We hear a lot about the Skinheads in the UK, but not so much about the working class youth “gang” movement happening in Australia at around the same time, the 60s-70s — the SHARPIES. Instead of bald heads they wore mullets and/or sideburns, and their jeans were WAYYYYYYYY tighter and their boots had heels. They did a somewhat geriatric-looking dance called the Sharpie Dance that kind of looks like the precursor to slam dancing. Their origin story is in 1960s Melbourne before spreading to Sydney, and their loves included fighting, rock n’ roll, tattoos, cars, and doing the Sharpie dance. Check out this short film from 1974 about some Melbourne Sharpies going to a Lobby Lloyd and Billy Thorpe concert, and a big gallery of sharp-looking Sharpies below that…
Photos via Vintag.es
