1971: Who are the NEW TRIBES of POP? | Anatomy of Pop | Classic BBC Music | BBC Archive

Anatomy of Pop considers the different tribes and subcultures within pop music - how clearly defined are they? Is there any common ground between hippies, skinheads, hell's angels, folk rockers and teenyboppers?
Clip taken from Anatomy of Pop, originally broadcast on BBC One, Sunday 31 January, 1971.
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[@smokerjim]

Lemmy had the right philosophy - all of it is rock and roll and you either like a tune or you don't, none of "I don't like this genre but this song is a guilty pleasure". Either you like a song, album, artist or you don't.

[@original.dwornboy]

Three months later Marc Bolan wore glitter on TOTP and Glam Rock began.

[@grinsko6741]

@@original.dwornboy It’s astonishing how quickly things moved in the 70s. Not long afterwards came Bowie, Punk (no doubt inspired by Glam), Post-Punk, New Wave, and then the dawn of Electropop (Gary Numan, M, and so on).

[@growlerthe2nd712]

British subculture around the 50s through to the 80s was so tribal teddy boys rockers/ greasers, mods hippies skinheads punks goths a real passion for the music and the look .And things would kick off between groups and this seeped into football in the early 70s and 80s , it’s all changed now 😢

[@keenmustard]

I remember some of the skinhead footage being used in the episode of The Rock ‘n’ Roll Years that dealt with 1970. That was in the 1980s, when opportunities for viewing archive material were few and far between.

[@davidpollard4051]

Yes, it was shown to the sound of Boris Gardener's Elizabethan Reggae which was a top 20 hit in 1970.

[@csr7080]

A lot of very distinct fashion styles there, love seeing it. Don't think it used to be "better", it really does seem very tribal - but it's interesting to see.

[@sonnysingh2617]

I love watching classic, nostalgic footage like this from the early 70s - 😊 I just wish I was old enough to have enjoyed it 👍 thanks for posting 🙏🙏

[@Sid-gu5qk]

As a Canadian, I had no idea there were skinheads that far back. I always thought it was a late '70s early '80s thing.

[@bradz007]

1969 is the usual date people say skinhead started , came out of mod

[@boilerroombob]

A wee bit earlier I feel

[@grinsko6741]

If you watch the video for The Beatles ‘Hey Jude’, there are skinheads in it. That was 1968.

[@NagasakiBladers]

punk skinheads were 2nd generation skinheads

[@VonStromberg]

The skinhead look or what became it was apparent in the mod fraternity as far back as '64 at the Brighton mod/rocker battles

[@MrMjp58]

Whatever the content, I watch footage from that period to console myself. I remember the deeply factional nature of pop music from the early 70’s. As the late 70’s dawned, I got fed up with pop/rock etc and drifted into classical and other forms. A brilliant bit of film.

[@KieranKelly-o9s]

I was a teenager in the 70s and I loved the bands such as Slade, Sweet and even Showaddywaddy but I have absolutely no idea how to spell the last band and my older Sister was a mad fan of the Bay City Rollers

[@DudeEnglish]

The rude boys, two tone and skinheads were so cool!!! I remember the early 1980s SKA revival when the music took off again and London was full to the brim with skins and Rastas. As a kid I thought they looked soooo cool.

[@KieranKelly-o9s]

I was a skinhead at the same time that the national front were deliberately marching in the inner city areas of my city Birmingham which were mainly populated by the immigrants who were newly arrived in the UK in search of work just like the immigrants from my country Ireland and we were all united protecting each other and the area that we have grown up in such as Balsall Heath which was full of Asians, West Indians and Irish. We all got on with each other and I am genuinely convinced that I didn't even know any English people in Birmingham because I went to the best Catholic grammar school in Birmingham and we only had one English guy in the whole school and the bloody school decided to go and make him the Head Boy of the whole school which did not go down at all well with the 99% of the parents who were from Ireland. When the Troubles came to Birmingham and the IRA bombed the two pubs in the centre of the city we, the Irish, were told by our parents to quickly lose our Irish accents and we kept our heads down for the next couple of decades. Utter respect for the people of Birmingham who eventually realised that having an Irish accent did not make us a member of the IRA.

[@TonySalerno-r9u]

RIP Tosir Ali, he was a 50 year old innocent man murdered by two skinheads in Bow in a brutal racist attack in April 1970

[@hazelwray4184]

Grandad's cardigan and braces. Haircut like they've had head lice. White shirt or check. Military associations with boots and bomber jackets. Industrial working class nostalgia, in an era of industrial decline. Lemming like, so-to-speak, uniformity, homogeneity of mind. If rock/pop culture expanded horizons, outlook, possibilities, then they were its antithesis.

[@gwheregwhizz]

This is ace, fab and groovy. I dig it dudes.

[@grinsko6741]

Far out, man.

[@christophercrowley9873]

That's pretty funny when he called Engelbert Humperdinch for the older generation when he was very much relevant back then.

[@reach4thesports897]

relevant to the older generations

[@Zagneek]

I think they heyday of sub cultures was probably 76 to 96 - roughly Punk to Brit Pop and everything in between. Punks, New Wave, New Romantics (or Blitz kids/Futurists), Footy Casuals, Mods, Skins, Rude Boys/girls, Dreads, Ted revivalists, Indie Kids, Paisley Punks, Grebbos, Rockers, Metalheads, Soul boys/ girls, Goths, Emos, Trendies, Ravers, Hippies, New Age Travellers etc - so many sub cultures Not so obvious these days as street fashion is just boring dull grey flannel strides and hoodies (which is hardly a new or original look having been around for years) Are people afraid of being different and looking colourful?

[@brianmorecombe2726]

What i found out is the teddys of the 50s became the greasers or the rockers of the 60s who used to fight with the mods.That was the beef,the mods were the new rock music of the early 60s,the 50s rockabilly was old.The 70s continued from the tail end of the 60s hippies.

[@DudeEnglish]

The first guy reminds me of Gerry Garcia.

[@TonySalerno-r9u]

RIP Tosir Ali, innocent Asian man murdered by two skinheads in Bow in 1970.

[@petermcmillan3446]

Oh boy! If that final interviewee is still around to see this, he must be cringing watching this back. Music in the future 'won't be about money and things...'

[@original.dwornboy]

He wasn't alone mate... that was a hippie philosophy

[@petermcmillan3446]

@@jasonnorrismusicaustralia I was eleven. I started to lean toward cynical underground stuff like Edgar (God bless him) Broughton, so I missed the optimism by a whisker. I'd always been a Trojan fan, and still am, but it was tough to be optimistic about reggae when Radio One DJs were point blank slagging it off and refusing to play it.

[@alexdavies7394]

2:54 that one skinhead looked as though he tolerated hippies.

[@TonySalerno-r9u]

RIP Tosir Ali, he was a 50 year old innocent man murdered by two skinheads in Bow in a brutal racist attack in April 1970

[@PhilbyFavourites]

Me and a few friends stood down the Isle of Wight ferry terminal at Southsea watching the “beardie weirdies” on their way to the IOW Festival. The girl who remarked on “pseudo hippies” hit the nail on the head. They’re still about - keep a lookout..

[@andymacfaul2852]

A great early use of the word “plastic” to denote fake, pseudo fans!

[@apchsiri1156]

5:32 Oliver Reed?

[@PhilbyFavourites]

3:50 why is there a young Max Verstappen giving his opinion on skinheads??

[@IThinkYouLookLarvely]

I love this era of the BBC (despite not quite being born!), but it's a shame they didn't retain the colour versions of a lot of stuff. 1969 onwards (apart from certain news regions) was in colour, but they thought it was a good idea to transfer it to ropy B&W film and wipe the tapes. Having said that, they often didn't even do that, thinking it wouldn't be of interest in future. Seems bonkers now.

[@SIRDKA]

@6.20 'kids of our age ' - he looked about 40.😃

[@Volker_GR]

In 1971 I would probably have been at a Colosseum concert. But I was only five years old at the time 🙂

[@fburton8]

Bless their cotton socks!

[@leaedt7614]

They're in old people's homes now.

[@ajs41]

How do you know?

[@leaedt7614]

@@ajs41 I visit them.

[@rodshard8605]

@@leaedt7614 Not all of us ! I was a skinhead in '69 in Manchester going to the soul clubs that were the early days of the Northern Soul scene. Most people I met then are still around now and still going to events around the UK.

[@leaedt7614]

@@rodshard8605 Relax! That was a joke.

[@nacflghs-n7w]

Plenty aren't LOL !

[@OlafProt]

The tribes were about young people finding their identity. I started out as a very broad music fan, then I was a Metal fan, a Grebo, an Indie kid, a happy hardcore dance music DJ. Then I hit my late 20s and realised it didnt matter what i was. The genres are SO splintered now.... I see e.g. a girl dressed in a manner that would suggest to me goth or indie. And shes a huge Swiftie. 6:40 awww sorry mate. Thatcher and Reagan weren't having any of that nonsense. Darned pseudo hippies lol

[@hazelwray4184]

The guy at the end couldn't have been more wrong about the future - Glastonbury 2025, tickets: £373.50 plus £5 booking fee. Lol

[@boilerroombob]

Where are they all now?

[@phillipecook3227]

Living in suburbia, shuffling around in slippers and seriously concerned about their central heating bills.

[@chunkybuster7203]

​@@phillipecook3227 : No l am not, moved to the country, dress smart, don't care about heating!

[@nacflghs-n7w]

@@phillipecook3227 Not the ones I know

[@awreckingball]

They talk about their music and tribes in such a childlike way, putting so much importance on music and fashion, as if their identity depends on it. It’s an interesting look at a pre-internet era, where outlooks feel narrow and naive, tied to small social circles, making young people easily influenced and open to manipulation.

[@richardsmith4992]

Er...brat...swifties...lo-fi...not a lot has changed.

[@frankshailes3205]

@@richardsmith4992 MAGA...

[@stephenspence-d9q]

"Young people easily influenced and open to manipulation". What , and they are not now?

[@markbrown4039]

3:00. What the actual...??

[@bugandbay]

Hard to believe that some of these kids are teenagers, especially those sporting a beard or a combover, most with a cigarette in hand instead of a mobile & the drinking of half pints, 🤣 🤍

[@paulharvey2851]

I was a toddler when this was filmed so perhaps that's why many of the 'young people' look almost middle age rather than the late teens/early 20s they are!

[@maurice8607]

Nice to see real skinheads. Reggae,soul,Ben Sherman's,Sta press etc.

[@mana3735]

The "skinheads" are just like the lads now. Scallies, neds, casuals, perry boys...it goes right back to those skinheads.

[@TonySalerno-r9u]

RIP Tosir Ali, he was a 50 year old innocent man murdered by two skinheads in Bow in a brutal racist attack in April 1970

[@TeaLuck1]

How many people found their parents here ??! 😅

[@Occident.]

Oi oi from an old Skinhead on Tyneside.

[@TonySalerno-r9u]

RIP Tosir Ali, he was a 50 year old innocent man murdered by two skinheads in Bow in a brutal racist attack in April 1970

[@mrlotusmic]

When as young people we were not bombarded from a young age with politics and enjoyed the early years. Less information so you concentrated on smaller stuff.

[@ERobbins1234]

The hippy and skinhead movements were rather political.

[@nickbumble2240]

One of the interviewees literally said they don't talk about politics because they're bombarded with it elsewhere

[@mrnobodyz]

The mid to late 60’s and 70’s were some of the most political times in history especially for young people.

[@mrlotusmic]

@@mrnobodyzI think me and my associates missed it.

[@mrnobodyz]

@ No duh!

[@matthewbeumer3168]

Marc Bolan Bowie The Sweet Roxy Music Cream Sex Pistols The Clash The Damned Siouxsie Joy Division Magazine Kate Bush the end of the 70s!

[@JohnSmith-it6hj]

some of the worst hair ever captured on film.

[@JJONNYREPP]

1971: Who are the NEW TRIBES of POP? | Anatomy of Pop | Classic BBC Music | BBC Archive 0814am 2.12.24 music used to unite people until they began sampling stuff and splicing sounds and riffs into the overall fabric of a composition. which is basically the post modern attitude to creation. the death of art... where everyone is useless at their chosen craft... music to indulge in a mating ritual. nothing new, nothing to get overly offended about...

[@chrisredditch]

Those 2 "Hells Angels" Really? 😂

[@PolaBurrr]

Music unites people ….. oh and I’m first ;)

[@original.dwornboy]

Tell that to the mods and rockers

[@phillipcarter8045]

Not if it’s the Rolling Stones .

[@Will-nn6ux]

@@original.dwornboyWell, it united them against each other!

[@frankshailes3205]

@@Will-nn6ux Whereas the Beatles were "Mockers".

[@PhilbyFavourites]

Me and a few friends stood down the Isle of Wight ferry terminal at Southsea watching the “beardie weirdies” on their way to the IOW Festival. The girl who remarked on “pseudo hippies” hit the nail on the head. They’re still about - keep a lookout..