In reality, the British Mod movement has been many things, and has had many different essences. The majority of British authors affirmed that: the movement is born in late 50’s, derived from the expression “modern jazz”, and the pivotal place was the Flamingo Club in London. The same authors described the conflicts with the Rockers, and the affinity with the Skinheads, some of the British juvenile movements of the 60’s and the 70’s. The connections with Beatniks, fashion, Italian moto-scooters, the so-called Swinging London, Mary Quant, recreational abuse of amphetamines, and consumerism are always underlined. After having read a lot about Mods, I have logically deduced other things, that have exerted a big importance in pop music, and from which the global success and influence of the cited movement is evidently derived.
The Flamingo Club was traditional, and the music was provided by bands playing live. In my opinion, that’s not an innovation, bringing more modernity. Differently, the distinctive trait of the most influential Mods has been musical consumerism. There was sort of fetishisms provoked by the earliest hi-fi turntables, and by the rarest singles at 45 RPM. Thanks to that fetishism, and to the explosion of pirate radio stations, the new profession of nightclub DJ emerged. The very first professional nightclub DJ was Mr. Guy Stevens, who invented the kind of activity around the year 1962. He was a record collector, who decided to reprint rare American records on his own label (the Sue Records), and to advertise the records themselves by playing them with turntables at the Scene Club, Soho London, according to the style of pirate radios, in order to gain money from selling the reprints. As you can imagine, the jukeboxes of the coffee shops were soon forgotten, because not functional to the promotion of industrial records. However, the coffee shops have exerted a notable role, the popularization of spending the night for entertainment and socialization, that was transferred to nightclubs. Another peculiarity of Mods was a new way of adapting to their tastes the psychedelic mystique, proper of the USA (see the home page). Thus, in the early 60’s, two new concepts took place, the idea of legal highs, and the idea of chemical euphoria, later developed with MDMA and rave culture. In effect, original British Mods were heavy consumer of amphetamines, at the time yet legal, mixed with barbiturates. The result of the described mixture was nicknamed “purple heart”, and was commercialized under the name of “Drinamyl”. Purple hearts had some advantages, among which the maintenance of a state of lucidity, attention, and readiness, that could last for hours.
It's true that disco music is born in NYC, but it is unconceivable without the features of the Mod movement, above explained. In effect, the earliest disco DJ was Mr. Terry Noel, a nightclub go-go dancer who was asked to repeat at the Arthur Club in Manhattan the same praxes of London, Manchester, and so on. With other words, in the year 1965, Mr. Noel was substituting with turntables the typical band playing live. Causally, he had a personal sensibility for music, and a notable inventive, that led him to the creation of a continuous flux of music, by mixing one record to another. The kind of technique remained unknown all over the UK, until the early 80’s. The know-how of Mr. Noel was taken, adapted, and improved by the men of the mob, and then disco music was born.
In conclusion, the most influent part of the UK Mod movement has been the fetishist love for audio equipment, and for collecting vinyl records, without which the profession of nightclub DJ has no sense. The mix of the page is an example of the preferences of Mods in the matter of jazz music. Of course, there you can listen a lot of rarities, and of lesser-known musicians. Even if the most recent selection dates back to 1969, the mix is completely new, because each track is mixed on the beat, a praxis totally unknown to Mod DJs, who were imitating the DJs of pirate radios.
File name “a new point of view about Mod jazz, by Max Look DJ (Aug 2025)”, 1 hour 21’ and 30” of fantastic jazz-fusion, that animated the nights of British Mods in the 60’s.
Get into the jazz groove, the playlist:
Dale Cunningham - too young (1958)
Freddie Roach - one track mind (1966)
Googie Rene Combo - soul zone ’65 (1965)
T-Bone Walker - shake it baby (1969)
Bobby Parker - steal your heart away (1961)
Gate Wesley & Band - do the thing (1966)
Eric Kloss with Don Patterson, Groove Holmes, and Pat Martino - just for fun-k (1966)
Jackie Ivory Trio - high heel sneakers (1966)
Jimmy McGriff - hallelujah (1966)
Ella Fitzgerald - one note samba (samba de uma nota so, 1969)
Richard Groove Holmes - misty (1965)
Nina Simone - come on back Jack (1961)
Jimmy Coe - cold jam for breakfast (1966)
Johnny Hammond Smith Septet - dirty apple (1967)
Curtis Amy - mustang (1967)
Hank Jacobs - east side (1967)
Johnny Scott & his Orchestra - Punjab (1965)
Fred Ramirez - comin' home baby (1967)
The Merits - Arabian jerk (1965)
Jerome Richardson - sunny (1968)
Richard Berry - crazy lover (1955)
Playboy Five - spoonful (1964)
Ray Bryant - shake a lady (1964)
Merl Saunders - soul roach (1966)
Montego Joe - fat man (1964)
