Syracuse Ska Forum

American History X. I don't know if many of you have seen it, but i think that you should if you haven't. Not only is it a great film but the messages in it are strong.
After watching the film I realized that my only preception of a skinhead was a nazi-skinhead which lead me to believe that all skinheads were nazis. But i knew some skinheads went to ska shows and it just didn't add up. Then i did some research and realized that originaly skinheads weren't rascist. It started in the 60's and went through to the 80's (in england) revolving around music (oi! music), style, culture and working class pride. So really, ska and skinheads are really closely tied. Orginally skinheads weren't rascist at all, it was the boneheads later in america which sort of gave skinheads a bad name. maybe i'm the only one here that was in the dark about this, but i've spoken to other people who consider all skinheads neo nazis aka boneheads. I'm really glad this has been cleared up for me.
thoughts comments concerns?

I just explaind that exact thing to a kid a school.

Isn't it less that 8% of all skinheads are boneheads? or something like that, a small percentage.

i get offended when people give skins bad raps because of f*ck boneheads. i have alot of skin friends and theyre the nicest most loyal kids youll ever meet.

You might find this thread
interesting
Also, go check out The Believer, it's about a jewish neo nazi skinhead.

Think that's a strong film? Check out Romper Stomper. It's a much more blunt look at neo-nazi boneheads. And because it's an independent-style film, it doesn't feel the pressure to be marketable and give you a rosy feeling. You probably will have to think about the movie, instead of the movie setting out for you how you should feel about it. I dig that.




Don't feel bad - you were in the company of 98%+ of the population.



Not only were they not racist, they were heavily influenced by the immigrant West Indian population of England. In fact, there was a whole segment of Jamaican (and Jamaican influenced) music widely called Skinhead Reggae. This, of course, was long long before punk was even a glimmer in Malcom McLaren's eye. When punk came around, there was a British Nationalist movement gaining support, and they co-opted the tough guy skinhead look and corrupted it forever. I could go on for hours and hours about it, but it'll be pretty easy to do more of your own research. Good luck!

]

Tru dat.

ATTN: PHILLIP.




I'm sure he'll throw in his two cents.




Romper Stomper was a good movie. Not sure how accurate it is. But, it had a hell of a lot more realistic feel to it than American History X did. Russell Crow makes a chillingly good Nazi skin.

Ok I'll try to talk without being a doofus or getting angry.



You are mistaken if you think the neo-nazi/racist element of skinheads started in America. In the 80s when Oi! music came about and skinheads were big again there was a lot of blurry lines. I think the first big group that had a racial agenda was the NF(National Front). Then again 'racism' went back to the early days anyway. It was more of an anti-immigration stance but there was Paki-bashing a plenty in the early days when it was the sounds of Northern Soul and ska dominating their jukeboxes.Anyway I'm not here on a history lesson, cause frankly there are plenty of sources out there that repeat the same thing over and over.Anyway back to America. American skinheads grew out of the hardcore scene. Also oi isn't just music limited to England, there's plenty of American Oi bands and have been since the 80s.


Blah blah blah this is boring shit. A tid bit of info for you since you say you saw AHX, the one guy has the Anti-Hero's logo as a tattoo. They got pissed off over it all and wound up writing a song because of it.

and Katie_bird, when you say it went from the 60s through the 80s that's a bit off. It started in the late 60s, hence spirit of 69 and sorta died out. Then it turned into the suedeheads time in the early-mid 70s and then the big come back in the 80s.


Here's a little culture smack http://youtube.com/watch?v=G9S8nUMrOw0



Seacrest out.

im not good at spitting out information. i've been reading about it a lot since then. in any case, thanks for the feedback!