Soul Boys

[MARK LUETCHFORD]

Listening to Karl's tape from August 1984 http://peel.wikia.com/wiki/Karl's_Tape_August_1984 reminds me of the soul boy movement of the late 70s/early 80s - it was part of the myriad of youth movements (punk, mod, ska, skins, freaks, new romantics, goths, post-punk etc ) of the time and I was, for a while, a follower - deck shoes or moccasins, white socks, primary colour baggy jeans or ones with piping down the legs, and primary colour jumper and cap sleeve tshirts, wedge haircut - the more extreme wore burgundy slacks, and loafers! I was never much of a dancer so was very much adopting the look and I quickly moved on to overcoats, pencil thin ties and suits.

Soul/funk was kool for a while - Peel sometimes played the sort of tracks I listened to at the time but some looked down on the good time attitude and there was also the accusation that it was ignored by the middle class music press (although I think Paul Morley was a supporter) and radio 1 that is repeated here.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soulboy


The tribalism was mad - I was chased down local high street by some skins intent on beating me to a pulp for wearing the baggy jeans!


Mark