Interesting topic....

personally, I have no problem with "Spirit of 69" and in a sense don't feel right if I am not in some way representing that, as stupid as it sounds.  I don't shave my head anymore (used to sport a #1-3 crop depending on mood), don't (never have) wear bleachers, still wear Air Wair shoes (occasionally even lace up oxblood 1460s with the white laces), still wear harringtons and very occasionally my MA-1 bomber....etc etc

The way I see it is if you are a "sussed skinhead" no one really knows what you are.  They just think you're a neatly put together fellow that sort of has a slight old man look about him.

I remember when the book Spirit of 69 came out (we preordered it from England for about $20 iirc back then)..and it's a good book but it really opened up a Thongs made of barbed wire's box when it comes to the skinhead scene as suddenly George Marshall's words suddenly became "the correct mantra" and it created a new batch of freshcuts that saw the books as some kind of religious tome.  Skinhead Nation was a bit more interesting since it focused on actual crews in different parts of the world.  If you've ever seen the BBC series "World of SKinhead" it's basically Skinhead Nation as a real video documentary since nearly all of the same people are focused in the book and in the film.

Look, for the most part skinheads are knuckleheads, that can't be argued. There are probably more cartoon skins than cartoon mods, esp as "skinhead" has taken on to mean something different depending on the participant.  Some see the traditional 69 style skinhead as "faggot queers" and then you have boneheads and skins who arent skins they are just "punks with bald heads", if you asked a traditional 69er

At the risk of sounding like a heretic, I think in a lot of ways the 78-80 "new breed" skinheads were the first to really claim "skinhead" as a "way of life" subculture, moreso than the originals in 68-9 who seemed more like they were jumping on the latest fad, evidenced by the fact that many (most) of them were only skins for a year or two before moving on the the next big thing.  The punk era skinhead seemed to know his roots from 69 but kept it relevant to his time by mixing Oi music into the mix, otherwise skinhead becomes not too different from the retro rockabilly scene where you only listen to music up to 19__, and I've never thought of skinhead as "retro".  I met up with and had some pints with the Camden skinheads in London last winter and those guys are from the class of 78 and are still going strong as skinheads....some of you might think it silly that men nearing 50 would still be in "boots and braces", and while personally I don't fly my flag that loudly, I do think there's something admirable about them still keepin on

to clarify, I don't care about the "skinhead scene" nor do any sort of 'claiming'.  I still listen to the music (oi, ska, soul) and incorporate skinhead gear into my daily wear, but there were 2 big turning points that caused the death of the skin scene IMO.

1.  the Spirit of 69 book.....before the book came out we were very excited for it, since it was a book about "us".  After it came out the first wave of "insta-skins" came about and you'd hear stupid shit like "well the Spirit of 69 book says this....".  Before the book, you had to just go out and "be a skinhead", meet and hang out with like sorts and learn things almost via apprenticing (not the best analogy but whatever).  It meant going to shows and maybe you get a few kicks in the head along the way but that's how it was done.  By the mid 90s a lot of my peers got fed up with the skin scene and we got into rockabilly, since it was the "skinhead retirement plan".  Rockabilly still had an adherence to smart attire, the music was raw and rough the way we like it, and the girls were prettier (most important).  It was like something in the water as guys I hadnt talked to in years got into Rockabilly at the same time as me and at some rockabilly hangouts, it was basically like a skinhead retirement community with many rockabillies from the skin scene.  Then, as if a newsletter was passed around, many of us got back into the sussed skin/suedehead mentality a few years later.  Some of my friends are still heavily into rockabilly which is cool, but for me I'm always a skinhead at heart ya know

2.  the internet (aka the skin-ternet).  Once you were able to google everything the phenomenon of the insta-skin got worse.  Suddenly there are tough guys all over forums, talking shit.  Sorry, but it's hard to take a skinhead seriously that got into it during the cyber era.  There was sort of a rite of passage when we had to hunt down and really put an effort into getting our gear back then.  No "add to cart" to get your freds and DMs.  So when you see a guy all sussed out, you know he went the distance to get the look as right as possible.  It's all about the effort, which is pretty nonexistent now.  Same with getting records.  As an older fella, I do like the convenience of it all, but I think younger guys need to go thru the trials to get good gear and records.  Builds character and all that, but time marches on and life gets easier which is all good i suppose.  but still....

If having been a "sussed skin" has any benefits, it's that it sorta gives you a good foundation for smart style that hopefully one develops when he's older into his own look rather than just wearing the "skinhead uniform" til yer 80.  It's amazing how many "high fashion" looks and garments are co-opted from skinhead gear into something more mainstream.  The fact that skinhead suss was never rooted in caricature is its biggest benefit.  Thank god it took its original cues from American Ivy style!!

I don't know how many from the class of '68 are still into it, even peripherally, but it was nice to chat with Jim Cox at the New Untouchables NYE bash a few months back.  That guy is still going strong 40+ years later (and played a killer DJ set) and more power to him and all the others that still "keeping the faith", despite it originally being a "youth cult"

Interesting viewpoint GS.

My experience around skinhead (I was never one, but knew a number) is that like everything you get the sussed ones and you get the idiots. I will bet my mortgage that it was the same back in the 60's/early70's and I know for a fact it was that way in the late 70's. Interesting for me is to remember that throughout the 70's, after the initial waves of skin had died down and before the resurgance in the late 70's, there were always a handful of skin's around my area, so it wasn't something that ever really went away. But looking back those skins who stayed around wore more associated with trouble than looking great. But it was like that with Teds too, there always seemed to be some around when I was a kid, especially during the 70's in this country when there was a revival of sorts, at least again up to the late 70's. Again more associated with trouble than actually looking good, and again cartoon teds. But I bet there must have been some sussed ones!

Can a well sussed skin get alaong nowadays, I would think so, but it would be hard work distancing themself from the uglier associations. Maybe in some of the larger cities??

The other point you raise for me is the whole "keeping the faith" thing with a youth cult when you ain't no longer a youth. Weller gets derided, and despite what you think of the man and his haircut, he has worn some nice clothes as he has got older that allow you to see where his influence's come from, without trying to look the same as he did as a younger man (haircut an exception here!!!!)

Interesting this week to see skins oot in numbers at The Specials gigs.

Think a fair number were ex-mods who have gone the crop route as their hairline dictated they should.   


Ma experience ay skins in the original two-tone days were that the old yins were sussed, smartly dressed and into their reggae.

The new skins who emerged in the late 70s tended as a general rule towards bonehead, 12 eyelet boot-wearing, seig-heiling, spiders web tattoo inked, retards unfortunately.


Hopefully most ay that mob will have grown-up (or died).

I'm willing to believe that the first lads who adopted the look - as early as '64 according to at least one source - were simply mods moving off slightly in another direction.  I'm guessing this was, once more, a sussed 'parts of London' thing.  By the time it reached this part of the Midlands (I was still in junior school), it was all sheepskins and cherry reds: kids you were at pains to avoid at the chippie and the bus stop.  Distinctly non-Ivy.  Person of Pakistani heritage-bashing types, in fact.  But Derby has always been stuck in a time-warp; there was some scratching of the surface but nothing more.  They - we - seemed to take more enthusiastically to the polo neck-check baggies-basketweaves or brogues period (around '72 here - late again).  Also there was a short-lived fashion for dungarees called 'Bleeders'.  DMs were still all over the place, worn "Bronco Bullfrog" fashion with just about anything.  The greatest sin was to wear 'cheap jeans' instead of Levis.  The footie lads would have a good laugh at you if they weren't red tag. 
Music was Motown or Northern for the smoothies, Bowie, Cockney Rebel and Mott the Hoople for the rejects (like me).  Rockabilly surfaced very briefly around '75, but Northern really had a hold round here by then - and the best dancers got the fittest girls.  I tended to sulk in my room, listening to Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters. 
Then, suddenly, it was 'Where Have All The Boot Boys Gone?"

Ah, Rico!  Top chappie to be sure, Laird!

Well, it becomes escapism, K, doesn't it?  Kids grown up and all that.  I just think you've got to work like buggery if you're a skinhead who wants to be a bit subtle about it.  My hair's only short now because it really has to be.  No other definite reason.

I think that there might well be a bit of a mini Skin revival around our way. Seen a few youngsters dressed in some pretty cool gear compared to their teenage contemporaries. That scene is a small world so 'new' faces stand out a mile. There were a few in evidence at a do the other night where a local band "Tighten Up" made their debut. Pretty decent they were too, put together by Roddy Moreno of The Oppressed/SHARP fame which some of our more Skin inclined contributors may be familiar with. It helps too that a small "Moddy" clothes boutique has opened locally that has attracted a lot of young (and even student) punters. Very little of their wares are my cup of tea but the bloke running it is a really genuine guy and I wish him well.

Staceyboy

There wis a ska band fae Perth (Scotland) back aboot 1980 also called The Rude Boys.


Did a cracking version ay the theme tune fae "The Sweeney".

As far as I know tho' the pinnacle ay their success wis a support slot with Bad Manners.