Mods: Quadrophenia

The New York Times today (August 26, 2012) announces the reissue of the classic film about the Mods, Quadrophenia (1979), out on Blueray and DVD this Tuesday.

The film, says The Times, "concerns little more than a skinny 18-year-old West Londoner trying to track down some blues (speed) for one of these seaside gatherings turned tabloid-covered riots [between Mods and Rockers]. But the emotions that “Quadrophenia” elicits and its role in converting troubled souls to smartly dressed members of a movement (one with its own chant: “We are the Mods! We are the Mods!”) can be as forceful as the waves that open both the film and the Who’s 1973 double album...

Hallmarks of its style have included military-style parkas (often worn over pinstripe Italian suits), Clarks desert boots, Fred Perry polos, Vespa and Lambretta scooters, and bangs (for men and women)...

the film is driven largely by period music, stuff actual Mods would dance to: Booker T. and the MGs, the Ronettes."

Here's the trailer for the reissued version. Gorgeous.



And from the film's soundtrack, "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes.


Also from the soundtrack: Booker T and the MGs' "Green Onions."

Sony Walkman Commercials

1983?



The only cassette player as small as a cassette case.

My first Sony:




Japanese commercial, very 1980s.



A long Japanese one: