Ready Steady Go!

we are the Mods, we are the Mods, we are we are we are the Mods..

hmm.. no.. i'm not a Mod.. nor a Rudeboy.. or a Skinhead.. obviously..

i dont really listen to Indie or Brit Pop and Oi!.. just whatever in that genres thatz nice..

but i'm addicted to Ska..

and alternatives/grunge and metal..

why Ska?

somehow.. thru the years.. there had been some beats and tunes thatz always in my mind.. the kinda music that i enjoy playing..

and i find that in Ska..

i love the upstrokes of the guitar.. the snare sound that sounds so steely.. the horns.. the drop notes in the 2nd and 4th beats.. the style of playing the music..

the history that goes with the music..

the reasons why it moved on..

the 2Tone era.. or rather.. movement.. the legacy it created..

most of my friends here would not understand what i'm talking abt.. so lemme explain some things abt the culture surrounding the music.. the cultures that evolved on their own.. and somehow, no matter how far they go.. they seemed to be attracted back to the music..

and some ppl reading this blog might not understand why some ppl get involved in these things.. some might think that the ppl in the culture are lame.. and for these stereotypical ppl.. lemme just pray that u will get out of ur shallow minds..

guys need to be in gangs and groups.. pakciks at the coffeeshops need to be with their gang.. and police officers go out with police officers.. in groups.. IT nerds go out with IT nerds coz they can talk nerdy stuffs and be cool for knowing the smallest details abt the latest microprocessors and therefore look cool among their peers..

the original Rudeboys from Jamaica should be in their 70s now.. and they are still Rude.

the Mods in England still dress up the way they were...

the Skinheads are still cropped..

the Blacks are still rapping..

but of course.. these are foreign cultures.. but i dont see a reason for it being wrong to embrace it for those who wish to if they will belong in a group where they think the same.. act the same.. dress the same..

unless u ppl want to embrace the Mat culture.. thatz local..

or u wanna be just like everyone else and get married and get kids and whatever.. thatz ur choice..

anyway.. I had never been in these cultures myself... the closest that i think i could get was to be a Rocker.. in which it doesnt run well for my support of those who wishes to be a Modernist or a Skinhead or a Rudeboy.. as long as u respect other ppl's rights no matter who they are..

back in the early 90s, i had long hair.. EXTREMELY long hair.. and spotted an earring, with my leather jacket and tight jeans and boots.. we used to fight for every reason we can think of.. and do a lot of stupid things...

back in those days, it was a much rougher time.. but we were in gangs..

i graduated from that to being a police officer during my National Service days.. and to being a metrosexual as a cabin crew.. and still we are in our own groups and gangs.. and i think itz safe as long as u dont harm anyone, dont plan terrorist activities, dont overthrow any governments and dont steal or invade the properties of others..

but lets think of these misunderstood ppl.. the boys and girls in the underground cultures..

true.. most of them are kids.. so be it.. if they are nurtured with the proper mindset like how it was when the movements started, i think they'll be on the right track..

lemme give a brief Culture 101..

the Rudeboy culture originates from Jamaica in the 50s.. when the youth flocked down to Kingston, the capital, looking for jobs.. and not getting any.. so these youth turned to crime and a Rude way of life..

Ska came abt several years before that and therefore, being the popular music at that time in Jamaica, it was embraced by those youth.. and since then, Ska had been closely tied up with the Rudeboy culture.. itz like how naturally S.M Salim embraced Lagu Melayu Asli.. but loving Ska music does not make u a Rudeboy.. even though itz unheard of a Rudeboy who doesnt listen to Ska..

the Mods, or Modernist movement came abt in the 60s in England.. among the working class youth who had disliked the scruffy look and attitude of the Rockers, and these kids were smart looking and with good attitudes and all.. except for the fact that they liked to popped pills and the fight at the beach with the Rockers was considered as a disgrace to the original Mods, therefore breaking it up into a different faction..

the introduction of Ska and Reggae music during those period by the West Indies to the Mods had caught on by the 70s, spanning Mod bands that play Ska-influenced music.. and redefining Ska itself.. with bands like The Specials, Madness, Selecter, Bodysnatchers and so on..

hmm.. this posting is becoming much longer than i expected.. just off the top of my head.. so for those Mods and Rudies and Skinheads that dont agree with the information, sorry.. therez too many different minor versions of the culture that small details normally makes no difference.. and this posting is more abt Ska..

the most misunderstood culture of all would be the Skinheads.. a breakaway of the Mods who decided to be tougher and yet stylish.. and ppl would associate Skinheads with gangsters and ruffians and Neo Nazis and anti-Asians and racist pigs..

the fact can be no further than the truth.. in real life, Skinheads are the best ppl to be considered as the forerunners of anti-racism movement.. of course.. there were a different breed of them initially who got involved in politics and racism, being recruited by the British political party, National Front, and therefore, the rest of the Skinheads, known as a collective group called SHARP (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice) would refer to them as BoneHeads rather..

the movement for anti-racism among the Mods, English Rudeboys and Skinheads are due to the fact that the Black boys were coming and growing up in England, and therefore it was inevitable that the two culture will unite.. and they did, in a way that is much better than any other places.. with white boys fighting for the equal rights to live for Blacks and Asians and Pakistani and everyone else who is of a different color..

thatz the reason for the 2Tone movement.. the black and white checkered logo thatz so related to Ska was derived for the integration among the Whites and the Blacks.. there are no racial prejudice among these cultures and they fight to uphold these ideas..

the sad thing is that.. no one realise these facts abt them.. just as it was, last Saturday.. we had cops coming into the gig at Kampong Glam CC, just to make their presence felt, and terrorising the kids coz they wanna keep a lookout on the Skinheads..

u get cops everytime u have these gigs..

fair enough.. u need to uphold the law and order and prevent rioting and looting and everything else.. but there should be a line drawn somewhere..

the rudeness of the police officers there on that day itself should not be tolerated.. I served as a police Sergeant during my reserve duties still.. and i can see the hypocrisy in them when they dealt with the public and when they come down to these events.. just because they think that they can be rude and get away with it..

a show of power..

with the ideas of racial harmony among Singaporeans, although itz very obvious to everyone that they are just ideas and most Singaporeans are still prejudiced, no matter how small.. i think they should try to relate and support the ideas of the racial unity among the Rudeboys and Skinheads, and ok.. let the Mods live their Way Of Life and put mirrors on their scooters..

i proposed a gig to reignite the movement of Rock Against Racism.. and i have talked to several local Ska bands, like Comic Strip and Sally's Rejex and DOS members, and if we could get it, we'll try to organise a Ska and Oi! event to understand and uphold the anti-racist movements..

and for us all to understand and fully agree that racism has no part in our lives..

my dad's a mix, with a Pakistani father and a Chinese mom.. and my mother is an Indian.. and i look and speak Malay and i embraced part of the Malay culture coz they accepted me..

most of us Singaporeans are mixed in some ways or another.. but somehow, some ppl got mixed up instead..

let's get the authorities involved in this.. and understand the reasoning behind these cultures.. and we all can live happily ever after..

Rock against Racism..