The History of Skinhead
Lies, damned lies and Skinhead stories
When you hear the word "skinhead " do you automatically think of racist thugs in boots doing Nazi salutes?
If you answered yes, then you are a victim of media misinformation. The fact of the matter is that the true skinhead scene has never had anything to do with the politics of racism and facism.
The skinhead scene originally developed as an offshoot of the mod scene in late 1960īs England. Mods dressed smart, rode scooters and danced to soul and other kinds of black music. After awhile, sections of the mod movement became too elitist and obsessed with expensive clothes for some of its followers.
A faction of the mods called hard mods or gang mods wanted to return to their roots and began to emulate what they considered classic lumpen-proletariat fashion. They began to crop their hair short, put on heavy boots and wear jeans held up by suspenders.
These street tought then combined their mod culture with the culture of West Indian immigrants to become skinheads. It is intersting to note that the insulting term " wigger " was first used to describe white skinheads who imitated the fashion, slang and music of Jamaican " Rude Boys ".
Skinheads liked soccer, soul and ska music, drinking at pubs and once in awhile taking part in some " aggro " (fighting).
It is true that skinheads have always been linked with violence, but in the original wave of skinheads it had nothing to do with politics. Many skinheads did not even vote, but if they did it was most likely for the Labour Party. Skinheads violence was usually directed at members of other subcultures such as hippies and greasers ( who envolved from the rockers).
Admittedly, a few skinheads scapegoated other groups as well, such as university students, people they thougt were "queer ", and asiana - mainly because they usually did not fight back.
" Paki-bashing " was not exclusive to skinheads thougt, and it was not even exclusive to whites. It is interesting to realize than even some Caribbean black skinheads took part in " Paki-bashing ", thus revealing the ignorance and hypocrisy of prejudice.
By the 1970īs many skinheads got tired of being associated with violence so they abandoned the cult. Shortly after that time, there were virtually no skinheads in Britain. It was not until the 1980īs after the birth of punk rock that the skinhead movement rose again. Punk rock was originally supposed to shake up the estalishment but after awhile it became co-opted by the music industry and started to turn inzo New wave. There was a demand among British working class youths for punk to return to the grassroots and speak about common problems of everyday life. Street-punk bands began to grow in prominence.
These punk bands eventually came under the name of Oi! music. Oi! has been described by writer Georg Marshall as " your original street sound come good... It was a world populated by genuine charcters who oozed street corner confidence"
Oi! bands sung about working class pride, unity, violence and police abuse. Oi! was about " having a say and having a laugh ". Some Oi! bands are left-of-center politically, others are right-of-center, and some only care about drinking beer and partying. Skinheadsīpolitical battles were fought trough their music as well as on the street.
In that same period, ske music experienced somewhat of a revival, led by bands who combined the rhythm of ska with the aggression of punk rock. During the 1980ī, politics caused splits in the skinhead scene. Britianīs working class was going trouh a though decade. High unemployment at the same time as Magret Thatcherīs government was dismantling the post-war welfare state. Working-class youths suffered a great deal and this allowed the skinhead scene to be infiltrated by the extreme right as well as the far-left.
Neo-Nazi organizations such as the National Front and British Movement saw skinheads as ripe for recruitment, and they blamed the unemployement prblem on immigrant workers. Rhight-wing extremists liked the hard, masculine image of skinheads and attempted to claim it as their own. The facists started up their own bands and record labels in an attempt to make racism a legitimate part of the skinhead scene. These days however, the white-power music scene has largely moved away from Oi!-based music and has moved towards metal, Goth and industrial style music. One wonders how someone con use a musical genre invented by African-Americans rock and roll to promote hatred against blacks and other people of colour.
The 1980īs mass media was only too pleased to jump on the bandwagon and label all skinheads racist. They dug up any kind of " proof " they could to associate skinheads with right-wing extremism. In the 1990īs, tabloid talk shows such as Geraldo and Jerry Springer added fuel to the fire by showing Neo-Nazi skins without giving a voice to non-racist skinheads. Traditonal skinheads do not consider Neo-Nazis to be real skinheads, and have labeled them " boneheads ". Some of them have formed organizations to show their oppositions to racism and to promote genuine skinhead culture.
Three of these groups are SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice ( SHARP ), Red Anarchist SkinHeads ( RASH ) and the Anti-Facist-Skinhead-Alliance ( AFSA ). Two additional anti-racist groups that have sizable skinhead followings are Britianīs Anti-Facist-Action ( AFA ) and North Americaīs Anti-Racist-Action ( ARA ).
Today, as the white power movement shows more interest in bikers, Goths and metalheads, true skinheads are once again reclaiming their scene to promote their own vision of what the subculture is about. Ska and Oi! is experiencing somewhat of a rebirth nowadays. Ska and Oi! influence have also crept into the songs of more mainstream bands such as Rancid, NOFX and No Doubt.
There are Oi! and Ska bands sprouting up all over the world, including countries like Japan, Brazil, Chile, Poland and many more.
The ethic of " Pride without Prejudice " is remaining strong in the hearts of rebellious youths.
written by Andrew Ring