At the risk of sounding like a fossil, I've been continuously subscribed to
the modslist since a month or two after its inception (5 years ago). I have
a) seen tons of silly arguments and b) met many people off the list. When
you put a and b together, a few things become obvious:
1. There are "mods" and there are mods:
A "mod" is somebody who walks around going on about how mod they
are, has a great interest in ratty parkas, continously talks about scooters,
will only wear vintage clothing, obsesses over having the "right" records,
and their posts to the list are purposefully designed to make themselves
"look cool". Most often, these people are kind of clueless, look a bit
bedraggled, and smell of vintage clothing. Shamefully, however, most, if
not all, of us started out like this.
A true mod can only exists after a complex evolutionary process
whereby they figure out a few key things. 1 - you will always always always
look good if you choose individual pieces of clothing well. Go for a few
good designer pieces and when you buy vintage make sure it fits perfectly,
it's in good shape, and you don't smell like old person. 2 - why wear a
boring green parka like everyone else - go find a parka-like coat in a
different cut, fabric, and colour. you will look good, people will be
impressed. 3 - you don't need to walk around talking about mod you are and
how mod this or that is. when you're doing it right, people will just know.
4 - have an open mind about stuff. choose the best of everything,
transportation, records, home furnishings, etc... do not choose something
because it's "mod", choose it for its high style and quality. 5 - you
don't need to post namedrop/record namedrop type posts to the list in order
to impress people. it's fine to post and ask for information, but when you
purposefully do it to get yourself "mod points", you look silly. we can
tell.
2. "Mods" tend to take everything seriously. Mods can sit back and look at
something objectively.
I think this is a direct consequence of shopping style :-) The
"mod" will go into a vintage store, see a parka, and will say "Wow! That's
such a mod parka! I have to have it!" whereas the mod will go in, see the
same parka and say "Hmm.. that's kind of interesting. Oh wait, there's a
hole here. Oh, and some of the fur is missing. There's a few stains, it
smells a bit off, and it's way too big. I'm going to go look for something
a little more different.
3. Point #2 can be applied to the modslist.
"Mods" treat the list as a sacred place where anything said is
taken as gospel. Mods realize (through having met a bunch of people) that
there are a lot of people on this list who take everything far too seriously
and can be made fun of quite easily.
The *important point* as it applies to recent list discussion is as follows:
Davy is neither a meanie nor a wanker nor a <insert derogatory term
here>. He's a guy who has been around long enough to figure out that some
mod bandwagon jumpers will crawl over broken glass to defend themselves and
that he can have a bit of fun by teasing these people mercilessly. I know
for a fact that as he writes his posts, he's sitting at his computer
laughing his head off about how he can incite an email riot with a few snide
remarks.
*****The real problem is not with Davy, who is a very funny and great
guy. The real problem is with those of you who take him seriously. If
you'd just stop responding to his every word he'd stop. It's simple.*******
Relax for christ's sake. Take off your parka, go buy some good new
clothes, go to the record store and pick up something completely new and
undiscovered, and stop drawing targets everywhere. Take down your Who
poster, go get some really nice art, put your old copies of Select in a box
and read some quantum physics or art history.
***********************Create style, don't follow
it.**************************
Miss Jenn
PS - how about a show of hands as to who is going to be in Toronto for
Davy's party? I'll be spinning for a little bit along with another friend
of mine from Montreal, and I look forward to meeting a bunch of you midwest
and east coast American types :-)
