Displaying items by tag: Quadrophenia

‘A real slice of life told in the vernacular of the streets’ Irvine Welsh- 

'It's a treat to read just like A Crafty Cigarette' - Punk Poet Legend John Cooper Clarke 

1:30 am on an early May Friday morning, in a deserted M6 service station stifling a deserved yawn, I stir a dispensed cup of coffee and deliberate over which calorific chocolate snack should help keep me awake for the last leg of a journey that has taken me from Norwich to Preston, via London.

Mod, or modernism is probably the most enduring and well documented of all of Britain’s sub-cultures. The golden ages of mod are largely dependent on age, taste and experience. For many, mod culture perfectly encapsulates the optimism of the swinging sixties.

I know it is a cliché, yet 4 Idle Hands is a ‘forgotten children’s TV gem’ from 1976. Made by Associated Television otherwise known as ATV,

When 5 teenagers in 1978 saw an advert in the NME that read“Do you want Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll?” you can imagine what they said!The advert was referring to the movie Quadrophenia, based on The Who’s 1973 studio album of the same name.

It’s called Saltdean, and I presume the derivation originates from the sulphurous air that permeates the atmosphere from the sea. It’s about five or six miles outside of Brighton, and unlike its celebrated neighbour, it’s bereft of any of the trappings that you’d expect to find at the seaside; no pier, no cafe, no illuminations or smell of fish and chips. In fact, aside from an imposing hotel that wouldn’t be out of place in The Shining, there’s very little here in Saltdean that one could call memorable.

© Words Tracey Wilmot

Back in '79 thanks to the movie of the same name Quadrophenia was back on the shelves and broadening the brief mod revival scene as it was peaking. I was a 15 year old mod discovering the album for the first time and as a lone mod girl in a school full of punks and skins, I related to Jimmy's story of the angst of youth, growing up and experiencing heartbreak and disappointment for the first time and the rebellious attitude of youth.

Modism, Mod living, is an aphorism for clean living under difficult circumstances” Pete Meaden 

Essex 1967, the careers officer raises his eye brows at the school boy, as he searches for the right words so he doesn't hurt the kid's feelings, "An actor, that's what you want to do as a job when you leave school? ". The blonde school boy with a small frame and short in height, nods with no enthusiasm. Since he yearned to become an actor, he has grown accustomed to the mocking, a disguise for jealously and envy. His peers recite lines from Shakespeare, which, most of the time, are misquoted. In fact the ridicules have hardened him. As living on a council estate in Essex has made him tough. He knew how to handle the lads,

Released nearly thirty years ago, Babylon stands up today as a well crafted, convincingly acted, hard hitting piece of realistic drama.

It’s powerful, resonant ending is up there with the classic Jimmy Cagney‘s “Made It Make top of the world” finale in White Heat. But Babylon is not available in any British Video store. It has been not been shown on British TV, neither terrestrial or satellite, for many years.  What is the meaning of this outrage?