Skinhead Nation by George Marshall

Author:George Marshall [Marshall, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: ST Publishing
Published: 2011-04-28T06:00:00+00:00

Ghost Town

Detroit, Michigan, is a city fighting for its very survival. It is known throughout the world as Motor City, home of the automobile industry, but today it is a shadow of its former self, almost a ghost town symbolised by a giant railway station that lies abandoned and derelict in what was once the centre of the city.

Inner city decline in the Detroit of the Fifties and Sixties was hastened by the so-called "white flight" after the riots of 1967 which claimed 54 lives. Those who could afford to move to the more affluent areas around Detroit did so, resulting in businesses closing, further decline, and more people leaving. The end result was a city that had lost half of its population and most of its wealth. Today, it's a city of have-nots, three quarters of whom are black and captives of a form of racial segregation based on economics. In fact, many white people from the suburbs boast that they haven't been to Detroit for years except to see the Red Wings or the Tigers play.

Like all industrial cities, Detroit has always been a tough, uncompromising place to be. It's no surprise that its streets have given birth to world class boxers like Sugar Ray Robinson, Thomas "The Hit Man" Hearns and the legendary Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, heavyweight champion of the world for an incredible 13 years. Another professional boxer and former Ford assembly line worker who went on to find both fame and fortune was Berry Gordy, whose Tamla Motown empire put Detroit on the musical map under the name of Hitsville, USA.

Almost as if to underline the decline of this once great city, even Motown has vacated its premises and moved to the sunnier climes of Los Angeles. All that's left are the memories and a museum. Not only has the heart of the city packed its bags and headed for the suburbs, but the soul has now gone too.

The sound of Motown was incredibly popular with the original skinheads, just as it had been with the mods of a few years before, and remains so today in traditional skinhead circles. The likes of The Miracles, The Four Tops, The Marvelletes, and The Supremes have a home in many a skinhead's record collection, and of course many skinhead reggae classics are in fact covers of soul songs, including Bob & Marcia's Young, Gifted And Black (Harry J) which had originally been recorded by Nina Simone and then Aretha Franklin. Indeed, it's no coincidence that Motown enjoyed some of its best chart success in the UK during the skinhead's golden era of 1968 to 1972.

In Detroit you won't find too many people who would associate skinheads with their beloved Tamla Motown though. In fact, if the local media hysteria that surrounded a triple murder is to be believed, Detroit's music beats a totally different drum as far as skinheads are concerned today. Move over Motown gems like Martha And The Vandella's Dancing In The Street (which also appeared on Stateside) and Marvin Gaye's I Heard It Through The Grapevine.

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