The famous Königsalle in Düsseldorf, © Düsseldorf Tourismus GmbH

König­sallee / "Ber­gis­cher Löwe"


Mod- re­viv­al in Düs­sel­dorf

The long Königsallee is the main boulevard in Düsseldorf, running along the Stadtgraben, or city moat, with its big city atmosphere. If you follow the Stadtgraben southwards towards Graf-Adolf Platz, you’ll find the Bergischer Löwe (Bergisch Lion) monument. Created by sculptor Philipp Harth, it has stood on this spot on the Stadtgraben since the early 1960s. Here, in the 1980s in particular, was where the big Mod scene in the city liked to meet. Triggered among other things by the film “Quadrophenia” by The Who, there was a Mod revival, which took up the style and music of the 1960s and revived it as a subculture. While the Ratinger Hof and the punk/New Wave scene were aesthetically close to the Kunstakademie, while at the same time celebrating a safety-pinned, colourful scruffy look, the Mods celebrated the English working class and dreams of social advancement, and expressed these through their own fashion. Tailor-made suits, scooters and a parka were the insignia of the scene. It was above all The Jam with Paul Weller that became musical idols of the second Mod wave, although the Mod revival also incorporated Soul, Northern Soul, Beat and acid jazz. Alongside Hamburg, Düsseldorf became the German mod centre. Bands such as “Die Profis” and “Stunde X” were a flagship for the scene. And ultimately, it was this tension between the Ratinger Hof scene and the Mods that made the city’s pop music so fascinating in the 1980s. A great portrait of this scene is given in the book “Dreiknopf und Dosenbier: File Under: Subculture, MOD, GTS” by Andrey Nikolai.

Further Information:
Bergischer Löwe
Graf-Adolf-Platz, 40213 Düsseldorf