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Mods

35 articles

Mod Fashions: Way-Outspoken

Readers' Letters by uncredited writer, Rave, May 1964

I STOPPED being Mod two months ago because it was getting played out. Manufacturers started to put out trash to youngsters of 12, telling them ...

The Who: The High Numbers: How High Will These Numbers Go?

Profile and Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 11 July 1964

HAILED AS "the first authentic mod record," four hip young men called the High Numbers are out right now with 'I'm the Face', backed with ...

The Who: Who — and why

Profile and Interview by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 20 March 1965

LONG BEFORE the present craze for group names like Them, Us and Themselves, the flat-mate of 19-year-old guitarist Pete Townshend thought of Who. ...

Marc Bolan: Knit Yourself A Pop Singer — Marc and Mike Will Tell You How

Report and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 23 October 1965

HUMILITY AMONG POP SINGERS used to be all the rage. "Mr. Presley," the interviewer would ask, "is it to luck or to talent that you ...

The Who: "The Guy Who Sings 'My Generation' — Well, He's Supposed To Be Blocked"

Interview by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 6 November 1965

THREE WEEKS, two cancelled photo sessions, one broken lunch date and half an hour late, Pete Townshend pushed his nose round the door of my ...

Jeff Dexter: From Twist Demonstrator... To Dance Band Singer... To High Priest Of Hits...

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 12 September 1970

Chris Welch tells the strange story of DJ Jeff Dexter ...

The Who’s Mod Generation: Quadrophenia Through The Years

Overview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, December 1973

If I could somehow live my teenage years over again, I think I would choose to live them as a Mod. What it must have ...

The Action: London 1966

Book Excerpt by Michael Lydon, 'Boogie Lightning' , 1974

IN THE FALL OF 1966 the Action were at their zenith, one short step above complete obscurity. For one all too brief moment they had ...

The Who: Exorcizing The Ghost of Mod

Review and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, Creem, January 1974

The Who: Quadrophenia ...

The Who: Quadrophenia Reconsidered

Comment by Dave Marsh, Creem, March 1974

PHILADELPHIA ON Tuesday night is nobody's good time. Nonetheless, because the Who were not coming to New York on their fall tour, it was worth ...

Pete Townshend, The Who: Pete Townshend: March Of The Mod

Profile by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 18 May 1974

IT MAY WELL have been pure chance that produced the most visually exciting guitarist in rock. If Peter Townshend hadn't been born with a big ...

The Who: Imagine a Life Full of Heroes & Villains & Fools

Essay by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 1 November 1975

THAT summer: Tolliday and I roaming Soho’s warm night streets, swapping stories, putting each other in roles, lingering outside sawdust-floored Italian food-stores, sniffing in the ...

The Jam: Jam: Maximum New Wave

Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 5 March 1977

PEOPLE TRY TO put us down just because we sound like The Who. ...

The Small Faces Story

Retrospective by Peter Silverton, Trouser Press, October 1977

IT'S 1968, ALRIGHT. Me and a mate are lounging around in his garden. His parents are out for the day. School's out for the summer. ...

The Jam: Mods For Moderns

Profile and Interview by Dave Schulps, Trouser Press, May 1979

Jam's Paul Weller knows where he's going ...

The Jam: Jam Today

Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 19 May 1979

THE DISTANT echo of faraway voices playing faraway games — who'd have thought that a rock'n'roll music for fun and against privilege would have somehow ...

Secret Affair: Mods Without Parkas

Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 9 June 1979

"HEYYY, don't crowd me, wanna be the only one. Heyyy, won't you give me a break, I'm gonna be second to none." ...

The Jam: Talking 'Bout My Generation: The Jam

Interview by David Hepworth, Smash Hits, 6 September 1979

IT'S AUGUST 1979 and this is The Modern World. The Who are back in action for the first time in years, their films are on ...

The Jam: This Is The Modern Poet

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 22 September 1979

Paul Weller gets serious with Dave McCullough ...

The Who: The Ace Face’s Forgotten Story: Pete Meaden

Interview by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 17 November 1979

I’m the face babyIs that clear?I’m the faceIf you want it.All the others are third-class tickets by me babyIs that clear?– Pete Meaden for the ...

The Jam Is Packed Off To America

Profile and Interview by Simon Frith, Creem, April 1980

THEY STARTED talking about clothes even before I left. They were discussing shirt makers. "Jermyn Street," was the consensus. "They will make silk up for ...

Pete Townshend, The Who: Pete Townshend: Conversations With Pete

Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 April 1980

On an up with britain's longest serving honest man of rock ...

Secret Affair: A Thoroughly Modern Affair

Profile and Interview by Jim Green, Trouser Press, August 1980

IAN PAGE, 19, is the smooth-talking, trumpet-tooting singer/co-writer/producer of Secret Affair, the first and foremost band to emerge from London's neo-mod explosion. He is also ...

Secret Affair: Behind Closed Doors

Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 13 September 1980

THOUGH MOD never got as far as its second summer, it served Secret Affair's purpose. Seeing the movement coming, Ian Page used its momentum to ...

Secret Affair: Behind Closed Doors (I Spy 2)

Review by Jim Green, Trouser Press, February 1981

SECRET AFFAIR has a knack for getting up people's noses. Those you'd expect to be sympathetic to the band's aims react to their name with ...

The Jam, Paul Weller: Paul Weller: The MOJO Interview

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 2004

KEITH ALTHAM PR’d The Jam in the late '70s. In his book of post-retirement open letters to former clients, No More Mr Nice Guy, he ...

The Jam, Paul Weller: Paul Weller: "The Jam? They were a way of life."

Retrospective by John Harris, The Guardian, 3 February 2006

As Paul Weller prepares to receive a Lifetime Achievement Brit, John Harris salutes a giant. ...

Steve Marriott: The Mod That Time Forgot

Retrospective by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 16 February 2006

Steve Marriott kick-started a uniquely British style of rock. Robert Sandall remembers an unsung hero. ...

Paul Weller

Retrospective by Chas de Whalley, Record Collector, April 2006

As Paul Weller polishes his award for his Outstanding Contribution to British Music at this year's Brits, Chas de Whalley looks back at the days ...

From Mod to Emo: Why Pop Tribes Are Still Making a Scene

Overview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 25 February 2010

Like-minded music fans have been herding together for half a century — but are die-hard pop tribes now a thing of the past? Do today's ...

The Who: How Not to Review the Who

Memoir by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages, 8 July 2010

THE WHO WEREN'T mods, they were groomed to look that way by Peter Meaden, a pill-popping publicist with so many ideas in his unnaturally active ...

Secret Affair: My secret affair

Comment by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 28 November 2012

Why '70s power pop is unfashionably cool again ...

The Strypes: The Big Beat Reborn!

Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, February 2013

You CAN judge a band by looking at their covers! Lois Wilson speaks to The Strypes, Paul Weller and Jeff Beck's favourite new band... ...

The Who: Richard Weight: Mod – A Very British Style (Bodley Head)

Book Review by Ian Penman, London Review of Books, 29 August 2013

IN A LOVELY 1963 piece on Miles Davis, Kenneth Tynan quoted Cocteau to illuminate the art of his "discreet, elliptical" subject: Davis was one of ...

The Jam: À la mod: how the Jam and mod style transcended fashion

Retrospective by Paul Gorman, The Guardian, 12 August 2015

A new exhibition of the Jam at Somerset House proves that the mod look, from Carnaby Street to Uniqlo, is the gift that keeps on ...

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