2. Rockers
The rocker subculture was centred on motorcycling, and their appearance reflected that.
Rockers generally wore protective clothing such as black leather jackets and motorcycle
boots.
The common rocker hairstyle was a pompadour, while their music genre of choice was 1950s
rock and roll. Rockers were very much a hang over from the Teddy Boy movement that had
occurred in the 1950s, they shared the same hair styles and music taste whilst changing the
style to one more centred on Motorcycling.
3. Mod - Ska
Significant elements of the mod lifestyle included pop
music, such as African American soul, Jamaican ska, and
British beat music and R&B; fashion (often tailor-made
suits); and Italian motor scooters. The mod scene was
also associated with all-night dancing at clubs. The mod
scene developed when British teenagers began to reject
the "dull, timid, old-fashioned, and uninspired" British
culture around them, with its repressed and class-
obsessed mentality and its "naffness". From the mid to
late 1960s onwards, the mass media often used the term
mod in a wider sense to describe anything that was
believed to be popular, fashionable or modern.
4. Hippies
Hippies felt alienated from middle-class society, which they saw
as dominated by materialism and repression, and they
developed their own distinctive lifestyle. They commonly sought
spiritual guidance from sources outside the Judeo-Christian
tradition, particularly Buddhism and other Eastern religions, and
sometimes in various combinations. Astrology was popular, and
the period was often referred to as the Age of Aquarius. Hippies
promoted the recreational use of hallucinogenic drugs,
particularly marijuana and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), in
so-called head trips, justifying the practice as a way of
expanding consciousness. Both folk and rock music were an
integral part of hippie culture. Singers such as Bob Dylan and
Joan Baez and groups such as the Beatles, Grateful Dead,
Jefferson Airplane, and Rolling Stones were among those most
closely identified with the movement.
5. Political Unrest
With the emergence of an informed, opinionated
British Youth there of course cam political unrest and
protest en masse.
There were CND marches, Anti-War Protests in
Trafalgar square and rather interestingly a protest
from the students of the London School of
Economics :
“More than 100 police, called in by the authorities at the
London School of Economics last night, closed the
school after students ran riot inside with pickaxes and
crowbars.”
“Militant students ripped out seven sets of protective
gates installed last week to protect the building in the
event of a sit-in. The gates were described as “anti-
student and anti-freedom.”
6. Skinheads
Skinhead culture emerged as a result of two shifts in British
culture and society in the early/mid 1960s. Firstly, the Mod scene
which had been so popular amongst British youth had begun to
split into different factions. While the middle class Mods were
able to carry on pursuing the latest Carnaby Street clothes and
fashionable haircuts, this was out of reach to most working class
Mods. In a scene so heavily based on consumerism, this
undermined the working class Mods' status and ability to take
part in the scene. This led to the emergence of "hard Mods", who
marked themselves off from their peers with shaved hair, jeans,
braces and work boots. This style, based on the typical style of
British workingmen at the time, served to separate them from the
old Mods and the middle class hippies of their generation. It
served as "a conscious attempt by working class youth to
dramatise and resolve their marginal status in a class-based
society."
The 3 elements that the vast majority of 1960s skinheads
indulged in were:
Reggae
ska and soul Music
Football
7. Pirate Radio and Music
Pirate radio is where a transmission is sent from a
place where it is legal and then received
somewhere where it is not. It came into affect in
the UK with offshore radio broadcasters in the
1960’s, transmitting pop music from international
waters on board anchored ships or abandoned sea
forts. By 1967 ten pirate radio stations were
broadcasting to an estimated daily audience of 10
to 15 million.
Portable radio transistors, after there creation in
1954 and subsequent mass marketing in the 1960’s
soon became owned by millions and changed
music listening habits within British culture.
Families no longer huddled around the one radio
in the living room, teenage children could listen to
their own music in their room. And this of course
meant the youth of Britain could find their voice in
music.
8. Mini Skirts
In the 1960s feminism began, In 1962, Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique
captured the frustration and even the despair of a generation of college-educated
housewives who felt trapped and unfulfilled. As one said, "I'm desperate. I begin to
feel I have no personality. I'm a server of food and a putter-on of pants and a bed
maker, somebody who can be called on when you want something. But who am I?“
People began to stand up for their beliefs to become more strong and
independent. Fashion was a major way for women to be able to express themselves,
compared to in the 1950s, where women were expected to wear long skirts below
the knee. After the war there were more jobs open to women, allowing tem for feel
more important.
9. Promiscuous Society
After the legalisation of abortion and the availability of the pill in 1967
the younger generation of Britain was described by the media as a
“promiscuous society” with thoughts of the youth of the late sixties
running rampant, having sex with whoever wherever.
This swathing generalisation is exactly that; a generalisation. As is
common with the media, sure there were members of society that took
on the full swing of the 60’s, as Virginia Wildside says (writing for the
Daily Mail) “It often seemed more polite to sleep with a man than to
chuck him out of your flat” but for others of the 60’s life just went on as
usual.
10. Freak Scene – festivals, gay rights, changing of
attitude
An intersectional gay rights movement came to light in the
1960s when the gay community joined with the momentum of
the civil rights movement, anti-war protestors, and feminists.
This allowed people to start accepting different types of
people and different styles, including musicians.
Zappa and his band The Mothers of Invention were central to
the freak scene in the mid to late 1960s. They kept their
fashion undefined aligning themselves with an visual
appearance which cannot be defined by fashion or political
leanings. This way keeping a neutral stance.
It is a bohemian styled culture that sits between post hippie
and pre punk. The fashion included long hair, an abundance of
hair dye, and often their fashion style often played on
historical themes and tried to portray a group of characters.
They explored elements of roleplay utilizing items such as
headbands, cloaks, frock coats, cape like garments to emulate
a romanticized period in history.
Their attitudes were very relaxed and their social movements
involved going to music festivals and alternative events.
