history of ska

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Skinheads - John King

The Nineties had belonged to the children of the hippies, drugged-up flower-power babies charging top dollar for peace and love. The offspring of the skins and punks and football hooligans were claiming the new century." At a time when "white English working-class culture" or a reductive, demeaning interpretation thereof is under the media microscope, any novelist who can enlighten the rest of the world as to the realities behind the smug generalisations of both left and right should not only be treasured, but heeded.Once it may have been sufficient to describe John King as "the nation's finest writer of football fiction", but he long since transcended this classification. King's achievement since his debut has been enormous: creating a modern, proletarian English literature at once genuinely modern, genuinely proletarian, genuinely English and genuinely literature. His novels immerse his readers in the stream of consciousness of people who, as routinely depicted in the media, barely have consciousness at all.

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skins by gavin watson

In the early 1980s, teenager Gavin Watson began to take photographs of his mates, the Wycombe Skins. His thousands of shots candidly document a subculture which is often misunderstood by the mainstream. A collection of these images, Skins by Gavin Watson, was first published in 1994. This autumn, a totally updated version with dozens of previously unpublished photographs has been published. Gavin Watson and his publishers, Independent Music Press, have kindly agreed to let us share a selection of these images with you.

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Skinhead - Nick Knight

Nick Knight's photographs of Skinheads in the East End of London in 1981. Includes a history of the fashions associated with skins from the sixties onwards and a discography.

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DANCING With SKINHEADS

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GEORGE MARSHALL - SKINHEAD NATION

As a lot of people reading this will already know, the first book published by S.T. Publishing was Spirit Of ‘69 - A Skinhead Bible back in 1991. Originally, a mainstream publisher in London was going to release it, but after a few months of pissing me about, I decided to do it myself. I wrote Spirit Of ‘69 - A Skinhead Bible not because I think I’m some sort of expert on skinheads, but because I passionately believed that the history of the cult, warts and all, had to be written from the inside. The idea behind Spirit Of ‘69 was to offer a view of the cult from within, and one so detailed that it would stand proud amidst the reams and reams of complete nonsense that have been written about skinheads over the years. The end result was a book that covered the history of the cult and its music from the late Sixties to the present day, and one that celebrated the skinhead way of life without dodging any issues or pulling any punches. It isn’t perfect, but is now acknowledged as the most accurate guide to the cult currently available, and certainly comes far closer to the truth than countless newspaper headlines have ever done.Skinhead Nation is in many ways both a companion to Spirit Of ‘69 and an opportunity to concentrate more on the individuals that make up the cult, rather than the events and music that have shaped its history. The hope is that Skinhead Nation will show skinheads as the individuals they are, and celebrate the skinhead cult as it was in various parts of the world in the mid 1990s. Like Spirit Of ‘69, Skinhead Nation is far from a complete guide to the skinhead way of life and it’s not perfect, but again I’ve done my best, and if just one person reads this and walks away with a better understanding of the skinhead cult then it has been worth doing. 

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Spirit of '69: A SKINHEAD BIBLE BOOK

Ahh the Skinheads, who gets them? Portrait as thugs, bandits, violents, a little bit crazy, but the girls love them; all of it a bit true, or at least to some. Around 1965, the Mod culture was going for a split, it was coming to a downfall and some were forced continue with what the Mod scene was turning. By the late 60's some Mods had become hippys, and the ones that were still loyal to the cult did not wanted to be part of what it was turning into. Some Mods started to cut their hair shorter, wearing boots instead of shoes, and formed their own gangs. They were no longer Mods, but HARD Mods. Which it was just an early name for the Skinheads. As the late 60's were passing by and the 70's was moving in, the skins ruled the streets of England, becoming one of the most popular cult for working class kids. George Marshall, a skinhead from Glasgow, Scotland, released his master piece in 1994 titled 'Spirt of 69: A Skinhead Bible'. Explaining the rise of the Skinhead movement in England. Talking about the early days of the skins, and the adoptation of Jamaican music, to the glorious days of Oi!. The book is based on his personal stories, getting in contact with some of the people that lived the "Skinhead Days". A very good book if you want to know about the skinhead culture. The term 'Spirit of 69' was first said by the gang 'Glasgow Spy Kids' from Scotland. A crew that Marshall use to be part of. After the release of the book it became a worldwide term for the Skins from the early days that listen and danced to Reggae music. Marshall also released a continuation of this book, best known as 'Skinhead Nation'. Did not make much success as well as Spirt of 69, but it quickly sold out. Some people follow step by step what the book says, and turning into what Skinhead is. Some forget that is just a personal experience, and he calls him self 'NOT a skinhead god'. But apparently a lot of people skipped those pages. I'll say it again, the book is fantastic. If you really want to know about the Skinhead cult, make sure have some time to read all 176 pages of this book. I hope you like it, 'cause it took me a while to get this book

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PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

PART 7

THE TWO TONE STORY

The Two Tone Story is surely the best known and difinitive publication on the label in existance. George Marshall and his ST Publishing house, with titles such as Zoot, Skinhead Times and Pulped, has written and published books which offer excellent insights into both the label and associated bands. In addition to an excellent telling of the label's story, the book includes many photo's, gig ads, a discography and some nice promotional artwork for various releases. The book was first appeared as a 32 page A5 effort in 1987 through the authors Zoot fanzine. In 1990 the book was expanded upon and printed commercially in A4 format, again via Zoot. In 1993 the book was reproduced yet again as part of the Compact 2 Tone Story. Although the author was obviously delighted to have his work included in an official 2 Tone release, Dammers was less than impressed with the concept of the box set and was quite dismissive of the whole project. The book was subsequently published in a smaller square format but has been out of print for some time. 

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The 2-Tone Trail

"This definitive guide maps the roots of2-Tone and is a great read" All you need to know about Coventry's 2-Tone locations Includes many exclusive quotes from the likes of Jerry Dammers,Horace Panter,Neville Staple, Roddy Radiation, Lynval Golding, Pauline Black and Roger Lomas.Foreword by former Selecter main-man Neol Davies.In association with Coventry Council and CV One.

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