Guide to British Music of the 1960s
April 1998
Book Review
Mods!
This book is the essential guide to the 1960s mod world and a visual documentary of that great era. Appropriately, it has been published by Eel Pie, Pete Townshend's publishing company.
The book starts with a description about who the mods were and what is was to be a mod. Being a mod became the fashion of the 1960s, largely based around clothes but taking in other aspects such as music, pills and visiting the clubs of the time like the Scene, the Crawdaddy and West End clubs. The book describes some of the clubs. The Crawdaddy on Eel Pie Island has a place in history as the club where the Rolling Stones and Yardbirds made their names. The Animals and the High Numbers played a lot at the Scene. The Marquee may be linked for ever to the Who but it started as a jazz club and it took some persuasion to move away from this.
Carnaby Street was where you went to buy your clothes. Shops like Lord John and the Raoul's shoe shop were popular. The Small Faces had personal accounts in the Carnaby Street shops.
Most of the book consists of photographs of the mod life. This is where to go for clothes and fashion tips: your models are Steve Marriott, Roger Daltrey, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Lane. Check out the suits, hairstyles and read the definitive guide on what they buy from the Daily Mail in 1964. If you need to alter your hairstyle then there is a detailed step-by-step guide on the French cut. Brighton makes an appearance with photos of the mod rallies and the parades of scooters through the town. There are photos too of the bands- The Kinks, the Who, the Motown and Stax stars- and then there are the clubs.
All in all, the book is a visual documentary, a souvenir for those who were there and a slice of visual history for those, like me, who were too young.
ISBN: 0-85965-173-8
First published 1979 by Eel Pie Publishing.