older lads wearing bib and brace with doc martin boots for football matches. Ruperts are not the same as pow check ? Much louder as i reamber

[Shinehead]

What really makes me laugh is how the fu*k did we evolve from being Skins/ Suedes into the dicks wearing bags , platform shoes and the like , thank fu*k our taste in music did not change

Edited November 15, 2012 by shinehead

[viphitman]

great stuff guys and keep the stories going, any pictures ?????

[Kegsy]

When I went for my first skin cut in late 68 I had quite a good head of blonde hair went to the barbers and showed him a picture I had cut out of the paper he was hesitant at first to do it but he did .Got home from the croppers my mum and grandma where sitting in the living room when I walked in my Gran started screaming out Brenda Brenda oh my god look what's happened to our Ian's hair they where both nearly in tears he he he I got a right bollicking. A lot of the lads around 1969 / 70had skin cuts around Leigh /Wigan and where all into Ska..Blue Beat Regg and what's now termed club soul ie Go Go Girl Lee Dorsey Ride your Pony, Shake , land of a thousand dance

Girls are out to get you, The beat, Someday we,re gonna love again, wade in the water,Mr bang bang man ect ect and a lot of the

stateside and Tamla Motown sounds a few of the lads like myself collected soul records which we use to take around the local clubs and get ( threaten ) the DJ to play them Breakout, Agent double o soul Back Street you,ve got to pay the price ect ect the one that always eluded me was Chubby Checker At the Discotheque Uk Cp it was massive I spent a few years trying to get a copy .

We got most of our clothes Ben Shermans two tone trousers from Tony Sampsons shop in Leigh and Levis &bakers pants ( the white ones ) from the army navy store along with our Doc Martins ox blood boots. The Harringtons we got from Oasis market in Manchester where later on we got our Crombies from , another thing about the skins around this area we all had made to measure suits in sky blue or two tone colours from Alexandra tailors .It was around 72 that are hair started to get longer ie suede heads and buy 73 my hair had got pretty long like Kegsy,s ha could,nt pay for a haircut all mi money was going on rare soul records..

Regards Ian Cunliffe

Very much as I remember it happening in Bradford.

As for my long hair, Her Majesty's Prison Service lackeys kept

cutting it off everytime I got it to a goodly length.

C'est le vie.

Kegsy

[Kegsy]

Did 'A Clockwork Orange' actually influence the Suedehead look at all?

I mean, which came first, the film or the Suedehead style, If that makes sense.

Or is it just coincidence that kind of style was adopted by 'the kids' on the street?

Aid

No the film came out too late.

Check out a film called Bronco Bullfrog or a book(s) that related stories about Joe Hawkins.

Kegsy

[Ian Dewhirst]

When I went for my first skin cut in late 68 I had quite a good head of blonde hair went to the barbers and showed him a picture I had cut out of the paper he was hesitant at first to do it but he did .Got home from the croppers my mum and grandma where sitting in the living room when I walked in my Gran started screaming out Brenda Brenda oh my god look what's happened to our Ian's hair they where both nearly in tears he he he I got a right bollicking. A lot of the lads around 1969 / 70had skin cuts around Leigh /Wigan and where all into Ska..Blue Beat Regg and what's now termed club soul ie Go Go Girl Lee Dorsey Ride your Pony, Shake , land of a thousand dance

Girls are out to get you, The beat, Someday we,re gonna love again, wade in the water,Mr bang bang man ect ect and a lot of the

stateside and Tamla Motown sounds a few of the lads like myself collected soul records which we use to take around the local clubs and get ( threaten ) the DJ to play them Breakout, Agent double o soul Back Street you,ve got to pay the price ect ect the one that always eluded me was Chubby Checker At the Discotheque Uk Cp it was massive I spent a few years trying to get a copy .

We got most of our clothes Ben Shermans two tone trousers from Tony Sampsons shop in Leigh and Levis &bakers pants ( the white ones ) from the army navy store along with our Doc Martins ox blood boots. The Harringtons we got from Oasis market in Manchester where later on we got our Crombies from , another thing about the skins around this area we all had made to measure suits in sky blue or two tone colours from Alexandra tailors .It was around 72 that are hair started to get longer ie suede heads and buy 73 my hair had got pretty long like Kegsy,s ha could,nt pay for a haircut all mi money was going on rare soul records..

Regards Ian Cunliffe

I see loads of baldies at Northern do,s are Skins makin a comeback lol

I concur with Kegsy, 'cos that's pretty much how I remember it round my way. I mostly associated skins with Reggae. Most of the real mods stayed mods and listened to Soul and some veered into Northern.

Ian D

[Ian Dewhirst]

Very much as I remember it happening in Bradford.

As for my long hair, Her Majesty's Prison Service lackeys kept

cutting it off everytime I got it to a goodly length.

C'est le vie.

Kegsy

I worked in John Laing's in Bradford across from the station in 1971. The manager was a mod who went to the Wheel in '67/'68 and still loved his Soul music. When I got there it was all patch jumpers, ben sherman's, sta-prest and bags.

Oh, and Bradford market every lunchtime........

Ian D

[Wiggyflat]

I've got a pic somewhere of clockwork suedeheads...they wore crombies bowler hsts Wye make up and dickie bows with boots.Most had collar length hair and carried brollies.Suedeheads evolved into bootboys...longer hair cross ratings saint man tattos and tank tops....but they kept the crombie.

[Northern Soul Uk]

Interesting thread!

I started out my 'Soul' life as a 'Suede head' (not quite skin), Used to wear the Staprest, Docs, Ben Sherman, Crombie overcoat with suede collar, and carry a brolly, some referred to us as brolly boys.

We used to go all over the North usually hitching a lift off some scooter boy or if we were very lucky in a car, to the clubs who usually played early Soul (Rufus Thomas, Otis, Aretha etc.) and quite a bit of Reggae. I loved it all.

We also used to frequent the coffee bars in Leeds such as the 'Del Rio' and 'Acapulco' and others that I can't remember off the top of my head. The vivid memory is that at every table there was a jukebox that was linked to the main jukebox, so that you didn't even have to move to put a tune on.

I know it sounds strange but 2 of the tunes that stick out from the time (not Soul) are 'Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep - Middle of the road' and 'In the year 2525 - Zager and Evans', they always seemed to be playing when I went in :-) so looking at the timeframe that would have been in 1969-1971. Just remembered another that was always playing too 'Blue Mink - Melting pot', OH! and the 'Onion song' :-)

Edited November 15, 2012 by Steve Luigi

[SHEFFSOUL]

Hello Aid - Suedeheads were around a couple of years before Clockwork Orange ( the film) was released

.

not really..though it was banned in most cinemas..it showed at the Tower cinema in Skegness..i blagged the poster..and me and a pal dressed the next night in CO gear..white skinners, black dm,s white FP..bowlers and make up..we were banned from virtually every pub..(the make up i guess) we took photos..and never wore that look again..

[manus]

not really..though it was banned in most cinemas..it showed at the Tower cinema in Skegness..i blagged the poster..and me and a pal dressed the next night in CO gear..white skinners, black dm,s white FP..bowlers and make up..we were banned from virtually every pub..(the make up i guess) we took photos..and never wore that look again..

The film wasn't released until late December 1971 and didn't really hit the cinemas until early 1972 - I was certainly coming to the end of my suedehead days at that point as were most people I think - although it's always possible that some people were influenced by the book.

Cheers

Manus

[Garethx]

Worth bearing in mind that A Clockwork Orange was never banned by any official body in the UK.

Director Stanley Kubrick himself withdrew the film after the initial spate of copycat violence, but the film had been on release for over a year before he did this.

[Britishbarry]

I grew up in Reading and had my hair cut in what our barber called an astronaught cut in 1966 . We were wearing levi's with braces ,T shirts, Levi jackets Fred Perry's , army boots etc. and a suit and tie on saturday nights . We were all into what would now be refered to as club soul and Motown as well as ska . At this time we didn't refer to ourselves as mod's or anything and it wasn't until 69 or 70 that I first heard the term skinhead , by this time I was a suedehead and I couldn't understand why all these kid's were so out of date and dressing as I had a few years earlier.

[Wiggyflat]

I was out drinking the other week with Wayne Kirven and Jeff Dexter who were the original Stamford Hill Mods 1960-61 who told me Mod was finished in 63 and totally dead for them by 64.Some great record importing stories by Wayne who wouldnt touch British copies of records....anyway how about this for a list of dates for the Skin look...Ive got Nik Cohns Today There Are No More Gentleman book who adds at the bottom that Crombie boys had just superseded sudehead.In Ireland the bootboy look went on forever and was carried on by The Undertones.Theres a few NiK Cave biker books at the time where he describes Angels battling with sudeheads in 71....in a later book they are battling "The Dudes" who wear carnations.Now that Clockwork piccie I have is a scottish gang...the leader wears a bowler, eye make up, crombie (with velvet collar), parallel trousers (not baggies),dress shirt (with a dickie bow) and carnation. His mates wear the same but a few have collar length hair and one wears a top hat!!. All have brollies.Anybody have any comments about this list....and I wonder if anyone did the lot!! Stylists 60-63Mods 64-66Hard Mods 66-68Peanuts 68-69Skinhead 69-70Suedehead 70-71Crombie Boys 71Clockwork Look 72Smoothie 72-73Bootboy 73-78Theres also the northern scooterboys who were going throughout and jacked it in after the debacle of Quad and the mod revival

Edited November 15, 2012 by wiggyflat

[SHEFFSOUL]

The film wasn't released until late December 1971 and didn't really hit the cinemas until early 1972 - I was certainly coming to the end of my suedehead days at that point as were most people I think - although it's always possible that some people were influenced by the book.

Cheers

Manus

yep..i was suede at school..the CO look was almost an overnight one off thing..somebody had the book but it wasnt an easy read..it was always about the look..

[pikeys dog]

Sheffield Skinheads trip to Skegness, May 1971.

From what my Dad told me, he'd never heard of Northern Soul until after he'd grown his hair , and all that was played in the (youth) clubs and dances he went to prior to 1972, was chart Soul/Motown and popular Reggae.

[SHEFFSOUL]

I was out drinking the other week with Wayne Kirven and Jeff Dexter who were the original Stamford Hill Mods 1960-61 who told me Mod was finished in 63 and totally dead for them by 64.Some great record importing stories by Wayne who wouldnt touch British copies of records....anyway how about this for a list of dates for the Skin look...Ive got Nik Cohns Today There Are No More Gentleman book who adds at the bottom that Crombie boys had just superseded sudehead.In Ireland the bootboy look went on forever and was carried on by The Undertones.Theres a few NiK Cave biker books at the time where he describes Angels battling with sudeheads in 71....in a later book they are battling "The Dudes" who wear carnations.Now that Clockwork piccie I have is a scottish gang...the leader wears a bowler, eye make up, crombie (with velvet collar), parallel trousers (not baggies),dress shirt (with a dickie bow) and carnation. His mates wear the same but a few have collar length hair and one wears a top hat!!. All have brollies.Anybody have any comments about this list....and I wonder if anyone did the lot!! Stylists 60-63Mods 64-66Hard Mods 66-68Peanuts 68-69Skinhead 69-70Suedehead 70-71Crombie Boys 71Clockwork Look 72Smoothie 72-73Bootboy 73-78Theres also the northern scooterboys who were going throughout and jacked it in after the debacle of Quad and the mod revival

ive a book somewhere and the author relates the original london mod look..very early sixties..and literally about a dozen fashion concious guys in the know..i think marc feld (marc bolan) may have been one of them..

[SHEFFSOUL]

Sheffield Skinheads trip to Skegness, May 1971.

looks like a young kev..about 16ish..is that lesley?

[Wiggyflat]

ive a book somewhere and the author relates the original london mod look..very early sixties..and literally about a dozen fashion concious guys in the know..i think marc feld (marc bolan) may have been one of them..

Ah you have got it Pete Sugar, Marc Feld, Wayne Kirven. The drink was after the exhibition at Hackney Town Hall on the original Stamford Hill Mods (who weree in the original Town magazine article from 61)....between me and you Marc Feld struggled to keep up apparently and the tailor to visit was Bilgorri of Bishopsgate.Pete Sugar lives abroad now.

By the way it is often wrongly stated that Slade were the first group to don the skinhead look.....a london band called Neat Change (who featured Jimmy Edwards later in Time UK with Rick Buckler) were the first in 67/68.They were the hard mod crossover/skin look and released a psych pop 45 called I lied To Auntie May which they all hated as it didn't reflect their live sound..

www.stewarthomesociety.org/interviews/edwards.htm

Edited November 15, 2012 by wiggyflat

[pikeys dog]

looks like a young kev..about 16ish..is that lesley?

Yep, from left to right...

Trevor Wade (19), Helen Fletcher (15), Steve Biggin(?), Lesley Wade(18), Kevin Dutton (17).