When the Teddy boys burst onto the scene at the start of the drab Fifties, they established the template for all subcultures to follow. There have always been ultra-loyal music fans of individual artists, but this was something else: a look, and a lifestyle. The pattern usually went something like this: establish a uniform, adopt a musical preference, stir up the media to a predictable frenzy (wittingly or unwittingly), be denounced in Parliament, endure hand-wringing editorials declaring that civilisation is about to collapse, and then gradually become yesterday’s news as the hysteria blows over. Oh and, most discreditably of all, be written off as old farts by a younger subculture who have stepped up to take your place in the firing line.
