What and who is a rocker? Is a rocker the same as a rock & roller? Does the term denote someone who dances rock & roll only? But what about someone who merely loves rock & roll music and doesn’t dance at all? Is he still a rocker? Or in the case of someone who merely loves dressing up in 1950’s style clothing? Is that a person also a rocker or a rock & roller?
What about someone who equally loves rock & roll and swing music and dancing? Is that person a genuine rocker or rock & roller?
What about a person who plays in a rock & roll band – is he or she a rocker or just a muso?
Finally, is a rocker or rock & roller, in terms of sub culture, the same as a Teddy Boy in the UK or an American Greaser?
Question is how do I recognise a rocker or a rock & roller when I come across one?
Let me answer your questions about Rockers. I was a rocker in the 60`s. Rockers were first associated with the 50s and early 60s. They were rebelious, and had attitude and they were direct descendants of the English `Teddy Boy`. Earlier in the 1950s Rockers in Australia were known as Widgies and Bodgies. Rockers all loved the same music which was 50`s and 60s early rock and roll. They dressed differently than their parents, much like the rockabilly guys & gals of today. Not all rockers danced. Being a rocker was the life style of a young adult. You had to be there in those times to understand it, as everything was new. Rockers would have thought Swing dancers listening to big band music as square. Rockers were in rock and roll bands and the musos dressed in the same style. Everyone lived the life. Today lots of people like the classic music and the dancing and some try to copy the era, some live the life but the real rocker generation has passed, it died with the Beatles invasion, when Mods and the Mersey Beat made an entry. I`m so happy to have been there in those rebelious days when I was a real rocker, and don`t regret one moment of it.
Eeeek!!!! Thank God I wasn't around during the 1960's or I would have been called a "square". Not very nice at all.
Reading the way "Jiver J" describes that era when becoming a rocker was the rage, I think I now can understand why "Danny" once said in a Vicrock post that one has to live through that period in time to really understand what is it to become a rocker ...........and yes, I was dismissive in my reply then and I now regret it.
I suppose in some way it's no different perhaps to saying one has to live through the late 1960's and early 1970's to truly appreciate the "groovy" feeling I felt when growing my hair to shoulder length and wearing flares and clothing with psychedelic colours. The slogans "Peace to you Brothers & Sisters " and "Make Love Not War" were all the rage then ..........just thinking about those days now is making me feel high. LOL
I too lived through the tail end of the 50s. A rocker was also called a rebel and wore black most of the time. Kisscurl and ducktail hairstyle,pointy toed shoes and with a chip on most shoulders. You could almost bet that at a rock n roll dance there would be at least 1 fight,at least. They seemed to run in gangs and Jiverj ,you are right most of the rebels didn,t dance. It was all about attitude back then.I,d love to speak to another rebel and see if they too are now so disappointed they had to wait 50 years to enjoy the 50s as we do now,I know I am.Then again those tracks were not classics then.Every man wanted to be James Dean,look like Elvis and sing like he did. We all wanted a hotrod but had to put up with the local made Holden. Not a bad thing now some 50 years on. then the hippy scene hit and the world as we knew fell in a hole. Long hair ,drugs and a language not taught at school,It seemed you had to have a vague blank look in your eyes to communicate and yep I still marvel at how I never broke an ankle wearing those high platform shoes.Yes I jumped ship,followed the groups,brought Beatle albums etc,etc.But now I,m back so by all means come over and say hello to this old Bodgie,rebel. Gone are the James Dean looks ,the elvis Hair it,s just me now.
Yes rocknray, you do remember the rocker scene. Cars and cruising the streets were all part of the scene in Australia. The most popular for rockers were Ford Customline`s, Ford Zephyr`s, FJ, FC & FE Holdens and Chevy`s. Some were lowered at the back to make them look hot, if you didn`t have lowering blocks some lowered them with large bags of sand. Doing a ton was not abnormal in the larger cars (160 klms). No seat belts and no retrictions on people numbers in cars, we once squeezed 12 people into a Triumph Herald. Quite a few young people and many friends of mine were involved in crashes and fatalities. I was in 3 accidents but luckily am still here to tell the tale. Young adults were as fearless then as they are today and playing chicken was a sure adrenalin rush. Rockers were very territorial and didn`t like rockers from other areas coming in on their scene and chatting up their chicks, so yes fights were prevalent, but were generally fist fights. I danced a lot at rock and roll venues like the Mooney Ponds Town hall, Springy Rock, Moorabin Town hall etc to bands like Johnny Chester, The Thunderbirds, Billy Thorpe & the Aztec`s etc etc, all part of Victorian dance history. Today if you dance rock and roll you are called a rocker. But to be a real rocker you have to have earn`t your stripes. Todays Rockabilly folk are the closest to the real thing of yesteryear but not as wild and carefree as those in the 50`s & 60`s.
Today if you dance rock and roll you are called a rocker. But to be a real rocker you have to have earn`t your stripes. Todays Rockabilly folk are the closest to the real thing of yesteryear but not as wild and carefree as those in the 50`s & 60`s.[/QUOTE]
Some of those dancers like to think they are, but a hot rod t shirt and a chain tied to your wallet dont make you a rocker. Rockers used to carry chains but it wasn't to stop you leaving your wallet behind. Dont worry Jiver J there are still a few who might not have been around in the 50s (wasnt born till 67) but are still the real thing.
Don’t we all love Australia! The greatest country in the world! There’s just so much freedom to do whatever you want to enjoy yourself.
Go to any venue, have a few drinks, watch a live rock & roll gig, drive a hotrod or just your humble Holden Barina. Really, who cares! Wear whatever you want, dance if you want to or just have a laugh and socialise with your friends. Even call yourself a rocker if you so wish. There’s no law against that too.
That’s the beauty about Australia. Isn’t that great? And the venues, promoters, bands and your dance partners probably don’t care too much if you do or don't call yourself a rocker. They would be over the moon if only you just keep coming back for more.
Yes Jittabug Australia is great and we do have the freedom to do whatever we wish. In fact I am probably having more fun now than I was in the 60`s cause I don`t have to answer to parents or be home at a certain time. I can afford to run a hotted up car if I wish or travel all over the country to hear the hottest rockabilly bands I like. Sorry Man In Black but because you were born in 1967 you don`t qualify to be a real rocker, as I said you had to have been there, but maybe your parents were. Have fun anyway.
Definitely the successors to the UK Teds, the original Rockers I know are into Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and British stuff like Johnny Kidd and Vince Taylor and more than anything else, their bikes - BSA, Triumph, Norton, Royal Enfield. Don't agree that Mod and merseybeat killed them off. Mods and rockers were definitely contemporary but Mersey beat did see the British Rock n roll scene go into decline but it never went away. In the 70s and early eighties the rockers who were my contempories were into Crazy Cavan, (our) Flying Saucers etc as well as Gene and Eddie. I remember sunday nights at a RnR night in Leicester - Rockers and Teds down one side, Katz down the other, very tense but rarely violent (the Crackerjacks version of Long blond hair was very big down our side of the room).
As to being to young to be a Rocker -sorry, got to disagree. This 'you can't be because you weren't there' attitude pretty much sums up the UK RnR scene of the seventies. First generation looked down on second generation, if you were third generation you were 'plastic' - pretty much why I turned my back on it all until the neo/psycho stuff in the early eighties when it didn't matter if you had the right coloured drape on or what generation you were!
MiB mate, if you feel it, you are it - it is not about reliving someone elses hey dey, its evolution!
It`s true original Rockers in England were into motor bikes, leather jackets and frequented places like the Ace cafe in London, and were first cousins to the American Hells Angels. The term `Rocker` was originally applied in a derogatory manner to British motorcycle youths. Australian rockers wer`nt as much into motor bikes as the cars, music, dancing and just having attitude. The evolution of Rock and roll in Australia: early 50s - Widgies & Bodgies, late 50s and early 60s - rockers, folk and jazzers. Late 60s and early 70s - mods, hippies and the beat scene.Mid 70s Sharpies, punk rockers. The 80`s then saw the re emergence of rockabilly worldwide with the Stray Cats, and also neo revival. And around we go again. I know there are people who were around in the early rocker days and still live the life to this day, others just love the era and try to re create it. I personally think to really apreciate the true meaning of Rocker you had to walk the walk when it was new and breaking new boundaries, it was wild and scary. `Rocker`was a title given to the style of the time. I can still smell the smell cause I was there.
Hey Jiver J - thanks again for another short history lesson of Australian youths, culture & music in Australia from 1950's onwards. It just shows human society is constantly evolving, being new & creative and daring to challenge the status quo.
I don't think you were trying to be "exclusive" in your comments but merely expressing a view that I feel is quite valid - that is, one has to live through that period in time when rock & roll totally revolutionised teenagers, music, culture and society to really appreciate what it meant to be a rocker in those years. Of course in saying this, it does not invalidate someone's participation & enjoyment of the rock & roll scene "re-created" today.
But I think Jiver J in mentioning the punk culture somehow left out the Goths and Emos sub cultures which emerge during the mid 1980's and continue today. These sub cultures are just as fascinating as the re-creation of rockabilly/Betty Page culture or fashion today.
For anyone really interested in the history of 50`s rock and roll, there is a fantastic book called the ` Amazing 1950`s Wild Youth Scrap Book` by Roger Dicken with foreword by Marty Wilde. I have dozens of books on the history of rock and roll , but this one stands out as it really shows you the `Wild` side of the early rock and roll era. This is a British book published by Great Gryphon Books. The writer Roger Dicken amassed an amazing and extensive amount of ephemera from the period, and it is crammed full of scraps of the rocker days from his rare collection, imaginatively conceived around the theme of bad boys and girls. A must for your collection.
Sorry if I my post came off as personal, wasn't intended. You just happened to hit on a personal bug bear of mine having grown up in a scene dominated by a certain attitude (ranging from well meaning Teds lecturing about what you need to wear/do to be a proper Ted and Rock n Roll societies with rules that say what music can and can't be played, to being pursued through the streets of Blackpool and being threatend with a cut throat razor!) which to me was a million miles away from the spirit of rock n roll that you describe.
If there is one thing I've learned from chatting to people on forums is that peoples experience of the times and the music vary considerably, often when they are seperated by only a few miles. My Dad was from the local villages and a Ted throughout the late fifties and most of the sixties, long after most had moved on but his experiences are vastly different from others around in the same era in our town, which was different again to those in London, who still looked towards the original pre-rock n roll Teds for inspiration. When you are looking across continents it just accentuates this.
Will have to agree to disagree on having to really have been there to fully appreciate the music/lifestyle. It works on the assumption that each generation tries to recreate the original 50s experience and while some do, I think for most of us it is about respecting and taking inspiration from what has gone before and evolving it into something of our own, so the experience is as new to us as it was to you in the fifties.
MiB - don't want to be putting words in your mouth here, my views are very much shaped by my experience of the UK scene - would be very interested in hearing your experience of the Australian one, which seems to be thriving a lot more than the one in my area!
Thanks for the book recommendation Jiver J, will try and track it down. Have you seen "The Teds" by Chris Steele-Perkins and Richard Smith from Dewi Lewis Publishing? Worth getting your hands on if you can. First published in 1979 it concentrates on the London and southern Ted scene in the late seventies, just before Neo Rockabilly began to emerge. It follows a group of Teds around and it also touches on the differences between the rock n roll scenes in the north and the midlands (my neck of the woods) and the south too. Very interesting read
I am a Rocker, a real one, I was taught to rock and roll when I was eight years old, (pubrock) or get beat up by my older sisters, The eldest was a widgy, Elvis pretzel had two hits and was banned world wide, he gyrated his hips, which absolutely stunned and shocked the squares and older people at the time,
I wore black jeans, black tee shirt, extended points and white socks, hair slicked back, and spadular sticking out front, Very thin black tie when we went to springy rock, other wise you didnt get in. Bright red, green or purple shirt, Leather Jacket with all the medals, swaztika's and chains and rode a big triumph, Harleys were crap then and havent changed to this day, Most rode Pommie bikes.
Customlines were the go, as you could get most of your mates crammed in,
Twenty people in a cussy was common, Thats for the cary's
Our go was Bikes, Booze and Box, and rock till you drop, It was a way of life.
Unless you lived through it, You would not understand,
I am still the same, I still live bikes and rock and roll music.
Swing rock actually came out of the big band era, which is earlier than rock and roll from the late fifties, Rock and roll from the late fifties will get everyone of all ages up and dancing, and if you cant dance, it will certainly get you toe tapping,
There were three types of young people, Rockers, Jazzers and Mods, if you weren't one of these, you were a square.
It was good fun, miss it,
Cheers,
Brian.
If ya not boppin, ya in ya coffin.
Rock and Roll will soothe your soul.
One should also look at the Beat Generation of the fifties to understand what mad a rocker. The beat generation "beatnicks" had a completly different yet just as rebellious musical taste. There was the cool jazz or be bop of miles davis and charlie Parker and the coffee lounge poetry folk music of Bob Dylan. Rock started in Memphis Beat started in New York/San Francisco.
Whilst Elvis influenced a huge number of singers beat spawned Jim Morrison, The doors, The beatles, John Lennon, Lou Reed, Tom Waits.
Whether you were a rocker or a beatnick the fifties was a great time for rebellion.
Let me answer your questions about Rockers. I was a rocker in the 60`s. Rockers were first associated with the 50s and early 60s. They were rebelious, and had attitude and they were direct descendants of the English `Teddy Boy`. Earlier in the 1950s Rockers in Australia were known as Widgies and Bodgies. Rockers all loved the same music which was 50`s and 60s early rock and roll. They dressed differently than their parents, much like the rockabilly guys & gals of today. Not all rockers danced. Being a rocker was the life style of a young adult. You had to be there in those times to understand it, as everything was new. Rockers would have thought Swing dancers listening to big band music as square. Rockers were in rock and roll bands and the musos dressed in the same style. Everyone lived the life. Today lots of people like the classic music and the dancing and some try to copy the era, some live the life but the real rocker generation has passed, it died with the Beatles invasion, when Mods and the Mersey Beat made an entry. I`m so happy to have been there in those rebelious days when I was a real rocker, and don`t regret one moment of it.
It didnt die with the beatles and Mod invasion, it was still there, once a rocker, always a rocker, It was just that the Mods took over the headlines,
Rock and roll has always been there on the side, you just have to look for it,
Most of us have grandchildren, and most of them like our rocking music because they grew up with it, Its music that just wont lay down and die, like a lot of other music has,
If ya not boppin, ya in ya coffin.
Rock and Roll will soothe your soul.
I,m confused as well. I,m unable to find any tracks by Jim Morrison before 67. The question was, What is a rocker? Simply, in 2009 anyone that likes the music from the 50s and early 60s would be a rocker. . Nothing to do with being there in the 50s. It,s if you work all week long,drive a late model car through the week, then for 5 days your a modern person. Come the weekend you dress in similar clothing from the 50,s,drive a hotrod (optional) and only listen to 50s music then your a rocker 2 days each week. I would love to meet a person that lived through the 50,s as a rocker and has continued to do so to date. To be able to speak to this person to find out how they dealt with the ridicule all those years for being a rebel/rocker. I may go to a younger persons party and most of them there will know nearly all the lyrics from songs from the 50,s. I too lived in the 50,s and have some great memories from then as well as some scary one,s. I have always loved the 50,s but needed to grow out of it and into the future. At my age now I,m regressing back to where I feel most comfortable and that,s with people that like the exact same era ,tunes and cars that I do, the 50,s. Was I a rocker,yep.Am I a rocker ,nar . I dance and listen to rock n roll music.I live it whenever I can and if that,s enough to qualify me as a rocker then I am one. I was one way back then and would love to go back and live it again,this time to get it right. We listen to all the classics now on CD and how hard is it to find tunes on tape now . So who cares where it came from or if you were not there. And for those of us that were, then forget about it but keep the era alive by living it like your there again remembering that at the end of the weekend you will be back at the computer,in the late model car and sitting in some air conditioned office. Yep your in 2009 and still rockin.
Why do people have to catagorise other people? If everyone is enjoying the music,the cars,the people etc its all good. Get a life go out and have a good time we arent here for ever,treat everyone with respect no matter what they do or look like or are into. All this stuff about who is who is just a waste of space and time.
What is a Rocker?
Originally Posted by Jiver J
Bookmarks