>> Hi, I'm Godlis. Thanks for having me, Paola and I'm talking about Doc Martens. And actually, around and about Doc Martens. So, let's get started. I got a lot to talk about. Are Doc Martens modern? Well, they're the shoe loved by Nazis, punks and grunge kids. Doesn't get more modern than that. >> [LAUGH] >> Let me give you the history. The short back history on Dr. Klaus Martens. While on leave from the army in 1945, he took a fall on a ski slope and his boots were kind of heavy. So, he decided to design more a comfortable shoe with soft leather and air-padded soles. He hooked up with his friend Dr. Herbert Funck and the two went into business. In Germany in the 50s, their shoe was reportedly a big hit with housewives over the age of 40. >> [LAUGH] >> But they wanted to expand their business, so they ran an ad in a British magazine. British bootmakers Griggs and Company saw the ad, and a deal was struck. On April 1, 1960, the first pair of Dr. Martens boots was produced in Wollaston in central England named 1460. 1460 for the shoe's date of birth. They were blood red with eight eyelets and distinctive yellow stitching. Air-cushioned bouncing soles and a legend was born. Back to the Mods versus the Rockers, 1960 to 64. >> This is a mob mod. This is a mob mod. >> That was a hit for The Jam in 1977. I saw them at CBGB's. The Jam loved The Who. They did guitar leaps like Pete Townshend a nd here is Pete Townshend doing his leap. See his Doc Martens? The Who came out of the mod scene in England in the early 60s where there were two growing youth culture factions. The Mods and the Rockers. This is a mod, Pete Townshend was a Mod. Mods listened to rhythm and blues dance music, and dressed in fashionable European style, and rode scooters. These are the rockers. They rode around on motorcycles. Listened to rockabilly music. That's not a rocker, that's Marlon Brando in 1953, in the film The Wild One. The Rockers dressed like him. In 1964 on Easter holiday, the Mods and Rockers had a big clash by the seaside and the British press went wild. Pete Townsend later made a film and a record, Quadrophenia about that clash in Clacton. And in 1964, Generation X, a popular British book about the Mods and the Rockers was an early dissection of the new youth culture. Pete Townshend in 1965 wrote and recorded My Generation, which is kind of a response to that book and a theme song for the mods. How do I go backwards? Let's see. [MUSIC] >> People try to put us down. Talking about my generation. >> 1966, Doc Martens meet rock and roll or actually meet Pete Townshend. There's Pete Townsend. He decided to shake up his image in 1966 and returned to his working class roots. And so, he started wearing Doc Martens boots onstage. He said they helped with his stage leaps. He was the first rock star to don them. 68 to 72, the Skinheads. The Skinheads were a radical working class offshoot of the mods who started wearing Doc Martens in 1968. Kind of for more nefarious purposes than Pete Townsend. Elton John. He wore Doc Martens's a very large pair in the movie, Tommy singing Pinball Wizard. A slight digression about motorcycle jackets. [MUSIC] >> This is Vaughn Monroe. My new favorite song. >> He wore black denim trousers and motorcycle boots, and a black leather jacket with an eagle on the back. One second. These are motorcycle jackets worn by the rockers in the UK in the early 60s. Some attach badges and buttons, look familiar? They bought their jackets at Lewis Leathers. Still around, I think. Iggy Pop shopped there. Chrissie Hynde got this jacket there. The Beatles didn't shop there, but they actually wore leather jackets in Hamburg in 1960 before the Beatle Mania period. And the Ramones wore leather jackets on their first iconic album cover, shot taken by Roberta Bayley. The Ramones wanted to be the Beatles. 76, my era. Here's Patti Smith in her motorcycle jacket in 1976 and she did a cover version of My Generation. >> One, two. [MUSIC] >> The greatest punks in 76 really loved their boots. The Clash, the Sex Pistols, The Damned, Joe Strummer, One More Digression. It occurred to me putting together this piece. That in CBGB's, between looking at my photos between 1976 and 1979 at CBGB's. Most of us were wearing sneakers with our motorcycle jackets. This was kind of an interesting twist that was fashioned by the Ramones, I think. Here's Joey's Keds on stage at CBGB's and on the street. Joan Jett showed up in her Ramones t-shirt and sneakers, and this fashionably dressed no wave crew on the Bowery in 78 are still all seem to be wearing sneakers. Of course, some wore Cuban heels and high heels. But most of us wore sneakers back then. Back to Doc Martens. 1979, Ska hits Britain. The two tone scene which was kind of drawing back from the mobs were wearing a lot of Doc Martens, the specials. Madness, Pauline Black from the Selector. Working our way towards grunge. In the early 90s just as punk reemerged as grunge in Seattle, so did Doc Martens. Well, they never actually, really went away. Gwen Stefani had no doubts about her Doc Martens, And Miley Cyrus, practically all she wore on her wrecking ball video was Doc Martens. >> [LAUGH] >> Good old Doc Martens. He knew a thing or two about the modern world. [MUSIC] Thanks. >> [APPLAUSE]