The Peckham Rye Revivalists.

The Year - 1981

The Place - Peckham, London

The Look - Cockney Wheeler Dealer

In the early 80's it wasn't all B-Boying and Electro, the UK still had a massive Reggae scene with sound systems playing all over the country, for some reason it seams that the biggest inspiration to some of these young lad's outfits was in-fact... Derek Trotter.



Take a look below to see how Derek seemed to influence a generation of young, black musicians.

Some priceless footage of Barrington Levy on the Old Grey Whistle Test, aired in 1984, check the gold chains and leather tams, a strong "Only Fools and Horses, Peckham Revivalist" look.




Next we have Clint Eastwood and General Saint performing their classic, Another One Bites the Dust, the two Jamaican lads have gone for a bit of a military inspired flared suit not too dissimilar to Bob Fossil from The Mighty Boosh, some furry red Kangol tams' and some rather classy Adidas trainers.

Here's Bobby hitting on the same look, but with the omission of trousers.

Last up, the classic 80's cult Reggae sound-clash film of films... Babylon, starring some well known faces like that guy who plays the cleaner on Hollyoaks and that mockney white bloke that used to do Bisto adverts....

This film is amazing, a lost classic, which was hidden by the government and censors at time of it's release due to the race riots in Brixton and round the country. The film raises questions about many of the problems this country has of dealing with multiculturalism that we have till this day... anyway that got a bit deep.

Enjoy the clip.

Brighton Peer