Skinhead
November 27, 2017 at 4:07 am
(This post was last modified: November 27, 2017 at 4:10 am by Haipule.)
In a recent thread, somebody used that term "Skinhead". They used it negatively as well they should. But, do you know how it started?
In 78' at 18yrs old I was working for the Huntington Beach Harbors and Beaches department(Orange County, Southern CA, just south of LA. Probably the greatest town to grow up in with its huge beach and pier and swarming with bikini clad gorgeous female flesh--Party, Party Party!) and met a guy named Tracy Modern who was a guitar player and songwriter for the HB Punk Rock band The Crowd. He introduced me to bands like the Sex Pistols and Generation X. And local bands like the Dickies.
I could hardly believe it! I grew up listening to mid 60's to early 70's Rock and Roll. After torturous years in the mid to late 70's listening to crap like Leo Sayer, the Little River band and fuckin' disco, FINALLY! Music with some balls again!
In 79' I moved to Australia to surf. I spent a year there and it was the same! The music was fuckin' Rockin'--The Saints, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and my favorite, Radio Birdman(too bad they broke up in 78').
On my return to the US, having given up my dream of being a pro surfer, I couldn't believe how much the Punk Rock scene had exploded! I started a Punk Rock band having been playing guitar since 13. In other words, I was there as a part of the mainstream of my youth culture when and where it was happening. It was nuts!
We shaved our heads, wore tight T-shirts with the sleeves cut off, and steel toed motorcycle boots to survive the slam pit. You do not want hair or sleeves which people could grab as they're falling or, be caught in a pit with out steel toed boots!
In the early days of that era, anyone wearing a swastika was beaten to within an inch of his life by other Punks! The Dead Kennedys recorded, "Nazi Punk's Fuck Off!"
But, in the early 80's, what happened is that the kids from places like Kansas and Iowa ran away from home just to be a part of that scene. They ended up in the streets of the mostly black gangland LA(Bloods, Crips, etc), with no money and banded together into white gangs. They had names like, F-Troop, The Dickie Boys(from the movie "1984"), LA Death Squad, The Suicidals(Suies)--fought mostly with other punk gangs, Circle One's Family, The League(the League and the Family eventually united at my house) and the list goes on and on. I, nor my friends were NOT apart of that nonsense.
When the street fighting began, that's when we had the racist Skinhead thing with racist skinhead bands singing racist skinhead songs. And that destroyed the whole scene in Hollywood. By 84' the silence was deafening and the Hollywood club scene became "hair bands".
I doubt anyone really cares now. I was just reminiscing.
In 78' at 18yrs old I was working for the Huntington Beach Harbors and Beaches department(Orange County, Southern CA, just south of LA. Probably the greatest town to grow up in with its huge beach and pier and swarming with bikini clad gorgeous female flesh--Party, Party Party!) and met a guy named Tracy Modern who was a guitar player and songwriter for the HB Punk Rock band The Crowd. He introduced me to bands like the Sex Pistols and Generation X. And local bands like the Dickies.
I could hardly believe it! I grew up listening to mid 60's to early 70's Rock and Roll. After torturous years in the mid to late 70's listening to crap like Leo Sayer, the Little River band and fuckin' disco, FINALLY! Music with some balls again!
In 79' I moved to Australia to surf. I spent a year there and it was the same! The music was fuckin' Rockin'--The Saints, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and my favorite, Radio Birdman(too bad they broke up in 78').
On my return to the US, having given up my dream of being a pro surfer, I couldn't believe how much the Punk Rock scene had exploded! I started a Punk Rock band having been playing guitar since 13. In other words, I was there as a part of the mainstream of my youth culture when and where it was happening. It was nuts!
We shaved our heads, wore tight T-shirts with the sleeves cut off, and steel toed motorcycle boots to survive the slam pit. You do not want hair or sleeves which people could grab as they're falling or, be caught in a pit with out steel toed boots!
In the early days of that era, anyone wearing a swastika was beaten to within an inch of his life by other Punks! The Dead Kennedys recorded, "Nazi Punk's Fuck Off!"
But, in the early 80's, what happened is that the kids from places like Kansas and Iowa ran away from home just to be a part of that scene. They ended up in the streets of the mostly black gangland LA(Bloods, Crips, etc), with no money and banded together into white gangs. They had names like, F-Troop, The Dickie Boys(from the movie "1984"), LA Death Squad, The Suicidals(Suies)--fought mostly with other punk gangs, Circle One's Family, The League(the League and the Family eventually united at my house) and the list goes on and on. I, nor my friends were NOT apart of that nonsense.
When the street fighting began, that's when we had the racist Skinhead thing with racist skinhead bands singing racist skinhead songs. And that destroyed the whole scene in Hollywood. By 84' the silence was deafening and the Hollywood club scene became "hair bands".
I doubt anyone really cares now. I was just reminiscing.
