Mod is one of those cults that just never goes away. Mods, short for ‘Modernists’ are all about syle and - most importantly - they are obsessed with detail. Music fuels the Mod lifestyle: Know the right tunes and you are in. Blag your way into Mod circles with our Top 10 Mod albums!

Last month a reader asked us for the Top 10 Mod albums in our opinion, so here’s the full story. Whether your idea of Mod heaven is a three button mohair suit with 10 inch side vents or a Brooks Brothers button down shirt worn with Levis 505s with a 1 inch turnup and oxblood red brogues, here are ten albums that you can’t go wrong with.

In principle, there’s three main phases to the Mod thing: Original Mods 1960/64, Coming Of Age 1965/67 and Neo Mods 1977/81. All had their own, subtly different music.

In the beginning, it was kids in post-WW2 Britain and it was definitely all about Black American artists. Jazz men like Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis dressed sharp, displayed an ultra-cool indifference and played edgy music that stuck the finger up at tradition.

Then came the first Soul acts, dressed to the nines yet letting rip with unbridled energy. Tamla, Motown, records that were hard to get in early 60’s Britain. A lot of Mods went for the even more exotic Ska or ‘Blue Beat’ of impeccably dressed ex-boxer Prince Buster. The common denominator is that all these artists spell style with a capital ‘S’ to kids growing up in a country that had just come out of post-war rationing. A roar of excitement in a bland and grey world.

The second wave saw an explosion of homegrown acts. The Who started off covering Marvelettes and James Brown songs before they shot to rock stardom. Georgie Fame was there from the beginning, playing all the main clubs like the Flamingo in London and more. The Small Faces were a bunch of East End lads who lived on Mod style, booze and cigarettes.

And then there’s the third wave that pulled Mod out of oblivion ten years after it imploded. The Jam and Dexys Midnight Runners put Mod back on the map and even now, some 30 years later, they are still often the first point of call for folks getting into the Mod thing.

Just bear in mind that some of the biggest early Mod tunes were only ever released as 7″ singles, like The Capitol’s ‘Cool Jerk’ for instance. So we are doing a bit of a compromise Top 10 here, culling records from all three periods while trying to feature all main styles and some classic Mod dancefloor fillers.

Tuneraker’s Top 10 Mod Albums

1. The Who ‘My Generation’ (Brunswick, 1965)
Tons of attitude by the impeccably decked out foursome. Just look at the cover, with drummer Keith Moon sporting white denim jeans and jacket with a red polo neck and black Chelsea boots. OK, maybe a bit towards the ‘Street’ end of Mod, but definitely cool. They grapple with Marvelettes and James Brown covers, replacing stage polish with blue eyed enthusiasm. But it’s the Who’s own compositions like ‘My Generation’ and ‘The Kids Are Alright’ that really explode with sheer energy.

2. The Marvelettes ‘Please Mr Postman’ (Tamla, 1961)
This is were it all started. For real. In 1961 this must have sounded to European ears like a broadcast from a different planet: Bawdy party music belted out by a bunch of girls who are not afraid to shake their, errm, assets. This is one of Motown founder Barry Gordy’s early records and Gordy’s declared aim to make music for beautiful, upwardly mobile people was tailormade for the Mods.

3. Georgie Fame & The Blueflames ‘Rhythm & Blues At The Flamingo’ (Columbia, 1964)
Messr. Fame was the anchor man of the Mod scene, period. His band ably backed many a visiting Soul, Blues and Blue Beat man on stage and in the studio and, on their own, Fame and his lads provided the backdrop to endless long nights of dancing and ‘Face’ spotting.

4. Prince Buster ‘She Was A Rough Rider’ (Blue Beat, 1968)
Sharp dressed Jamaican bad boy Buster, a former boxer/bouncer turned record mogul, gave us all a lesson in coolness. Rude, lewd and partial to the good life, Buster’s songs are perennial Mod party favourites.

5. The Creation ‘We Are Paintermen’ (Hit Ton, 1967)
Mod’s most adventurous band opened the door to Psychedelia and, arguably, Hard Rock. Often criminally overlooked, these lads were recorded by US producer Shel Talmy who gave The Who their tough sound. Ironically, they were most popular in Germany and Scandinavia but a pure underground phenomenon at home in the UK. Alan McGee named Creation Records after the band, the label which eventually gave us Primal Scream and Oasis, the latter being quite partial to a bit of Mod styling themselves.

6. The Jam ‘All Mod Cons’ (Polydor, 1978)
What can I say, pure class. Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler took the Mod sound, injected a soupcon of Punk and scored immaculate pop hits with attitude.

7. Small Faces ‘Small Faces’ (Immediate, 1967)
Probably the best loved Mod band consisted of some likely East End rogues and is captured here arguably at their peak, if somewhat after their most influential period on the Mod scene. Stomping Beat music with a shot of R&B.

8. Dexys Midnight Runners ‘Searching For The Young Soul Rebels’ (Parlophone, 1980)
Kevin Rowland and his band revived the kind of 60’s Soul that kept Mod parties moving. Full of Mod references, from ‘Dexys’ pharmaceutical speed to obscure soul man and Mod hero Geno Washington, this album is insanely danceable and upbeat.

9. Thelonius Monk ‘Thelonius Himself’ (Riverside, 1957)
The original Mods would have grown up with Jazz pianist Monk: Stylish, sharp and uncompromisingly ‘modern’. Monk embodies the Mod ethos to the full. The first Modernists on SoHo streets most definitely took a page or two out of Monk’s book.

10. The Impressions ‘The Never Ending Impressions’ (Paramount, 1964)
An album that is just oh so urban and sophisticated: Mod’s attention to detail applied to music. Impressions mastermind Curtis Mayfield’s tough stance, blingy ‘I’ve made it’ image and knack for sweet harmonies not only inspired European Mods but also their Jamaican contemporaries, the Rude Boys, and Mayfield covers kick-started the Rock Steady boom in Jamaican Dancehalls.

You could argue over this selection of ten albums as representative for the Mod movement. In fact, if you are into Mod you’ll probably already be making derisive little snorts at the ranking and some of the more mainstream names. The devil is in the detail. Just like I picked a US Brooks Brother shirt in the intro to this article rather than an English Ben Sherman shirt. Ben Sherman shirts are nice, but they don’t have the same generous roll to the collar and the material just doesn’t fall like a Brooks Brothers shirt. So there you go, it’ll always be difficult to get it right but you have to start somewhere.

If you want to know more about Mod culture and its roots, check out Paolo Hewitt’s excellent book The Soul Stylists: Six Decades of Modernism - from Mods to Casuals or The Soul Stylists (US edition). The book is based on interviews with original Mods and you get the story straight from the horses mouth in often hilarious, always insightful quotes.