Boot Boy

December 10, 2013 1:12 PM

Skinhead Farewell a BBC documentary on the controversial cult novelist James Moffat aka Richard Allen
posted by fearfulsymmetry (12 comments total)

Wait, Slade had a Skinhead phase? In 1969? What in the what the. 20th Century is endless.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:20 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

Wait, Slade had a Skinhead phase?

It seems to be a truism that any band that achieved notoriety in the 70s has an equally - and often more - interesting 60s backstory.
posted by ryanshepard at 1:24 PM on December 10, 2013 [2 favorites]

Damn this Slade skinhead album is SICK.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:26 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

Where have all the Boot Boys Gone? Slaughter & The Dogs, 1977

(apologies for the voiceover, stay with it)

Damn this Slade skinhead album is SICK.

Mama Weer All Crazy Now Slade 1972

Mama Weer All Crazy Now The Runaways 1977

It has gone the other way too.

Back when they were punks, just before they all quit and the one guy started a Skinhead band:

Won't Get Fooled Again Skrewdriver 1977
posted by charlie don't surf at 4:12 PM on December 10, 2013

Back when they were punks, just before they all quit and the one guy started a Skinhead white power band

Let's be up front about that.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:24 PM on December 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thank you, Captain Obvious.
posted by charlie don't surf at 4:35 PM on December 10, 2013

From the '50s to the mid '70s it was not a white power scene. Skrewdriver were a big part of that transition where skinhead started to mean racism. At the time Slade adopted the skinhead look it was associated more strongly with Black Nationalism than White Power.
posted by idiopath at 5:31 PM on December 10, 2013 [3 favorites]

Furthermore, it may not be obvious to some people reading this who Skrewdriver even is, let alone that "Skinhead" does not necessarily mean "white supremacy," and vice versa.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:04 PM on December 10, 2013

I have never read any of the Allen books, but I can remember seeing them on bookshelves pretty frequently. The intro to the documentary talks about the author being "a cult hero to skinheads all over the world"; I saw the books often enough to believe that.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:48 PM on December 10, 2013

There's still a bunch of non-racist skins today. And it's not just dub or reggae- check out Anhalt EBM bands like T.W.A.T or Blood Shot Eyes if you're interested in what skinheads do when they get synthesizers.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:28 AM on December 11, 2013

It's in the article linked but Made in England is great on the transition of the skinhead movement to fascism

I wish I had Moffat output (but then again is his fuel of booze and fags it probably not a great idea for a long life)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:52 PM on December 11, 2013

It's in the article linked but Made in England is great on the transition of the skinhead movement to fascism

And is currently available on Netflix streaming.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:30 PM on December 11, 2013