SKINS: A Way Of Life

Patrick Potter

Hardback 192 pages

1969 is happening again…
A collection of never before seen images capturing the defiant spirit and eccentric creativity of British youth.
This book covers the historical and political landscape and looks at the attitude/beliefs/ideology and aesthetics of the scene.
1966 Mod culture was dying. England won the world cup. The psychedelic wave of hippy culture was rising. But it did not appeal to all the kids. Not the ones from the rougher new estates…
Don’t give me your hippy revolution. I don’t trust it. You can tune in and drop out because you know daddy can bail you out later. I’m gonna work hard and I’m gonna play harder. You keep the LSD and I’ll keep the speed. You keep Pink Floyd and I’ll have Desmond Dekker. There ain’t gonna be no revolution.
There ain’t gonna be no classless society. But we don’t care.
We’ve got the pub, the terrace and the Mecca dancehall on a Saturday night. We will always have our neighbourhoods, our communities – we’ll always have each other.
SPIRIT OF ‘69.
WE HAVE OUR PRIDE. WE HAVE OUR RESPECT.
WE KNOW HOW TO FIGHT.
We’re proud to be British and Not in the way the politically correct think.
We love Jamaican street style. We love American soul music. We wear German boots. And I’ll tell you a secret…a lot of us used to be Mods.
Above all: WE LOVE THE MUSIC.
Trojan records, launched in 1968, becomes the symbol of the original skinhead movement. Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae and Dub were outsider scenes that attracted working class outsider youth. They laid the foundations for all the British subcultures that followed.
The SKINS have never been more relevant. In a time when we are sold the lie that all working class people are racists, and that all cultural movements come from art school kids with professional parents – it’s time for the spirit of ‘69 to shine again.