Why I grew out of being a Mod

A QUIET night in with Quadrophenia instead of messing about with old cars hasn’t changed anything. I’m still not convinced by scootering.

Anyone who hasn’t seen this film really ought to expand their DVD collection but for your sake, I’ll explain that it’s essentially The Who’s exploration of the Mods/Rockers clashes that got the tabloids in a tizzy in the mid Sixties. To this day it’s still used as inadvertent advertising for the joys of riding an old scooter, but don’t be fooled. Being a Mod isn’t cool and rebellious. Being a Mod is rubbish.

I know this because in the heady days of 2005 I was one, and I did all the things you do after getting drunk on too much Quadrophenia. I bought a parka and a three-pin suit. I listened to The Kinks a lot. And one day – after almost no research at all – I stumped up an exorbitant amount of money on something called a Vespa PX125. All I didn’t buy was the t-shirt.

Maybe I was blinded by sun bouncing off the chrome and the mirrors but it was brilliant bit of kit, even it had electrics with a mind of their own and a top speed of barely more than 55, although you were never sure because the speedo was always breaking. It’s still the least reliable thing I’ve ever owned, but I loved it.

Even now I’ll still look longingly at a Lambretta if I see one parked in the street, but then I remember why I got rid of mine in the first place. Being a Mod isn’t about youthful rebellion. It’s about money and being middle aged.

All the Mod meets I went to didn’t have a Jimmy or Ace Face anywhere, but they did have plenty of people who’d taken their Vespas there in trailers towed by BMWs and Range Rovers. The scooterists who’d rode theirs every day I could count with one hand.

What I reckoned Mod was all about – being modern, liberal, fun – just wasn’t there with these guys, who turned their noses up at anyone who didn’t wear a very specific style of suit and didn’t dig Northern Soul. It was like being knocked back on a night out.

In the end I reckoned the slogan on Quadrophenia’s cover sleeve was right after all; it is, as it so eloquently puts it, A Way Of Life.

It just wasn’t the one I was expecting.