Mods Vs. Rockers: When The Youth Of The ’60s Erupted Into Violence

The mods and the rockers of the 1960s tore the beaches of England apart. It was war: leather-clad rockers against the stylish mods.

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A gang of mods, dressed in suits and parkas, show off the modified scooters they've covered in mirrors and headlights.

Peckham, England. May 7, 1964.Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

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Rockers enjoy a soda at a roadside cafe.

England. July 1964.Terence Spencer/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

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A lone mod drives his scooter up alongside of a gang of rockers on motorcycles.

Hastings, England. August 4, 1964.Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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A rocker tries to kick over the scooter of a rival mod.

England. July 1964.Terence Spencer/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

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Fashion-conscious mods smoke pipes on the streets of London.

London, England. February 9, 1965.Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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An old man falls to the ground, caught up in the middle of a street fight between mods and rockers.

Hastings, England. August 4, 1964.Terry Fincher/Express/Getty Images

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A mod is pulled away by the police after a scuffle on the streets.

Brighton, England. April 19, 1965.Freddie Whackett/Express/Getty Images

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A group of mods flees the scene after a brawl with rockers.

Margate, England. May 18, 1964. Evening Standard/Getty Images

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Mods on scooters ride down the streets of England.

Hastings, England. August 3, 1964.Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

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A gang of rockers in leather jackets gathers outside a roadside cafe.

England. July 1964.Terence Spencer/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

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A mod takes a nap on his scooter.

England. July 1964.Terence Spencer/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

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Teenage mods convene around their scooters.

London, England. 1964.PYMCA/UIG via Getty Images

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A rocker uses the mirror on a mod's scooter to fix his hair.

Essex, England. March 30, 1964.Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

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A mod and a rocker come to blows in the middle of the street.

Hastings, England. August 3, 1964.Evening Standard/Getty Images

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A group of young mods partying on their scooters.

London, England. 1964.David Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images

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A rocker and his girlfriend pose for a Life Magazine photographer, leaning against their bike.

England. July 1964.Terence Spencer/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

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Two girls, one a mod and one a rocker, tackle each other to the ground and start beating each other senseless.

Margate, England. May 17, 1964.Bettmann/Getty Images

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Hundreds of mods and rockers convene on a beach for an all-out brawl.

Hastings, England. August 3, 1964.Bettmann/Getty Images

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A crowd swarms to join a massive fist-fight on the beach.

Brighton, England. August 1964.Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

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Victorious mods chase the rockers off the beach, hurtling bottles and chairs at them as they run.

Margate, Kent. May 18, 1964.Keystone/Getty Images

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The teenagers flee as a mounted police officer rides onto the scene.

Brighton, England. October 18, 1965.Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

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Police swarm in, trying to break up a fight.

Brighton, England. April 19, 1965.Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

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A mod takes a swing at a police officer.

Essex, England. March 30, 1964.Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

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Police drag away a bruised and beaten but ever-defiant mod.

Margate, England. August 1964.Terry Fincher/Express/Getty Images

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An officer leads a rocker away by his arm.

Margate, England. May 1, 1964.Ronald Dumont/Express/Getty Images

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Three police officers have to work together to drag away a rocker who refuses to stop fighting.

Brighton, England. April 19, 1965.Freddie Whackett/Express/Getty Images

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Police officers march a group of mods away.

Essex, England. March 30, 1964.Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

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Police officers stand between a pack of mods and rockers, struggling to keep the peace.

Margate, England. May 19, 1964.Keystone/Getty Images

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A group of rockers relaxes on a bench.

England. July 1964.Terence Spencer/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

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Mods on scooters ride away. After tormenting the beaches with their battles, the holiday has ended and the mods and the rockers and going home.

Essex, England. March 30, 1964.Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

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Mods Vs. Rockers: When The Youth Of The ’60s Erupted Into Violence

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The 1960s were a tumultuous time around the world, and England was no exception. Baby boomers were just entering their teen years -- and they were wilder, more rebellious, and more obsessed with their own identities than their parents had ever had the time to be.

These teens fell into two primary camps: mods and rockers. The mods were the stylish kids – fans of psychedelic rock who wore skinny ties and suits and rode around the streets of England on scooters. The rockers were the tough kids; clad in leather, they greased their hair up into pompadours and took to the roads on motorcycles.

Fueled by hormones, rebellion and rock music, the mods and the rockers broke into fights that -- warranted or not -- drove England to the brink. Usually, these encounters were just little skirmishes, two people from different walks of life letting their differences come to blows in the middle of a busy street.

On Easter weekend in 1964, however, the small fights turned into a full-out war. The fashion-conscious cliques converged on the coast of England, breaking into all-out brawls on the beaches of Brighton and Margate. Hundreds of teenagers swarmed out onto the fields, beating each other senseless and hurtling bottles after anyone who ran away.

The country burst into what sociologist Stanley Cohen has called a moral panic. Indeed, newspapers across England started warning about mods and rockers, calling them "vermin" who were "wreaking untold havoc on the land." The Daily Telegraph deemed the Easter smackdown a "day of terror." The Daily Mirror described the event as an invasion of "wild ones."

But the data paint a bit of a different picture than the headlines. While roughly one thousand people congregated at Brighton Beach that day, police made just 76 arrests. Instead, as sociologists Charles Hamblett and Jane Deverson wrote on the matter, the beach brawl was less about inciting "terror" for its own sake and more about youth of the time demonstrating that they had "arrived." Perhaps the more interesting story, then, was the way older generations responded.

And that, as 18-year-old John Braden put it in Deverson's and Hamblett's 1964-published book on the subject, Generation X, was precisely the point:

“Yes, I am a Mod and I was at Margate. I'm not ashamed of it − I wasn't the only one. I joined in a few of the fights. It was a laugh, I haven't enjoyed myself so much for a long time. It was great − the beach was like a battlefield. It was like we were taking over the country. You want to hit back at all the old geezers who try to tell us what to do. We just want to show them we're not going to take it.”

For more on being young and cool in the 1960s, read about the mods and feminism and the hippies of San Francisco.