Mod
In modular arithmetic, mod is an abbreviation of the Latin ablative form modulo, introduced by Carl Friedrich Gauss.Mod (or, to use its full name, Modernism) was a lifestyle based around fashion and music that developed in London, England in the late 1950s and reached its peak in the early to mid 1960s. People who followed this lifestyle were known as Mods.
Mods were obsessed with clothes and music, including Black American R&B and Soul, Jamaican Ska, and Bluebeat and a select few British groups such as the Small Faces and The Who. Mods would gather at all-night clubs to show off their clothes and dance. They would typically choose scooters as their mode of transportation, either the Lambretta or the Vespa. These were sometimes adorned with many lights and mirrors and were intended to gain attention.
An alternative youth movement known as 'Rockers' often clashed with the Mods, leading to street battles between the two factions in seaside resorts such as Brighton and Margate. These events led to much anguished discussion about 'modern youth' in Britain during the early 1960s. The conflicts inspired Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange in which the anti-hero is arguably a futuristic Mod. The film Quadrophenia, based on the writing of Pete Townshend with music by the The Who, also commemorated the movement.
Partly because of the success of this film, the mod movement enjoyed a revival during the late 1970s. Many of these later mods were fans of bands such as The Merton Parkas, Secret Affair, and The Lambrettas, and Two Tone groups such as The Specials, The Selector, and Madness.
The punk rock band The Jam were highly influenced musically and stylistically by mod culture.
See also: Mods and Rockers, Carnaby Street
