“Mark always very resistant to any idea that he would dress up, especially clothes that he didn’t really feel comfortable in. He was still a mod at heart; he used to look like Paul Weller – it was the slip-ons with a tassle, tight jeans and a shirt, that’s what he dressed in.” – from Mark Hollis:A Perfect Silence
Out in the street today
We’re parading around
We’re the height of the fashion
And she laughs ‘cos we look the same
And follow all of the rules
Before Google, what did people do when they wanted to know about something? They went to the library, got a book out. When I was 15 I got a life-changing book out from my local library. It was about Modernists (Mods) and I was instantly hooked. Mod dressing wasn’t just about style, it was about detail. Really obsessive detail that only other Mods would notice. How many buttons on your cuff? Side vents or centre? (Side is the correct answer, btw). What fabric is that shirt? I love that line in The Sea and The Sand (from Quadrophenia) about a “touch of seersucker”. So Mod. And I love the line in Mirror Man about following all of the rules. Also, so Mod. Mark Hollis was down with Mod. His general detail-obsessed vibe was Mod, and his shaggy hair tidy shirt tight jeans and loafers uniform was legitimately Mod.
The ReAction, who were lumped in with the whole “Mod Revival” thing, (and maybe the singers ‘look’ had a bit to do with that) had a tune called Out On The Streets Today, which, as you can probably tell from the title, was an embryonic version of Mirror Man. Lyrically, at least. Not to be confused with the Police-y version you may have heard that is often credited to The ReAction but turns out to be from that between-bands period where Mark Hollis was writing songs and making demos. So, by the time this was (rather oddly) chosen as Talk Talk’s (barely promoted, not even a video) debut single in 1982 he’d been singing that line about being the height of the fashion for four years already – and he was still singing it at his last live gigs in 1986, chambray shirt untucked, hair shaggier than ever, looking more like Kurt Cobain than Steve Marriott, but still a Mod underneath it all, I am quite certain.
The Who – The Sea and the Sand https://youtu.be/rObg-I4IWYA?si=_hPgSz6YTrptgnuc
Mirror Man https://youtu.be/BVz1w2qy3_M?si=03GfZue7wwMXDk96