Roots of The Skinhead

A clip from the movie "Skinhead Attitude" Laurel Aitken and Buster from Bad Manners talk about the original skinheads and how it began.

[@alexmcb0311]

I'm proud to say I saw Laurel Aitken twice!!

[@karlschneider9479]

I feel so lucky to have opened and toured with both Laurel Aitken and Buster! Laurel was my idol, my friend and my mentor. My old group served as his backing band in 99 on his last tour of the States.

[@NewZealandWild]

I loved watching that.I'm an old skin from way back and have heaps of old Jamaican ska. Also saw Bad Manners a couple of years back and met Buster Bloodvessel. AWESOME!

[@NawfGoon]

it warms my heart when the skinhead gets up and sings with laurel

[@vbbskmk]

Very good video! Spread it around, let the kids around the world know that the original skinhead movement was NOT racist. I just have one complaint, there's an error in the german subtitles, Mr. Aitken does not say "Popeye hat" but a PORK PIE HAT (it's the hat he's wearing on 4:32). It's part of the ska/rude boy image. I have one, too

[@aek9535]

I saw Laurel Atkins while I was stationed in Germany, one of the best shows I have EVER been to.

[@berzerker1100]

Grafenwehr! JAWOHL 🇩🇪

[@whocareswho]

Very nice indeed to see there's vids like this around. I'm not a skinhead myself, but the boneheads make me sick by the way they drag decent people through the sewer. Move your feet to the ska beat!

[@Parley454]

saw laurel aitken in maryland in I think 99 with the allstonians backing him up, what an amazing show it was.

[@skannkylilly]

THANK YOU Great video..took me back to my youth..great music the other night i went passed a pub that had a ska night on and there was some ole boot boys in there and i was shall i shant i and i froze at the door feeling like i was 10 again with a afro and thinkin what if this is so the wrong crowd but after this great video and the amazing comments next time im not walking past if prince busters on.

[@krippekratz79]

@ aggocontrol: The song is "Skinhead" by Laurel Aitken, the godfather of Ska (R.I.P.).

[@mistaben2k]

Laurel Aitken was an undiscovered GENIUS..

[@NewZealandWild]

This is great stuff. Where on earth did you find it? By the way,I'm an old skin from way back too.

[@conrector]

this interview is from the dvd Skinhead attitude if thats what you wanted to know. It's by far the best docu about skins i've ever seen.

[@Corsec1313]

I've been a black skinhead for 25 years and I can honestly say that nothing in this life will ever break me.

[@teengenerate08]

Top notch video. Long live classic Ska \ Reggae!! I'm no skinhead, but I have been into Ska for 15 years now, and I'm good friends with lots of skins---is this shaving in phenomenon just an American thing? The whole shaving in thing I've heard of before, but only in big American cities, where skins seem to be more gang like

[@giebogi]

cheers from serbia!!! true and sharp!!!

[@oisociety]

its all about moving to the rocksteady beatttttt...

[@Apocalypsedude616]

great guy

[@hardworker291]

watched buster b. live quite a few times when i lived in london ,hes got so much energy onstage .Small clubs were the best ,camden town and i even saw him at the local pub once :) the fox palmers green

[@johnnyb8825]

A great video but Laurel forgot to mention that ska has roots in mento (a Jamaican variant of calypso) as well as in American rhythm'n'blues. Ska wasn't just a Jamaican offshoot of black American music. It had home-grown Caribbean roots too.

[@ctsamurai]

anyone know how/where I can pick up a copy of this movie/ special?

[@coldironhands1]

Laurel Aitken is awesome.

[@buster762]

I love Laurel Aitkeen alot, never had the Pleasure to see him Live and am very sad about that!

[@jellecustomized]

great video!

[@dzonirege]

R.I.P. Laurel Spirit of '69

[@JakeViciousPB]

Yeah you just have to love Ska Music! But when you go to a ska concert now a days in germany, you only see white boys and girls. We need more black skinheads again!

[@Usernameunavailableyoubastards]

Buster (Dougie) is a top geezer, he drinks in my local pub sometimes.

[@LiesMakeBabyJesusCry]

@IAmThe1337zor I'm pretty sure that skinheads came about after Europe was recovering from the war due to class differences in England, and Martens was a medic in the army. The boots aren't for combat, and were a business venture by him.

[@anarckia]

Great history

[@theeuprise]

this is awesome! ska music will save the world!

[@thelocosger]

even if you speak french or english! watch it..its really really good movie

[@mlb1mhs]

northdeer- ya got a damn good point....you gotta remember most of these kids are in fact kids and havent been around long enough..or ever to start actually thinking

[@oldblue1346]

largo de mi pais bonehead!!

[@emperor536]

A lot of people may not know not even the blacks themselves but that's one of the reason that blacks still keep their hair low cut was because of the skinhead rudeboy influence that was so strong...because traditionally black men kept their hair as Afros and in Plats( in the caribbean).....but the rudeboy and skinhead influence changed all of that , it not only changed their dress code but also it was now a style to have low cut hair. Only now with Hip Hop culture that plats/braid are returning

[@KP5000]

the biggest point of confusion is that trads (traditional, working-class), sharps (skinheads against racial prejudice - basically the same as trads... think it's a regional thing) & neo-nazi's (or "hammerskins") all go by the term "skinhead." this is obviously confusing, as it's two groups who believe in two completely different things. unfortunately (because their violence makes the news more often), most uninformed people think that everyone with a shaved head and suspenders is a racist.

[@Antitodo2889]

Laurel Rulez!

[@gyia]

yo quero el documental completo via bittorrent, porfavor!

[@BOOTMAMA]

I'M HAVING TROUBLE COPYING THE URL FOR MY MYSPACE PAGE(I KNOW, I KNOW..THAT LAST SENTENCE ALONE WAS HORRIBLE..HAHA..) IS THERE ANY OTHER WAY???

[@aag313]

Huh. 16 years old boy from Norway. Yeah, you got me convinced about everything.

[@af69wr]

AMEN BROTHA!~

[@maricampari3970]

Educate others, honor the tradition and take the word "skinhead" back from Aryan racists. True Trad Skinhead ideals are progressive, not regressive nazi garbage. Love from this rude-girl to any trad skinheads reading the comments!

[@MFCepicTV]

That would imply going outside and meeting people face to face.

[@ska4fun]

Nice!!! Very nice!!! SKA4FUN!

[@Czechmate1967]

@veedub447 No he he's right in a way - Laurel started as a singer of R n B. His earliest records in the late 50's are Rhythm and Blues. He sang Ska and Rocksteady later.

[@kkkkkkko]

souhlas je to dobrý video!

[@mongobobo]

'politics' is a term that convicts use to talk about inmate relations.

[@MacoLocito]

whats the name the bands??? :D

[@aggrocontrol]

What's the band and song name at the start of the video?

[@moonstomper13]

that's what we need to bring back. Oi Oi, black or white we must unite. Bring back the spirit of 69'

[@XEpikurX]

@boot2mouth Totally agree..!

[@TerryKoss32]

Where can I find the version of Skinhead that's in this video? I prefer it to the studio version

[@LeninGols]

I don't understand what the video said! :S anybody can traslate to spanish... pleaseee!!! :)

[@monsterstinker]

@Czechmate1967 Wow, I completely forgot that I commented on this video. Crazy it was already 3 years ago. Thanks for responding! What part of the republic are you from?

[@colinchapman16]

true

[@valfch]

Enfin des vrais skins ! =)

[@Czechmate1967]

@2pactheking400 There were no "middle easterns" in the UK in the 60's - there are not many now and they mostly live around Edgware not many skinheads in that bit of west london.

[@asubjectiveopinion]

@redredreds100 lol I grew up in Southend in the 70s and I remember just how big some of those punch-ups were.

[@hanesmanhimself]

Last bad manners song?

[@GutturalReef]

Happy.

[@reculvertowers]

when i first became a skinhead over 30 years ago it was all about the style of dress ,the music ,it had nothing to do with RACISM ,i still dress like a original skin now

[@ironfingerzz]

im working on it...

[@mongobobo]

Shoot, I was disscussing how prison politics with someone who said he had spent time inside. I was curious if prison gangs were based on racial boundries like they are here in the states.

[@JFDI1]

Don't let that stop you, t never stopped me mind you that was 27 years ago now, and I was an Oi! Skin.

[@Danof69]

its sad that people think that the old skinhead lifestyle is dead. we will never die. do some homework.

[@junskey]

what band was that?

[@KP5000]

i personally don't label myself as anything. i like a broad range of music and i'm too lazy to dress a certain way on a regular basis anyway. but, i'm friends with skinheads (trads), punk kids, psychobillies, rude boys, etc. - they're all cool in their own right. we should all be united against our fucked-up, corporate-owned government - not fighting amongst ourselves over petty bullshit.

[@Czechmate1967]

@TerryKoss32 Instead try to find a copy of "Skinhead train" also by Laurel - I think it was on the Nu-Beat label.

[@ThePelincrew]

this is by far the best version of "skinhead" i've ever heard! anyone knows where can i find whole song (video, mp3...)? i'd be very grateful!

[@user-jt9vp1un8x]

laureal aitken Skinhead . I know 7 years late but hey . You might still not know I dunno .

[@mongobobo]

The white kids in England started shaving their heads to emulate the way their Jamaican heroes wore their hair.

[@j0nb0y5]

you all are way 2 e-z to piss off haha thanks for all your great comment kkkeep them coming me and my friends get a real kick out of them lol :)

[@AbrahamHick1]

@ironbaby12 Yeah.. I know. Therefore I said it.

[@katze69]

rudeboys are not traditional skins, but form a movement of their own, though quite near skinheads, considered that the first ever skinheads have often been rudeboys before.

[@devonflananagan1873]

That's right. My man just said ska came from New Orleans. EAST BANK HOOLIGAN ARMY.

[@band3kafsh]

Popeye hat??? The German subtitlers weren't listening carefully!

[@Czechmate1967]

@Enbukyoku Skinheads were not "anti-mod"- they were mods.

[@mlb1mhs]

Matt: shut up... grownups are talking

[@KP5000]

r.i.p. godfather

[@katze69]

really?! I haven't seen them in concert since, uh, three or four years ago, he was still very fat then. I hope he's not ill or anything, they're fucking great show on stage

[@Emmoth666]

northdeernyhc, you have to understand that there is a differense between beating up someone for just being a jew or black, and beating up someone that think that it's OK to beat someone up, just because they're black or a jew.

[@modstyle408]

maybe you are right. when i was growing up i had a friend that was hispanich and he had red hair freckles and everything. but he was full blooded mex but look like he was scottish the name MOD was givin by the media and it took off from there,because the the beach riots in 1963, i guess you can say i'm a spirit of 63 and not 69. the name skin-head came later in 1969 but not sure of the origin but thats about the same time Skin-head moonstomp was release on Island records.

[@Isleofskye]

Das is sehr Gut ja!

[@killergorilla82]

"Popeye" hat in the subtitle!!

[@Holzf43ller]

oi oi oi this is skinhead!!!

[@reculvertowers]

its all about LEVI STA-PRESS ,DOC MARTENS ,BROGUES ,LOAFERS, CROMBIE COATS AND RED SILK HANKERCHIEFS ,BRACES (SUSPENDERS)AND THE GREAT MUSIC THAT CAME WITH IT AND MOST OF ALL NON RACIST im 45 years of age now i wasnt one of the original skins but i was pretty close

[@Umskiddy]

Yeah? We're SOUTH LONDON. Still wanna know???

[@Anonymous_Individual01]

CARECAS DO BRASIL OI ! = SHARP

[@Buxbaum666]

Undiscovered? Where do you live, man? :D

[@mongobobo]

do mean to say Wales?

[@mlb1mhs]

yea, define it as you will... but you know what i'm saying

[@modstyle408]

you really want to know the roots, search the video here on you tube soul weekenders. then you know the roots of mod and skinhead

[@57worldwide]

@brokenskull192 Exactly what he said. Racists are racists and shouldn't be confused with skinheads.

[@moinsimion]

@hanesmanhimself apple of my eye i think

[@killalmostwise]

"Popeye-hut" - umm don't you mean "pork-pie hat" ah well, close enough i guess lol

[@jameslewisgd]

hello matt!!

[@monsterstinker]

@Czechmate1967 Oh got it.

[@RompYa]

my friend saw this and he said 'what the fuck are those nazis doing with that black man?'

[@sakin23687]

rip rudeboy

[@Czechmate1967]

@monsterstinker Ah dude I'm not Czech -my wife is hence "Czechmate"

[@Ikpebalo]

the God Father of Ska!!!!!

[@jemoyson]

The skinheads i remember were in the early 80s, they were glue sniffing menaces,who use to think they were hard,with their gay bleached jeans,imagine if ASBOs were around in them days..lol

[@BaronBaanus]

@Czechmate1967 Obviously the rationale I was given was unstaisfory if I did continue lol... I cant remember and frnakly I dont care waht I said lol... it must have been months ago.. Cya champ.

[@gyia]

dstea The skinhead movement came from the move movement. In those years lots of mods become hippy, some of them curted his hair and become "hard mod". These guys becomed the first skinhead under the influense of jamaikan gangs (called rude boys). The skin and the mod movement has been connected to the black music. What is absurd, after the punks some of them turned to rassist and becomed National Front members. They are the boneheads. sorry for my bad english :)