Mod stuff....

Back in the 80s I was floating around the Mod scene. After The Jam split Mod went underground, not to be seen in the light until the Indie Dance scene broke through with The Stone Roses (try telling me they weren't a Mod band and I'll argue with you until tomorrow!) and then again with Blur and Oasis and the Brit-Pop/Dad-Rock thing of the mid 90s.

But back in the mid 80s you had to be walking a pretty individual path, at least in London, to announce you had anything to do with Mod. So there was me 16 and suited and booted for the most part. My mates at the time were all ex-Mods and Skins and Rudeboys who thought the best insult they could throw at me was 'Mod' in the same tone you'd reserve for a Tory; all the while walking around in golf jumpers and Princess Diana hairdos....

There was quite a thriving little scene at the time, lots of bands releasing singles and at least an album or two. But it never quite broke through. The closest to success was a band called Makin' Time, who featured a young and suited Martin Blunt who went on to form The Charlatans. Who sounded a little like another band who Makin' Time toured with - The Prisoners.

A few years later I'd stopped looking like a Mod, but as I was going out all night to raves, listening to mad dance music and possibly indulging in substances that kept me up all night I guess you could say I was behaving like a Mod...and it's still how people think of me twenty years later...I guess it sticks. I can still spot an aging Mod from a mile off. We must have a look...

Here's some tunes from those days that still sound good to my ears....

(The Five Thirty is a b-side from about 1990, but they actually formed and gigged back in the Mid 80s on that very underground scene. When they turned up in the indie dance thing I must admit to getting a bit smug and excited!)

The Direct Hits: A Place In The Eighties

Makin' Time: Here Is My Number

The Moment: One, Two, They Fly

The Prisoners: Melanie

Five Thirty: Things That Turn You On