Teddy Boy Rock'n'Roll

[dhermann1]

3 questions

First question: I recall that the name "Teddy Boys" comes from the line in the Buddy Holly song "I'm Ready ready Teddy, to . . . Rock and Roll". Is this true?
Second: How did the Teddies relate to the Rockers of the Mods vs Rockers era? Were the Rockers just latter day Teddies?
Finally, how does the Teddy phenomenon relate to the Skiffle music phenomenon? The Beatles started out as Skifflers (The Quarrymen), and sure looked like Rockers before they got the Pudding Bowl haircuts.
Very interesting stuff. Thanks for the thread.

 

[mike]

Crazy Cavan & the Rhythm Rockers, one of the first and absolutely one of the best teddy boy bands circa mid '70's out of Wales...

Lou Cifer & the Hellions 90's and modern band from Germany...

German Ted family...

Just love these guys style, Dad & Daughter...

 

[mike]

original 50's teds...

Furious, a new band from the UK

some teds from the 1970's rock'n'roll revival...

more assor(ted) stuff...

 

[mike]

When it comes to Teddy Boys, I reckon he'd have to be the ultimate Ted. He introduced me to the sounds of Crazy Cavan, for crying out loud!

Cavan's thee best! How about Flying Saucers?! Men fear time, but time fears the pyramids.. and rawkin sandy ford! hahahha

 

[mike]

First question: I recall that the name "Teddy Boys" comes from the line in the Buddy Holly song "I'm Ready ready Teddy, to . . . Rock and Roll". Is this true?
Second: How did the Teddies relate to the Rockers of the Mods vs Rockers era? Were the Rockers just latter day Teddies?
Finally, how does the Teddy phenomenon relate to the Skiffle music phenomenon? The Beatles started out as Skifflers (The Quarrymen), and sure looked like Rockers before they got the Pudding Bowl haircuts.
Very interesting stuff. Thanks for the thread.

1st - I've also heard they got their name from Elvis' Teddy Bear song but truly, they existed pre-r'n'r in the early 50's and their name is based of of the Edwardian (or Ted for short) look they took over.

2nd - I'm not completely sure. The Ted's original golden era was the 50's while the rockers were truly 60's, although they have their origins in the ton-up boys and coffeebar cowboys of the 50's with the Ace Cafe & the '59 club. The teds continued on through the 60's but didn't really have a major revival until the early 70's with events like the London R'n'R Show at Wembley in 72/73. This was the start of the Rock'n'Roll Revival. All through the 60's though you had some interesting ted bands already performing who didn't find huge audiences until the Rock'n'Roll Revival. Also with the delving into the vaults in the mid 70's by english and european bootleg record companies of original and incredibly rare "rockabilly" you had the beginning of the neo-rockabilly scene in the late 70's which is a whole new chapter. Before that, teddy boys only knew rock'n'roll - the likes of gene vincent, elvis, eddie cochran, bill haley etc.. The American r'n'r that was on big labels that had the distribution ability to get across the Atlantic, remember it was a much MUCH bigger world back then. Even the term rockabilly didn't really exist until this point. Teds often said in the late 70's, they like rockabilly, but not rockabillies, which were 14 year old english rockabilly fans. While the teds were in some cases already 30 or older. So it was a generation gap and it never really closed. I made a documentary a few years ago that focused on a lot of this stuff, and it's evolution into what became psychobilly.

3. I don't know of any connection between Skiffle and Teddy Boys. There's an interesting series called the Beat Before the Beatles that delves into both sounds (also Rockin at the 2 I's.) Lonnie Donegon I haven't heard of many teds appreciating but his early tracks are sure hard to argue with!

Hope these answers shed more light than darkness!

 

[MaryDeluxe]

Thanks for posting Mike! I have enjoyed reading the history and seeing the awesome pictures!

 

[mike]

Thanks for posting Mike! I have enjoyed reading the history and seeing the awesome pictures!

no problem, my pleasure! Please do remember all my comments about them are as general and/or stereotypical as possible. No one fits into the mold entirely, but that's the mold anyways

 

[reetpleat]

Crazy Cavan & the Rhythm Rockers, one of the first and absolutely one of the best teddy boy bands circa mid '70's out of Wales...

Lou Cifer & the Hellions 90's and modern band from Germany...

German Ted family...

Just love these guys style, Dad & Daughter...

This is great. I guess if you hold out long enough, you go form being dangerous juvenile delinquent to distinguished well dressed older gentleman, or at least in appreance.

 

[Sefton]

This is great. I guess if you hold out long enough, you go form being dangerous juvenile delinquent to distinguished well dressed older gentleman, or at least in appreance.

Unless there's a switchblade in that watch pocket!

 

[Alan Eardley]

Reetpleat,

You are correct, that is a very perspicatious observation for someone 'outside of the place and time'. The moral outrage (even the Archbishop of Canterbury used to preach against the phenomenon) that was directed against Teddy Boys was largely because of their working class background. It was, literally, a case of resentment at working class youth 'finding its feet'. Before the 1950s the need to produce male industrial earners in working class families as early as possible had imposed a rigid parental discipline on young men who, on starting work, usually handed over all of their earnings and had little leisure time in which to spend the 'pocket money' they were given in return. WW2 added the discipline of military service, conformity and expected sacrifice.

Then came the 1950s, recovery from the war, depression and rationing and Prime Minister Harold MacMillan was to tell us that we 'had never had it so good' by 1957. Young working class people had begun to enjoy increased spending power, more leisure and greater autonomy. With those came a desire for their own music, fashions and 'lifestyle'. I believe that whereas previous male teenage fashions and unruly behaviour (e.g. Oxford bags and 'high jinx' by students) has been tolerated, the relatively mild appearance and behaviour of the first Teddy Boys was regarded as the height of outrage. It is my contention that the shock at what they wore and the 'antisocial' incidents that provoked extreme feelings when carried out by Teddy Boys in the 1950s would have been regarded as 'high spirits' if carried out by university students in the 1930s.

In political terms, the original Teddy Boys would have been socialist by inclination, but as people couldn't vote until they were 21 the issue was largely irrelevant. What annoyed many people was the 'apolitical' nature of the Teddy Boys. They were seen as being hedonistic and narcissistic when compared to the political radical (pseudo-intellectual, left-wing) beatniks, who were a contemporary phenomenon. There is a political connection, though. The in-built desire to shock led to a famous Teddy Boy called Screamin' Lord Sutch founding the Monster Raving Looney Party, which contested many elections in the UK and has been seen by some as an influence on the Monty Python comedy team.

If you look at 1954-5 photographs of Teddy Boys, you will see that the 'outrageous' fashions are in no way extreme. The jackets were often single button instead of three, the hemlines were lower, the trousers were tighter, the ties thinner and the shoe soles thicker. No big deal by todays fashion standards. Also, look at the hair styles. They are nothing like the brightly-coloured clothes or 'pompadour' hairstyles worn in the photographs of Teddy Boy 'revivalists' taken in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. It is my contention that their are very few 'real' Teddy Boys in existence now. Those that claim to be so are exaggerating the style - what I previously referred to as parody. There are a few of the real Teds left. I have the privelege of knowing The Legendary Lonnie - Lonnie Cook - who formed his first band The Rocklanders in 1953(?) and is still recording and writing. Lonnie also stood for parliament as a MRLP candidate. He's for real. Most of the other modern Teddy Boys are an irrelevant parody of the real thing. Just my opinion.

Alan

A few questions. Not being judgemental at all. I appreciate all classes and people. But is this strictly or predominantly a working class crowd? Is there a certain amount of working class identity tied up in it, or is that not much of an issue behind it?

Also, is there a general political outlook, or are they all over the map. Punks for example, tend to be politically progressive, or used to be. But then you have your right wing skins, neo natzis as another extreme. Do the teds tend to vote and think a certian way, or does it varry?

 

[Benny Holiday]

First question: I recall that the name "Teddy Boys" comes from the line in the Buddy Holly song "I'm Ready ready Teddy, to . . . Rock and Roll". Is this true?

'Teddy Boy' is a term derived from the wearing of Edwardian-styled suits, Teddy a shortened version of Edward, Boy used to signify an adjunct to the 'Cosh Boy' gangs that had formed amongst some working class youth in the late 1940's and early 50's.

I've got two books at home, one called The Teds by Chris Steele-Perkins, the other a British book about 1950's style, one of which (perhaps both) describes the birth of the Teddy Boys. I'll have to check which one it is. At any rate, the Festival of Britain in 1951 featured not only a parade of futuristic exhibitions, but also looked back to Edwardian and Victorian styles. In imitation, the 'yuppies' of the time, young members of the elitist Guards Officers began to sport Edwardian-inspired suits around London. With more money available to them than previous generations, the working class teenagers of the 1950's adopted the sharp new style. By the time it was well and truly associated with working class youth, the Guards Officers had dropped the look. The media pounced upon the highly visible kids in 'neo-Edwardian' garb, and was quick to denounce the kids who followed the style as thugs and hooligans. Of course, some of them were; a lot of them were just kids dressing in the first real teenage fashion in Britain.

If you get a chance, check out the video 'Long Jackets - Short Tempers.' The film shows a lot of old footage from the 50's and it's plain to see that, like the bodgies and widgies here in the 1950's, the Teds were just kids, some as young as 14 and 15, many of them 16-18 and a few as old as 22 or 21 back in the heyday of the Teddy Boy 'movement'.

Alan, that's a very insightful comment about the behaviour of the Teddy Boys being seen as 'youthful hi-jinks' if they'd occurred twenty years earlier. Or, perhaps, if the Guards Officers has behaved in such a way as to attract media attention, then it would have been classed as youthful exuberance as well.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Some photos of Teddy Boys from the 1950's:

 

[mike]

wow! great pictures! where'd you find those?

 

[Benny Holiday]

Mike, I found those pics at a site called Teddy Boy collared -
www.teddyboycollared.com. I'm trying to dog up some old pics of me in the late 1980's - early 90's in a drape suit. I'll scan 'em if I find 'em.

 

[dr greg]

long time gone

Some of those photos look a lot like Jurgen Vollmer's stuff, I remember the early 80's sydney rockabilly crew quite well, such as my old mate Blue Gene the barman from the Piccadilly and I've got some great shots of bands like The Wasted Ones at the Hoey.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Oh man . . . Jonny Gretsch of the Wasted Ones is a good mate of mine. I dropped by the Hopetoun three weeks ago on the way to a friend's art exhibit, and it's changed a lot since I used to gig there back in the early 90's. The Petersham Inn's reopened too, after way too many years boarded up. I haven't been inside, but I hope they've kept it the way it was. That place was an icon.

 

[reetpleat]

Interesting. According to the esseys, it seems Edwardian style first saw a rennaisance amongst the upper class. It may well have been a backlash or statement against "degenerating mores or some such) as a kind of revival of edwardian values.

But to their chagrin, it was adopted by the working class youth, so they had to quickly drop it.

So it may have been especialy offensive to certain people that the working class was coopting an upper class style on top of the whole idea, which makes sense, that the working class was evolving a subversive identity rather than just seeing themselves as the work force to enrich the upper class.

In a similar way, the mods subverted class standards by continuing their roles as office boys and clerks, but having their own life of partys, music, and drugs, all the while wearing upper class tailored suits, but cut to their own subtle distinct styles only recognizable to other mods.

 

[dr greg]

wasted

Well I'll look for the photos, I inherited a whole pile from Cookie the photographer who documented the Hoey for years, I played there a lot in the 80's, in about 5 different bands I think. It was a wild joint back then.

 

[reetpleat]

While I can understand the inclination to see the modern teds as nothing like the originals, it would be unreasonable to expect it. What trend has ever continued as it is? As our culture has shifted in so many ways, it would stand to reason that trends that do not die would too.

Secondly, anyone doing it ten or twenty or thirty years later can not be the same because the original people were inovators and unique. the people tht do it later, while they might be inovators in their own way by reviving or embracing an old style, are not at all the same kind of people.

In this case, it would be unreaslistic to expect modern teds to be able to get replicas of the original clothing because what was tailored or bought back then would cost many thousands of dollars and effort. No one can really get the same as what they had back then without being a unique kind of person intent on replicating in a way that most people would not. So, what the teds wear probably makes sense based on their economic and quality standards. Does that make sense.

Secondly, the teds were only a slight exageration of style. Their hair was just a little higher, their clothes were just a little baggier or longer or whatever. By the seventies, if they were going to wear something somewhat in line with contemporary style, yet "teddish" it would be bound to be much like what they did wear.

And today, what the teds wear makes perfect sense for the times. And I suspect there has been various influences and styles that have worked their way in. To see a ted who perfectly replicated the style of the fifties would be very. I can't imagine a ted caring. He wouldn't be a ted, he would be one of us.

Still, I wonder if teds just follow the style based on waht oter teds are doing or if there are some teds who actually try to go back to the source and replicate the styles more perfectly. Was the seventies a revival or a resurgence of somethign that had continued to grow and evolve through the sixties? And today has their beein a revival, a resurgence, or has it been pretty much an ongoing thing?

 

[Alan Eardley]

It is my contention that you cannot take a phenomenon out of context, place or time without seriously altering its meaning and effect. The people who dress up in what they imagine are Teddy Boy styles (and a few moments with contemporary film or photographs wll show how unrealistic many of them are) and attend so-called revivalist events are, in my opinion, analogous with D-Day re-enactors. It may be fun, it my act out a commemorative ritual but to claim that either are part of a continuing tradition is clearly specious. Re-enactors are not taking part in an invasion, neither are today's Teddy Boys taking part in the 1950s. Those (like myself) who were there at the time wore the clothes and behaved in a shocking way (or wanted to) that seemed relevant then. The same behaviour now (I'm in my 60s) would either look ridiculous or fail to raise an eyebrow. Without the context, place and time the style and events are meaningless fun - fancy dress parties - rather than a part of any meaningful tradition.


Just my opinion.

Alan