Think “freak beat” is slang for a heart condition or a garage band or a phase you and your buddies went through in high school? You’re not alone, said Eric Colin, organizer of MODchicago’s fifth annual weekender beginning Thursday.
Many people struggle to understand what exactly counts as Mod music, said Colin, who DJs for Mod nights at local bars such as Delilah’s.
Mod music started in the early 1960s, but it wasn’t influenced by Chubby Checker or other late-’50s rockers. Mod’s biggest musical influences came from American jazz, R&B and soul. The best-known example of original Mod is early releases by The Who, Colin said.
“Most Mods eventually went psychedelic,” Colin said. “Mod was dead in the late ’60s, early ’70s.”
After the hippie movement ended and disco died, Mod music saw a revival in the U.S. It flared up in the ’80s–when it got its rock influences–and made a big return as an influence in ’90s British pop.
Mod music, as it’s defined today, includes everything from early R&B and soul to little-known ’80s releases.
“The music is pretty obscure,” said Mod enthusiast Wayne Baptiste. “It could be a garage band that might have cut one record, pressed 500 copies of it and never been heard from again.”
GENERATIONS OF MOD MUSIC
– Original ’60s Mod bands: The Small Faces, The Creation, The Smoke, The Pretty Things
– 1980s Mods: The Jam, The Chords
– ’90s groups influenced by Mod: Blur, Ride, Suede
– Big Mod bands today: The Embrooks, The Link Quartet
