Were you a Rocker or a Mod?

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Ad from Paul Anderson via Lloyd Johnson’s Original Modernists Facebook page.

Alan Esdaile… I would have liked to think I was a rocker, mind you I certainly liked many of the mod records.

Gerry Fortsch… I would agree, I had some motor bikes but my mates still liked Buddy Holly and Twinkle, I liked the Yardbirds, The Animals,The Small Faces and a lot of blues.

Lloyd Johnson… I guess I was more of a Modernist/ Mod..there was a split second in 63/64 some mates from Tunbridge Wells and I were calling ourselves ‘Stylists’ ,pretentious , but we we’re try to avoid the yob elements of both sides…

Chris Sambrook… The Who confused me. They were from the Mod culture and yet they played rock good and hard. There must have been the same Mod/ Rocker influence, or was there or am i wrong ? Whatever the Who are still my favourite band since the 60’s and i was only 12. Well i remember Ready Steady Go at 6pm and the weekend starts here No Speed, no dancing and no drink went to beddy bye bo bo’s dreaming of Keith Moon.

Martyn Baker… Mods.

Lloyd Johnson… For me The Who and Small Faces were late comers as the Modernist style for me began with my first Italian style bumfreezer brown suit made at Burton’s by The Memorial and my Denson side lace winklepickers purchased from Winters in George street in The Old Town in 59/60….1 was 14/15 at the time and dreamt of the day I had a wardrobe full of clothes I bought from my own money….hence 3 paper rounds….I also bought some light grey slimline trousers with 1″ slits up the bottom of the side seams from Huckles on Queens Parade which backed on to the cricket ground….I use to love the bus depot between the magistrates court and the entrance to the cricket ground….can anyone remember the Dengate buses on Wellington Square…cream with a green flash on the sides?….all the bus drivers wore off white linen jackets and had separate packs of different coloured tickets attached to a wooden block/ ticket holder by a spring .Those buses and the whole set up looked like they were still in the 1920s/30s…and drivers reminded me of Benny Hill with their oversized caps….funny what we remember isn’t it?….

Alan Esdaile… Yes remember well the bus depot by the cricket ground and also the buses in Wellington Square.

Martyn Baker… Mods.

Mick O’Dowd… Mod. Now a skinhead though!

Carol Anne… Definitely rocker

What magazine/newspapers did you used to read & chat about.

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images from eil.com

What magazines/newspapers did you used to read? Reading Andy Knights recent post about The Melody Maker, reminded me of the magazines of the day. Always read Record Mirror, Sounds and remember my sister reading Jackie.

Leigh Wieland-Boys… ‘Jackie’, ‘Disco 45’ & NME

Andy Qunta… As many as we could find! NME, Sounds, Record Mirror, Beat Instrumental was a good one, & many more! Melody Maker was the one we had delivered to the house every week. It sometimes arrived a few minutes late, as we eventually found out our paper boy used to stop and read it before he delivered it! Said paper boy being future bassist-extraordinaire Roger Carey!

Jim Breeds…  I usually subscribed to one per week that the newsagent delivered but often switched allegiance. Mostly NME (still do sometimes) but I tried them all at one time or another. Also we used to lend them to each other at school so that we could read them all.

Pete Fairless… NME for me!

John Storer… It was Roger Carey who told me about the New Musical Express around 1969 or 1970 when I was 13 or 14. After buying my first copy, persuaded my Mum to order it from the newsagent for delivery instead of my usual Lion & Champion comic. Would literally read it from cover to cover. For years and years, I looked forward to the paper boy delivering it. Would photocopy the crossword and me and Mick Watson would spend Thursday afternoons at work racing to see who could complete it the fastest In 1984, when I was doing my law finals in Manchester, one of my fellow students, Rob Mortimer, asked me if he could have my copy when I’d finished with it, as he had no grant and couldn’t afford to buy one. I agreed. Several years later, I would see him again … he’d changed his first name from Rob to Bob and had teamed up with a bloke calling himself Vic Reeves. Not long after, I gave up the NME for Blues & Soul but went back to it in the early 90s and the start of the Madchester / BritPop scene … never lived up to its former glories, though … those halcyon days when Danny Baker, Ian Penman, Paul Morley, Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons were the lead journalists. Finally stopped reading it about 15 years ago. Also bought Sounds form about 1971 and had that every week until it started going ultra-right wing around the time of Oi and Gary Bushell. Does anyone else remember Streetlife? … a really hefty mag, issued fortnightly, and which aimed to become the UK’s answer to Rolling Stone. Had every copy from start to its end about a year later. Responsible, along with John Peel, for introducing me to dub. Finally, a big thank you to my neighbour up on Montgomery Road, Jean Christmas. In the late 60s, every six months she would hand me a big pile of Jackie magazines. Would stay up reading them into the small hours … those glamorous picture stories, the Cathy & Claire problem page … where has that innocence gone these days? LOL

Mick O’Dowd… Used to have NME in the 60’s then Record Mirror and sometimes Melody Maker in 70’s. Also a monthly mag called Blues & Soul.

Alan Wood…. Sounds

Patrick Lewis… Used to read NME, Melody Maker, Disc and Music Echo but the most interesting in the late 60’s was Record Mirror which always seem to avoid the celebrity crap and concentrate on the music.

Diane Knight… Don’t want to sound uncool ,but ….June and school friends!!!

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Did you used to love Melody Maker and other music papers?

Advert 1976 supplied by Barry French

Jim Breeds…Oh for a time machine!

Michael Wilson… Melody Maker, Sounds, NME, Record Mirror. I Brought from Smiths in Bexhill I think every Thursday.
I stopped buying Record Mirror after a while to save money. Then I stopped NME because they had a problem with The Damned and alway slagged the band off or didn’t even bother to review them.So I stopped buying the NME in protest. But I carried on with the other two until Sounds went out of business.

Mike Raxworthy… I was art director at Beat Publications – any musicians out there remember Beat Instrumental?

Andy Qunta… Loved it! Got every one I could!

Colin Norton… Yep, me too! Great magazine! I think that I still have mine in a box that I haven’t opened since we moved here 21 years ago. Think that I’ll do a little investigating

Chris Meachen… I used to buy the melody maker, after getting a bollocking for reading the copy that was part of my paper round before delivering it.. Would also by sounds occasionally, but never the NME which I always thought was a bit of a comic aimed more at the mainstream ‘pop’ audience..

Josie Lawson… Yes, remember buying the melody maker

Colin Fox… Used to buy Beat Instrumental every month

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