Mods, Beatniks, Rockers, 1965

Mainly 'Beatniks' in this clip from Primitive London, 1965.
The 2 musicians in this clip are Ray Sone, harp (later of The Downliner's Sect) and Emmett Hennessy, vocals, guitar.
Many thanks to Emmett Hennessy ( / emmettify ) for this info.

[@emmettify]

the "2 dudes" are Ray Sone,(harmonica) and myself, (Emmett Hennessy) vocals, guitar. There's some recent stuff from me here on youtube under my name. Ray later joined a rock band called Downliners Sect (they have a website)> sadly, we've lost touch. He was one of my best mates.

[@jontibloom6125]

What a nice video to have as a remembrance of great times

[@emmettify]

to answer your question, we were definitely beatiniks but tried to be more stylish as we were trying to make it a musicians. Ray went on to join a popular '60's band, Downliners sect . The pub was Rod Stewarts weekly hgangout, he was king of the stylish beatniks, we called him "Rod the Mod". (may have been there that night!) Wonder where all those guys are now? the girl who said "wer'e just friends" was my old girlfriend for .a while...Anne Woolridge. Big Annie, where are you? get in touch!

[@TheKittengoddess]

Is there any way to travel back in time to hang out with you? I've found my people! I was born way too late. We would have gotten along.

[@timothy790110]

It must be amazing to have these videos of yourself from that time. I hope youre still knocking about!

[@mrstevehartman]

Ringo Starr was once asked if he was mod, or a rocker. He said he was a mocker. LOL...

[@jimlimbach6629]

i'm expert at sarcasm!

[@nurlindafsihotang49]

hardly suprising. they were original 1950's trolls

[@michaelcraig9449]

@@nurlindafsihotang49 What do you mean the Beatles were trolls? They were a great band.

[@nurlindafsihotang49]

@@michaelcraig9449 dude....new fan of Beatles? Those of us that already lived past 30 years knows this.

[@iseegoodandbad6758]

Lol!

[@rosemaryfraser1]

Yes, Allan Carf, it is absolutely authentic, as old friends of mine from the time, around '64/'65 are still with us (Ray Sone and Emmett Henessy), and we had a re-union a couple of years ago at home. It was wonderful to see them again. We've seen Ray several times since,but as Emmett has been in Trinidad for about 40 years, it makes things more difficult. I would say it must have been 1964, as Ray joined the Downliners Sect in that year, whilst he and Emmett played their folk set at the same club - Studio 51 in Great Newport Street. WE WERE THERE !!!

[@moveonupcb]

This is like a Star Trek clip with Captain Kirk reporting on life on another life. Classic. Never to be see again

[@ihatetheworld90]

This reporter is asking awkward ass questions. They don't have a label they just want to party

[@rosemaryfraser1]

Ray and Emmett used to regularly play at Studio 51, where the Downliners Sect had a residency, apart from playing all over the UK and Sweden, and many other countries Terry Clemson (Gibson in the Downliners Sect) and I had a re-union last year with Ray and Emmett after 48 years and it was wonderful to see them again. We lost Ray for years and feared the worst, but he's well and happy now, which is all any of us can ask !

[@emmettify]

the date of filming was 1964, it's a clip from a full length feature called "Primitive London" recently re mastered and released on dvd so it's available.

[@edwardbliss8931]

I wish this was 30 minutes longer

[@jasonlieberman4606]

The description says it's from a film called "Primitive London", the full version of which appears to have has a copyright claim. Surely it's out there somewhere. Honestly I hope to find something better, these producers are clearly the epitome of square

[@allancerf9038]

as this is apparently largely filmed with the subjects unawares (naughty, naughty) it's is sensational. simply incredible.

[@georginawhitby1320]

7.55 - the beginning of the gamer , with the commentary strangely more evocative of the shut-ins of today .

[@steveforest8385]

His ambition was to be the 'top harmonica player in this country' (7:02). Different times indeed.

[@bohsgerry]

a Mod in the first clip,followed by Rockers..lastly beatniks who were later to develop into Hippies.Beatniks were also called Hipsters.Originally jazz freaks in the '50's based around popular American social commentators and writers like Burroughs,Kerouac.Ginsburg etc later developed into folk and blues protagonists.Drugs an important side interest for them.

[@tetrahedron1000]

The beatniks were really a bit before my time, although I had read Kerouac and Ginsberg, so this was interesting for me to see. A bit like hippies.

[@Catherineone]

That was the word for young people who hang out in the clubs in London and listen to music in the early 60s thats why he keeps asking are you a Beatnik ? There were a few clubs in Earls Court from what I remember. Long time ago

[@markstuber4731]

They sure did love the blues in England in the 60s.

[@milascave2]

mark: perhaps, but this wasn't acutaly blues that was being played in this clip.

[@davesalisbury7361]

Mods come from the term used for those that were into modern jazz ,modernists. True mods as they became were into British rnb.

[@1061andy]

and r n b too - American soul records that still get played today.

[@karlaberry9194]

What genre of music was being played in this video?

[@allancerf9038]

Well done Long-Haired, Larry and thanks!

[@emmettify]

yes, the comment was from Ray, the harp player. he later joined a popular band, (Downliners Sect) but plays no more due to serious illness years ago but is well now. He married and divorced twice, still in London. We reunited for a day last summer (2012) after decades and there's a fuzzy video of that meeting on youtube. The film was definitely an exploitation movie but still it's a wonderful time capsule for me 47 years later.

[@fromchomleystreet]

Do you still get the guitar out and knock out a few folk classics from time to time, Emmett?

[@1810to1849]

Beatniks emerged from the jazz culture, this is hippy culture. Beatnik music had more than three chords. A lot more! Thankfully.

[@themaggattack]

Dave Pickell... it's not really hippy culture yet either. It's just wanna be culture.

[@himagain803]

Hmm, you need to do a bit more research on modernists methinks.

[@themaggattack]

Him Again- I was raised by hippies. Yep, right there in the belly of the beast. Trust me, I've done my research. 😉

[@milascave2]

Dave: This was right when beatnik culture was about to morph into the full-blown hippy culture. It wasn't quite there yet, the music is still folk, it's still acoustic. The hair is long but would get longer. As for Beatnic music, you are talking about Jazz. The beatniks loved it, but they didn't play it. They were writers, and poets, not musicions. The most they did was beat bongo drums while somebody read a poem. This playing folk music on a guitar is pretty much folkie culture, which was just about to morph into a hippy culture.

[@milascave2]

whataworld: Oh, so was I and believe me, they were not all the same. There were plenty of subtypes.

[@WizLaudan73]

Great video. Loved the blues singers

[@Mimijohnsoneosdgs]

Os poetas beatnicks tentavam transformar em palavras, a emoção do Jazz que ouviam nos bares; depois se apropriaram da música Folk para dar cadência a sua própria narrativa e fala.

[@noomah4790]

I love these great movements in your world!

[@andymarin6725]

This whole video is like a Who song. I love it!

[@vgee3991]

what are these kiddie avatars

[@NoosaHeads]

Probably succumbed to suburban mediocrity. Gets us all in the end. (Pun intended)

[@jasonlieberman4606]

It's not the cloth they were cut from, but Pete has said that he wrote Quadrophenia largely to pay tribute to the youth cultures of the people who had given The Who vital support in their early days

[@nope1083]

8:00 I think they would be today's gamer that plays WoW and doesn't leave the house.

[@pheart2381]

I love that comment"if people love each other they are married".

[@indy5624]

The 60s had it all when it came to fashions,youth and teenage cults, Mods,Rockers,Hippies beatniks , and finally Skinheads.

[@WizLaudan73]

"that pothead Peter polishing the keys to the pad" love that lol

[@brogandaugherty-kelly1062]

he nailed how most are today there at the end but with phones vs a pinbAll !! I hope these cats got even cooler with age!! love and light!! they were jamming!!

[@allancerf9038]

dude at 2:01 does a fine Dylan.

[@Flyingwithoutmings]

Allan Cerf I thought it was him at first

[@daddy2jake]

7 people are such social outcasts they can't be categorized.

[@brendaoconnell4319]

1964-1967 over Eel Pie Island was the best of life

[@tetrahedron1000]

Please remind me what Eel Pie Island is or was. I've heard that name somewhere before.

[@ruongluesteve]

@@tetrahedron1000 It's an Island on the Thames at Twickenham , back in the 60s there was a hotel there that used to put on gigs, most famously by the Rolling Stones in their early years. You used to access it by a footbridge and I seem to remember they had a mini moke that just about fitted on there to carry the bands gear.

[@e.jenima7263]

It amazes me that they are teenagers! These kids all look like they are already in there mid too late 30's ! My mom said her parents who were about as old as these kids at the time looked by the time they were in there mid 20's looked worn out and spent (banding,teeth falling out,sagging, wrinkling) ...very odd.It is weird too me because I am the compleat opposite, I am not trying to glote or boste or anything but it is weird to me because I am almost 25 and I look way younger than I actually am,I guess It is true what they say genetics and lifestyle determine everything with your health and appearance.Grate Film reel thanks to whoever uploaded this.

[@milascave2]

The sixties was when Beatnics kind of morphed into folkies.

[@tetrahedron1000]

Well, Dylan was influenced by Kerouac and Ginsberg, as well as by Woody Guthrie and others.

[@richardl772]

Agreed. Beatniks were a 50’s phenomenon........

[@tmac8892]

im not a mod, im not a rocker, im a mocker.

[@ancientfemme5512]

YASSS

[@nurlindafsihotang49]

i am neither a geek nor a nerd, i am a gerd

[@steveforest8385]

I'm a rod.

[@Unsujetoquecomenta]

t mac Ringo Starr.

[@jamesphillips3014]

Just think those youngsters are now in their late 70's!

[@emmettify]

yes Moggy, I believe they are still playing, and their ex guitarist, Terry Clemson, also has a facebook Downliners site with lots of pics. Glad you like the clip, the pub is "the Duke of York" in Soho, London.

[@MrBraffZachlin]

the ultimate irony is that jeans a t-shirt and no body art is now the most non-conformist you can be. everyone else is trying to be somebody else, not themselves, as they would say. i saw this as a kid. i was a skater & loved punk, metal...all music really, but to make my point punk and metal were associated with the skater "scene" back in the day. even then i just dressed in jeans or dockers, and a t-shirt. i felt all these other kids tried to hard fit in. it should never be about clothes.

[@user-ov1mt9oo1m]

fashion is fun and if you buying from thrift stores then you're not hurting the environment or anyone

[@MrBraffZachlin]

@@user-ov1mt9oo1m lol bruh, the environment? hurt ppl? all i am im talking about the mental state of the type of person who wears a "uniform" to fit the scene they are or want to be a part of

[@stev1963hit]

Man would' love to be in that fecking boozer right now! Brilliant piece of history thanks

[@alexcamichel7771]

mate be there with ya love the place wont find a fucking pub like that no more ,there all full of kids and people siiting down eating bhamburgers

[@Thecuriousincident1]

I wonder where Micahel the poet is now and what he is doing.

[@maurodriguesxr]

Thecuriousincident1 he probably got a deadly overdose in the 70s.

[@staypress]

+Thecuriousincident1 he is polishing the keys pothead peters pad man

[@brokensilence6790]

Probably a bank manager paying himself huge bonuses every year. Got his own parking space with 'Mike The Poet' painted on it.

[@craigsmith157]

@@maurodriguesxr He's probably a Conservative Republican sell-out.

[@Angie-GoneSoon]

Probably a Dad several times, and now a granddad... Or as Paul McCartney's grandkids say, "grandude!" LoL

[@TheVerveIndex]

Cheers for the clip! Just saw the movie on Fandor for free.

[@moggy23]

@emmettify Thank you so much for your comments, good sir! My apologies for not getting back to you sooner, I have been a bit slack on here for a while. Needless to say, your input has been most valuable on this amazing piece of footage that blew me away when I first saw it, and felt obliged to share. I remember seeing The Downliner's Sect at a local pub oooh 1990 or thereabouts? They didn't disappoint. I take it they're still going now in some form if they have a website... (?)

[@growlerthe2nd712]

Mod is actually short for modernists or modern jazz enthusiasts, good footage though 🇬🇧👍

[@stevethwaites3497]

Every body seemed to be labelled as to how they dressed and who they hung around with not so much today.

[@gustavobro2484]

And we were the hippies man, still am☮️❤️🙂

[@matrags]

@emmettify Cheers for the info mate, I'll check him/them out.

[@tintriumph]

LOVE THE PIPE!

[@thatchersbastardchildmrsco5227]

Thanks

[@timpenfield5]

Great stuff,

[@JuarezsantossousaSousa]

super sensacional..

[@emmettify]

@matrags the guy on harp is Ray Sone from London, England, he later joined a blues/rock band, the Downliners Sect. (they have a website)...no it's not Pete Townsend.

[@user820109]

the last 30 seconds are prophetic..

[@WizLaudan73]

Beatniks eventually became the hippies.

[@sambradley2975]

The Mods weren't necessarily Hippies or Beatniks, they were in between. We didn't have too many of that here in America. Rockers were like the Greasers of the '50s,but with longer hair, mostly bikers. Beatniks were the bridge between the jazzbos of the '30s & '40s, & the folkies & hippies of the '60s.

[@suburbanguy]

Yeah

[@MichaelLantz]

We're the vast majority of the youths in Britain Mods,Rockers or Beatniks in the mid 1960's?

[@moggy23]

Probably 'squares', I reckon, but out of the 3, and this is purely guesswork, having been born early '60s, I'm thinking Mods probably had more appeal and possibly more acceptibility in the era.

[@thecatalunya1]

+Michael Lantz mods or rockers ...beatniks a few...

[@Angus1966]

How can that be when every Mod who happened to be silly enough to walk down my street got battered.

[@helenloughton2418]

I was born in1964 .my generation where I was raised was biker rockers.mods did not exist

[@tefllife2024]

Looks like Beatniks set the fashion for the 70s.

[@nurlindafsihotang49]

so basically all rebels fought to established new norm and society, and then when they did became establishment...they ended up disliked it? and the next generation rebels repeated the cycle. solid proof that human is a hamster :)

[@LiuLoki]

@ Now the young people are not rebels, they're just conformist's

[@margotdias2110]

QUE TEMPO BOM,PARECEM MEUS AMIGOS DA JUVENTUDE.

[@elmowyserodrigues6309]

Gosto muito desses movimentos, guria!

[@Unsujetoquecomenta]

Margot Dias Rock and Roll!!!!. 🤘

[@tominrochester]

What a plug for group conformity at the end by the narrator. 'If you don't want to be put in one of 3 rigid categories and therefore reduced to a label, you must be a freak who doesn't know himself.' No wonder Townsend wrote the line "hope I die before I get old"

[@scotpens]

BTW, Pete Townshend is now 72 -- and very much alive.

[@kensims4086]

+scotpens what about his computer with the child porn..."I was researching for a book" yea..

[@emmettify]

@staypress well, I seem to recall, the hair took a lot of work, (backcombing, lacquer etc.) hadn't been playing more than 2 years by then but took to it quite quickly. I'm a lot better now generally but I 'm sure my flatpicking would not be as good as I don't use that style anymore. Yes, I was a bit out of place, just a "weekend beatnik"!

[@scdevon]

Cute Mod chicks. That one at 4:45 !!!!

[@allancerf9038]

moggy23 how was it established as 65.' i certainly except that it is (and the remarkably mature, CALM opinions of the 'youth's in Britain in this thing are quite refreshing) thought the fashions look much later than 65.' but it is 65,' huh? great stuff!

[@staypress8611]

yes 1965

[@editor108]

Valuable historical clips. (That Dylan cover's torture, though!)

[@emmetthennessy9962]

absolutely no "Dylan" here, learn your music, then comment.

[@yintontiddlyipo]

A generation literally smoking themselves to death.

[@darthdennis6681]

6:44- Axel's British "familiar " from '65...

[@TheAnn2shoes]

I wonder where they all are now?

[@matmc71]

Graham Coxon at 4.10!

[@nogingerfool1]

wonder what larry is up to now , hope hes well x

[@Hallicj]

"The charging restless mute unvoiced road keening in a seizure of tarpaulin power." ~ Jack Kerouac's favorite line from "On The Road" Take to the road with The Halli Casser-Jayne Show #The Beat Generation. bit.ly/beatspreak

[@LiuLoki]

Wow a dude with earring in 1965

[@robertcook2572]

Pete and Dud!

[@billallen2126]

'the downliner sect' were excellent.

[@kiethblack3870]

Is this the same "Primitive London" that Basil Kirchin did his usual freaky 'jazz-waltz' music? So much cool mind blowing stuff came out of ONE decade! Cor! [:-)]

[@duffbaker9554]

Not sure but is that a young Hugh Cornwell (later of Stranglers fame) at 7:56 playing pinball? Sure looks like him!

[@BBsBlues]

It's like him..but definitely not him.

[@TheAnn2shoes]

I thought beatniks were over by 1965.

[@MickSupper]

How’s that if they were from different generations? Something doesn’t just turn into something else.

[@allancerf9038]

nonamefitz - you'll have to search as I'm so busy the next few weeks. I'll try to find it if I get a free moment.

[@allancerf9038]

Brenda O'Connell - is this film authentic in your view? not a later-day re-enactment. i can scarcely believe how wonderful this time seems to be.

[@staypress]

+0LolaLola yes it really was filmed in 1964 at the duke of york pub off of tottenham court road as part of a film called primitive london

[@ScotDail]

Great clip... but I'd like to see the Rockers cut also! Do you have it around?

[@miguelalmeida9771]

i am going to join the beat generation

[@ichaffee1]

British youth loved American blues more than the American's did..

[@1funkyflyguy]

Facts.

[@moggy23]

Don Craine definitely (recognised the deer-stalker hat)

[@michaelcraig9449]

Do they still have the mods and rockers in England, what about the teddy boys? I know the beats long ago became hippies, and that went out for a while, but is back in style again.

[@podmanic44]

Skiffle….groovy

[@jaydozz]

That song was mad hahaha

[@staypress]

hi do you know know what date this was filmed and also what documentary it came from. by the way nice guitar playing Emmet and great mod hair. I think u looked a bit out of place in there

[@rosemaryfraser1]

A fuzzy video Emmett ??? !!! That was because the sun was streaming through the open curtains behind you, not my filming !!!

[@mgore90]

£8 a night -- £154 in today's money. Kind of wish I was a beatnik!

[@russell-di8js]

Didn't the teds wear a bit of colour way b4 these mid 60s clips??

[@p3tr0114]

@1:45 "...but their very revolt serves to emphasise the norms against which they proclaim their rejection." Anyone know what that mean?

[@Mojomatrix]

Is Bill Burford in the beginning ?

[@sambradley2975]

This was before "The MOD SQUAD".

[@mclovin8739]

3:40 he looks like he could be julian barrats dad

[@loempiavreter]

@emmettify You guys did look a bit out of place among those lot in the pub (and you played blues!)? Where you beatniks or mods?

[@ClearAutumnFestival]

When the conservative mind-set takes hold in a culture, anything that is different is perceived as a threat and must be ridiculed by the establishment ...

[@Czechmate1967]

Whop are the two dudes singing in the bar?

[@WizLaudan73]

Did the two blues singers ever record any vinyl?

[@johnnyjabsco1999]

5:18 Reminds me of Jake Bug.

[@user-dc1dw2np1w]

😮1965, wow, some mens got really long hair 😮😮😮for 1965, that guy in 6:28 uou could easily think he is a time traveler from 2010

[@LastTree]

Interesting. Every guy stops in his trax when asked about commitment. Not one interviewed wanted to say anything about it.

[@soioioioioioio34]

I'd deff be a beatnik

[@matrags]

@matrags I may be thinking of Pete Townsend.

[@allancerf9038]

there's a guy with a flat cap on leaning against a pillar and blurred. looks like Ginger Baker!! Probably is not, but identical.

[@frodolives6671]

What time?