> > Some, the "two-tones," are actually vehemently anti-racist and get
> > their ya-yas by beating up nazi skins (or, as they call them,
> > "boneheads").
>
> who are these "two-tones"?
They literally wear their politics on their sleeve: their easily identifiable black and white patterned clothing was meant to signify their support for integration. And naturally provoked boneheads into starting fights in sweaty packed clubs, where they righteously endeavored to tattoo their principles on each others' skulls.
The two-tones claim they are closer to the original skins, and seem to have some basis for that. It is generally accepted that the original skinheads grew by sartorial counter-reaction out of the "mods" in the late 50s. The musical genres they originally favored were reggae and ska, and the clubs that played such music in London were racially the most mixed. There was even a contingent of Jamaican blacks involved. The skinheads seem to have gone through a transition a decade later in the late sixites with the rise in Pakistani immigration into the UK, and were then later indeligibly stained in the late 70s and early 80s when the National Front mounted an outreach campaign among them.
The modern two tones also listen to ska and reggae, as well as hard edged punk.
I think the whole skinhead thing is a bit passe nowadays. But don't cite me on that, I'm old.
Michael