Mod

Mod files were unique in that they enabled the average user to become a musician overnight and distribute their work easily. Assuming someone already owned a computer, the only additional costs would be the tracker registration fee (if any) and possibly a more robust soundcard. With a modem, the aspiring musician could upload their creations to a BBS (and later, the internet) and spread it worldwide.

It was the precursor to mp3.

Its only limitation was the amount of sample data that could be embedded, thus effectively eliminating vocals. With the advent of newer trackers that could take advantage of extended or onboard (soundcard) memory, it became somewhat feasible (ie., Scirocco's rapping in Suburban Gangsta), but it was still a severe limitation.

To some, it was a challenge. A subgenre of the mod scene was the chipmod. They often arose out of competition, where the best song had to be packed in the smallest amount of space. It is truly amazing what one could get out of a single cycle of a square wave.

That, to me, was the beauty of the scene. It was ingenuity exercised.

The innovative part of MOD files was that you were not limited to using your computers typical FM- style synth; instead, you have near-infinite composing freedom due to the fact that you use your own custom samples.

Original MOD files had 15 or 31 sample slots and 4 channels.

IIRC, you can spot a MOD file by the "M.K." signature at around offset 1080.

mockingbird = M = mode

mod vt.,n.

[very common] 1. Short for `modify' or `modification'. Very commonly used -- in fact the full terms are considered markers that one is being formal. The plural `mods' is used esp. with reference to bug fixes or minor design changes in hardware or software, most esp. with respect to patch sets or a diff. 2. Short for modulo but used only for its techspeak sense.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

Mod is short for modification. This term is normally used in the world of online gaming, where people can download a version of the game with a modified code, that for example changes Quake III Arena into a game more like Counter-Strike, while keeping it in the Q3 engine that is far superior.

A product of working-class British youth of the mid-sixties, there are many theories and reports about what this group of people were.

Quick Background:
Brighton beach, a scene that looks like it has been taken directly out of The Outsiders. Where the Rockers (greasers) face the Mods (socs) for yet another violent clash.

So what was this culture known as The Mods? Think A Clockwork Orange, think Paul Weller, think scooters. Fashionable, modern and casual with a whole musical genre to its name.

So does mod come from "modern"? Perhaps. Another theory stems from the vehicles driven by the two violent factions. The Mods, driving scooters and the Rockers driving the motorbike. The motorbikes of the time having to be "rocked" to get the petrol distribution correct whilst the mopeds had modern technology to circumvent this need.

I remain cynical as to the above theory, but it still remains.

There were Mods in the late 50s but they were limited to the younger teenagers. When these teenagers grew older, the 60s happened and the mod culture exploded, where it became a culture that included drugs, scooters as well as fashion and music.

The Who became THE Mod band of the sixties.

But alas - the violence and media coverage ensured the mod movement blew itself out...until the 70s when Paul Weller appeared on the scene, now the culture started to appear in America, as the Anglophile USA craved a replacement for Beatlemania. The US got Punk and Mod.

Once again the Mod movement was marred by violence, this time with petrol bombs.

Mod(ern) Revival picked itself up off its battered legs in 1989 with the advent of Acid Jazz, and was helped along in the early 90s with the Manchester music scene, the Stone Roses, The Smiths, Happy Mondays, and the Hacienda club (RIP).

The Late nineties saw the "indy" scene somewhat work along side the Mod Scene and sometimes they were synonymous, bands such as Blur and Pulp were such borderline bands, who embraced the Mod lifestyle but were labelled as indy.

The Mod scene in the 21st Century is somewhat subdued. It's out there, but who knows how it will surface this time? Plenty of British grafitti artists have made it clear it has for the time split into the mainstream and the underground. The RAF "target" symbol that has been unofficially adopted by the movement, appearing in bus shelters throughout the land.