Modern Buddy

Which came first for you?

As a music fan and one time critic (damn that was long ago), this has always fascinated me. I was hoping to get some perspective from the scooter side of things. At first I thought to be critical, as I ran into a gentleman not younger, who rode and knew nothing of the band. It's not that her didn't know of The Who, it's just he was spouting non truths about the band and using his scooter as justification. As a long time fan of the band it was truly stupendous to hear. The Who have been with me since I was 15 years old. So I just thought 'hmm? Why is this so important in scooter culture?' For some at least. I have no idea what he thought of scooters or what he knows. But of the Who...the band he had plastered all over his scooter? He knew nothing and less.

I know this is not most of you. But it was damn irritating to me. So I just want to know, if you were not a fan of The Who before, have you come to be through scooting? And if so and whether or not, do you have an opinion about the connection between band and scooters and know of any significance from the scooting perspective?

I love the band. Quadrophenia is the best album in the history of rock n roll. You can disagree but you'd be wrong



But seriously. I know all the history and the marketing over the years and the lip service and the mods....all of it. But for me that was a small part of the bands history, not a special part. At least no more then any other part. I loved the ferocious, violent late 60's Who. I mean they were always violent. But Pete Townshend in white coveralls and Doc Martins in the Leed's era was around as far from a scooting mod as you could get. As were the rest of them. So for me....the band moved on as it should. But scooters stuck. And again, I know the associations over the years. But I never cared. I wonder how many non scooting Who fans don't care as I do.

I always identified more with the rockers in the story (Quad). Most of all with Jimmy, sure. His feelings. But certainly not his lifestyle. For me that was secondary and just something they did in England.

So, if you have a linkage, story, or perspective....please share it itt. As a Who fan I am most interested. And as a scooterist I still don't quite get it?

And again, I don't need a lesson in band history. I know it. But why has THIS part carried on in scooter culture so long? I find it hard to believe all these people are Who fans. Especially when coming across some that claim it but....ugh!

The Who itt



....come sleep on the beach / keep within my reach

And don't say "well Pete rides a scooter"

so does Paris Hilton

Well, I'm 4 mirrors and 1 set of braces short of being a hard mod but I remember some loud Who shaking my house when I was a kid. Never loved them and never hated them. Zero stickers so far but I don't know how long that will last.
I do have a #1 clipper cut though

Being educated in the whole mod scene should be part of the manual.

Now bring in the dandys!

JHScoot wrote:And don't say "well Pete rides a scooter"

so does Paris Hilton

I wonder how that "Book" Pete was working on is coming.....


I saw The Who in the old coliseum in LA back in 1989. I hated to hear Entwhistle died back a bit. I guess getting a hooker and blow when youre in your 60's can be hazardess.

Definitely not a big who fan. I also thought Quadrophenia was kind of an irritating movie, I hated the lead character and really wanted the rockers to kick his arse. I got a scooter as an adult because when I was a kid back in the 80's I would see older kids on their Honda Sprees or Yamaha Razz and they always looked so damn cool. As for music, I listen to a lot of different music; folk, punk, hardcore, hip-hop, classic rock, oi ect but I just never got into the whole mod thing (way before my time as well). I know skinhead culture grew out of mod culture and I was a skin for a long time but we listened to ska, reggae and oi. Bob Marley was my hero, not Pete Townshend.

My college roommate was a major Who fanatic at the time (he's mellowed since). This was in the band's twilight (after Moonie died), long after their connections to Mod culture had faded, and long before I became interested in owning a scooter. I liked the band's music, enjoyed Quadrophenia (though to be honest I thought the band were more Rocker than Mod), but never got especially excited about them. So for me, the connection between scooters and the Who is pretty weak, and I can't say one led to the other.

Mousenut wrote:Well, I'm 4 mirrors and 1 set of braces short of being a hard mod but I remember some loud Who shaking my house when I was a kid. Never loved them and never hated them. Zero stickers so far but I don't know how long that will last.
I do have a #1 clipper cut though

Being educated in the whole mod scene should be part of the manual.

Now bring in the dandys!

yeah i could use a bit more info on that whole scene. for me The Who showed me that, brought it to me. but it started and ended there, too

at the time it was 1981 and i asked for the Japanese import of Quad for Christmas. i got it and the story unfolded. so for me it was always a story. and Pete's explanation? um, yeah. which one lol

so as a teen i saw it as a band that made an album about some experiences of their younger days, and of course a valentine of sorts to mods and outsiders everywhere. but if their was one element of the story which did not connect with me fully it was the scooter riding mods and greasy rockers fighting at the beach. i grew up around real gang violence wtf was this pap?

it made for a good story and drama...but sure. its very British. i am not British

mods rode scoots, loved fashion, danced all night, screwed on the beach, posed a lot, popped pills, worked as bell boys

thats all i've got

TVB wrote:My college roommate was a major Who fanatic at the time (he's mellowed since). This was in the band's twilight (after Moonie died), long after their connections to Mod culture had faded, and long before I became interested in owning a scooter. I liked the band's music, enjoyed Quadrophenia (though to be honest I thought the band were more Rocker than Mod), but never got especially excited about them. So for me, the connection between scooters and the Who is pretty weak, and I can't say one led to the other.

hmm, interesting. i think perhaps it is becoming clear

its not about The Who where this exist in scoot culture. its about the mods and scooters. but ultimately scooters. for the scooter enthusiast mods are there because of the scooters , not the other way around

so The Who are, too. sort of as just a matter of fact and presence. but it all comes back to the scooter and a time and place

i am not much for nostalgia, really. maybe its simple as that?

can't be about the music or Quad, really. and that was my confusion

JHScoot wrote:Which came first for you?

Scoot desire first, Who later.

Quadrophenia is the best album in the history of rock n roll.

Shirley you jest. Anyone with any taste knows that Clear Spot fills that spot.

And finally,

[nbr] Chicken / Egg - Scooters / The Who?

Shouldn't that have been Who came first?

Your Talkin 'bout my Generation... R

I always liked a few of the Who's song- can't say I was a major fan but I did grow up listening to them on the good ole transistor radio. I have never seen the Quad movie nor listened to the album. They did not have anything to do with buying my scooter.

awesome. good humor and good posts itt :)

at first i was offended by The Who being treated as some....scooter accessory. but i guess its ok. i mean two of 'em are dead and Roger has health issues. Pete will be last man standing, no doubt

he wouldn't have it any other way, i am sure. so scooter 'peeps, knock yourselves out with 'em

who came first?

i see what you did there, Syd. you are not crafty!! :P

Yeah, they didn't all die before they got old.

In the Roy Albert Hall show from some years back, before John died, even then Pete was looking like Gene Hackman.

JHScoot wrote:at first i was offended by The Who being treated as some....scooter accessory. but i guess its ok. i mean two of 'em are dead and Roger has health issues. Pete will be last man standing, no doubt

But nearly deaf, I'm told. You don't put on record-setting-loud concerts for years without hearing damage.

PeteH wrote:Yeah, they didn't all die before they got old.

In the Roy Albert Hall show from some years back, before John died, even then Pete was looking like Gene Hackman.

damn it!

TVB wrote:

JHScoot wrote:at first i was offended by The Who being treated as some....scooter accessory. but i guess its ok. i mean two of 'em are dead and Roger has health issues. Pete will be last man standing, no doubt

But nearly deaf, I'm told. You don't put on record-setting-loud concerts for years without hearing damage.

yeah for awhile there he could only perform live with an acoustic guitar. and sometimes behind some sort of strange, glass "sound wall" thing? like his own little glass room onstage. just to keep his hearing from further damage

he couldn't take the sound wall and left it behind. but he still could not play electric guitar until he found the Eric Clapton Fender had a tone his ears could tolerate. funny how this stuff works but this is what he says. it was a new model when he first used it. i beleive it is still the only guitar (electric) he ever plays onstage

i do miss the les paul he used to bash around. but even that was gone by 1980

or the Gibson SG. what an awesome guitar for his style of playing. and for destroying amps

^^^Love the Gibson SG(solid guitar). Funny how Les Paul hated the double cutaway design.

Been a somewhat Who fan since seeing 'Tommy' at a young age...after getting my first scooter in 2006- a honda metro- , several folk asked me "Do you like Quadrophenia?" (Although I had heard several songs from the album via classic rock stations, just didn't know they were from Quadrophenia...finally saw it in 2008 - cool scooters, good coming of age/from kid to man type change of life movie)
I'd always associated The WHo more with Tommy than Quadrophenia, but yeah, there are many pics of scooters plastered with simple to elaborate Who/Quadrophenia stickers or designs.
Perhaps it is just rote association - 'The Who made a movie with scooters...The Who = Scooters'.

^good points, there

Raiderfn311 wrote:^^^Love the Gibson SG(solid guitar). Funny how Les Paul hated the double cutaway design.

yes, its a very fine instrument. they have a Pete 50th Anniversary Edition. $1400 so this amateur passes

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Well, being in my fifties,I guess I'm of that generation...never cared for The Who. Too noisy. Even back inn the day I was more into Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis or Clark Terry. Jazz was where the REAL music was...not rock.

hey hey....hey!. wiat just a cotton pickin' minute! "real music?"



well i like herbie, miles, n Coltrane and all that stuff. i mean i am not crazy about them but i would never disparage them

oh the humanity

Real Music is where you find it, and The Who were there from the start. The early albums as in; The Who Sell Out R

Now Keys....

I remeber a time when I was younger prolly thirteen or so and my Dad was listening to some kind of country music or another and I asked "Dad, how can you listen to that crap it sucks?"
He turned to me and he said "Have I ever told you your music sucks, son?"
"No" was my answer.
He said, "That is becuase it is "your" music, it is what you like and what makes you happy, it might sound like a cat in a clothes dryer to me, but that is "my" opinion, and I'm entitlted to it as are you. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it sucks, it's just not for you."
I have a huge variety of musical tastes and I can pretty much attribute that discussion to it...
There is no "real" music....
Well, maybe a fine tuned two-stroke brap-brap-brapping away, but i digress.

Every generation develops their own music, in part intended for the previous one to hate it. That's what jazz, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, disco, punk, rap, and whatever they call that autotuney amelodic crap that kids listen to these days... were each about.

I think people associate the "Who" with scooters cos they were the first band to "glamorize" the "MOD" subculture to a wider audiance like Bob Marley did for rastafar(ism) thruough reggae. There were other bands out there like The Small Faces that came before but didn't quite reach the popularity outside the UK as the Who did. What the Who was known for was rock opras....

Wheelz wrote:He said, "That is becuase it is "your" music, it is what you like and what makes you happy, it might sound like a cat in a clothes dryer to me, but that is "my" opinion, and I'm entitlted to it as are you. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it sucks, it's just not for you."

Love this! I'm filing that one away for the day my son tells me that my music sucks. So far, he doesn't have much of an opinion about music, but I'm waiting for that to happen.

As for The Who, I was a HUGE fan as a teenager. I must have seen Quadrophenia at least a dozen times at the midnight movies in addition to The Kids are Alright and Tommy. Of the three, Quad was the best. So I guess I could say that The Who came first. After watching Quadrophenia, I definitely came away with a desire to ride a scooter. However, it was many years later before I actually did so, one reason being that I'm just too danged short to ride a Vespa al la Quadrophenia. So by the time I did get around to getting a scooter, that old desire was only a tiny bit of the picture. Honestly, when I think of Mod-style scooters, to me the Buddy just isn't that. A Stella, yeah, that would work. But a Buddy? Not so much. So, my answer to your question is yes and no. I've been a fan of The Who, and Quadrophenia originally brought scooters to my attention, but my ultimate purchase wasn't really about that anymore.

TVB wrote:Every generation develops their own music, in part intended for the previous one to hate it. That's what jazz, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, disco, punk, rap, and whatever they call that autotuney amelodic crap that kids listen to these days... were each about.

"I used to be with it, and then they changed what 'it' was. Now, what I'm with isn't it anymore, and what is 'it' seems weird and scary."

why don't you all just F... ....Fade away.

Saw the who is Hershey a few weeks after John died. was worried they would suck, and didn't know how Petes sound booth thing would work. They kicked A$$. I wa impressed for a coupla "old guys". Thought I was gonna see Pete die of a heart attack, but they played pretty hard still. And no silly sound booth for Pete, just angry windmills

for me? who first, scooter later...I'm the rocker that has a scoot hidden in the garage

Back in Italy we have never heard of mod culture, much less of the who.

Scooters are just part of everyday life there.

Love The Who. Sell Out is one of my all-time favourite albums. Love my scooter. The two aren't related though I do wear Doc cherry reds while I ride my scooter and ocassionally desert boots. Because, though I would love to wear a Givanchey dress like Audrey Hephern in Roman Holiday, it would hurt like heck if I took a tumble in a sundress lol.

pdxrita wrote:

Wheelz wrote:He said, "That is becuase it is "your" music, it is what you like and what makes you happy, it might sound like a cat in a clothes dryer to me, but that is "my" opinion, and I'm entitlted to it as are you. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it sucks, it's just not for you."

Love this! I'm filing that one away for the day my son tells me that my music sucks. So far, he doesn't have much of an opinion about music, but I'm waiting for that to happen.

As for The Who, I was a HUGE fan as a teenager. I must have seen Quadrophenia at least a dozen times at the midnight movies in addition to The Kids are Alright and Tommy. Of the three, Quad was the best. So I guess I could say that The Who came first. After watching Quadrophenia, I definitely came away with a desire to ride a scooter. However, it was many years later before I actually did so, one reason being that I'm just too danged short to ride a Vespa al la Quadrophenia. So by the time I did get around to getting a scooter, that old desire was only a tiny bit of the picture. Honestly, when I think of Mod-style scooters, to me the Buddy just isn't that. A Stella, yeah, that would work. But a Buddy? Not so much. So, my answer to your question is yes and no. I've been a fan of The Who, and Quadrophenia originally brought scooters to my attention, but my ultimate purchase wasn't really about that anymore.

This experience with the band is similar to my own. I was always aware of The Who as a teen being I loved rock n roll music of all kinds. But it was a film which brought me to understand them. I related to their aggression. And so my film was The Kid's Are Alright.

Face Dances was just out, or coming out. I liked The Who fine. Me and some friends went to see Paul McCartney's RockShow at the Tri-Plex. Second billed was The Kid's Are Alright. I had never seen or heard such a thing up until then. We sort of missed Punk rock here in the U.S. the first time around. The whole of it, at least. But here was a part of it. This band was vicious.

They were always a live band for me. This was before you could flip on you tube and see that Bruce Springsteen does the same act night after night but makes it look spontaneous. So seeing a band "live" is not what it used to be. When a friend would ask "did he dance on the piano for Rosalita" and you said 'yeah!' the friend wanted to see that when he went. Now it's just like "oh he does that every night. Boring."

It's unfortunate.

But The Who did it particularly well, this live performance thing. And the horrible, violent sounds of Live At Leed's And Live At The Isle Of Wright can still offend even the more hearty among us.

This is a HQ clip. The Who were always best when Roger wasn't singing. Which is not a dig against Roger. Look what he is up against? Two crazy guys and a man in a skeleton suit. He holds his own when joining in but when he falls silent this band takes off to places unknown

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For me Quadrophenia came after all this. I wasn't aware of mods or rockers or scooters until I got a copy of the album for Christmas. Yeah, the Japanese import

For me scooters were not to be known for many more years. And The Who never came to mind on account of them. At least not at point of purchase or consideration. Maybe they can help each other live on? And hopefully in more then just memory.

JHScoot wrote:the horrible, violent sounds of Live At Leed's And Live At The Isle Of Wright can still offend even the more hearty among us.

Wha? the best rock and roll is best when made by the young, and is made of three or four things. Some bands can get away without one, occasionally two, but for the most part rock is all agression, anger, and sex (and less now, drugs). The Who would have been who? if it hadn't been for those ingredients.

"Horrible, violent sounds" is a compliment. As is its ability to still offend in some quarters.

Play those albums among the uninitiated or unfamiliar. Or maybe non rock fans or those interested but not very involved. Or heck, even for some rock fans. Reactions can very wildly even today.

I have had pieces of those albums playing....just regular Who performances, and people walk into the room or hop into my car (when i was a cager) and say "wtf is that shi*?

Then they put on Boston or Pink Floyd :/

'oh well, it's The Who? You know, You Better You Bet? Who Are You?'

"Well thats awful. Sounds like crap"

I'm not schizophrenic, nor am I a mod, a rocker, or a rebel. I've never seen "Quadrophenia" and probably won't. It just doesn't appeal to me. I don't listen to The Who, although I appreciate their great talent.

I just feel too happy on my scoot to have the amount of angst that opera projects. lol

What piqued my interest in scooters is Italian culture and style, and the "cute" factor.

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I'm also fascinated by the uses of scooters from WW1, WW2, postal services, etc.

I liked the Who along with a whole lot of rock bands. I don't think they particularly stood out for me, though.

Oddly enough, the first Pinball Wizard I ever heard was the Elton John version. Bought it on 8-track. Didn't know it was the Who's until my brother told me later.

Down here, scooters were virtually unheard-of. It was the late 60s, early 70's and we were all into the Japanese 2-stroke dirt bikes. I guess we were more dirt backroads than paved city streets so it makes sense.

I have a Who album but have yet to see Quad. Will have to pick up a copy.

My son likes their music because of their use as themes on the CSI series, so I guess they will make the jump to yet another generation.

Not so sure how I feel about the film. The sex scene was painfully awkward, Jimmy was irritating and there was entirely too much penis in that movie. Quadrophenia the album, however, is damn near perfect. I still think that Who's Next was better but that's just one man's opinion. I was a fan of The Who before I started scooting and never personally connected the two.

Long story short, I'm with you 100% JH. I'm not entirely sure that there are any real and lasting connections (other than the film) between the band and the mod subculture/scooting.