Skins is a drama/comedy which centres around a group of 16 and 17 year old students at a sixth form college. It was co-created by Jamie Brittain, a friend of mine from high school, and is set in the city of Bristol where we grew up. I missed it first time around in January but caught the recent re-runs on E4, and in my opinion it competes only with Torchwood for the title of best thing on British TV this year. As with Torchwood it’s great seeing something set and filmed in places I used to be on a regular basis, and there are plenty of situations and characters in Skins which are familiar as well.

One of the best things about Skins is the music. I missed episode one first time around, so the first Skins I saw was the beginning of episode two, where Cassie observes the wreckage of the morning after the night before with Mogwai’s Cody playing in the background. Immediately I knew the series was going to be excellent. The use of Spiritualized’s Do It All Over Again at the end of episode four was also an inspired accompaniment to the story.

Name-dropping aside, I do have a couple of points to make about the programme. Firstly- Skins = New Rave! This rather tenuous insight occurred to me whilst watching the Skin’s ‘Secret Party’ mini-episode. A paper thin plot is used to justify having a big party using the Skins cast and fans. Observe…

Decadence, debauchery, charity shop fashion and quality music. Naturally I approve, and it occurs to me that the music, clothes and general feel of the video epitomise what New Rave is supposed to be about.

First of all, what is New Rave? Well, depending on who you ask it’s either the Next Big Thing in pop music or a load of NME-contrived hype. Previously I’ve been of the latter persuasion, and so it seems was John Harris when he wrote this article about the emerging scene just over a year ago. Then again, he didn’t like rave the first time around either.

There is ridiculous amount of debate over whether New Rave as a genre actually exists or not. I’m not really interested in this argument; whatever you want to call it it’s undeniable that a strain of indie which combines guitar music with dance has emerged over the last few years. Like the term ‘Emo’ not all bands having such a sound like the label ‘New Rave’ being foisted upon them. I’m just using the phrase for the sake of convenience.

The band featured in the video above are Foals, and are actually rather good. Take a look at the artist charts on these two New Rave groups on Last.fm for other bands associated with the scene. To those lists I’d add my personal favourites the Whip (see the awesome video for recent single Divebomb) and CSS (see Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above.) The strain of indie represented by these bands and others can be traced back to Bloc Party’s first album- see Banquet for an example of finely crafted indiedisco- and the remixing of the entire album by established electronic artists helped establish the connection between indie and dance.

My contention is that the music and culture represented by Skins is in part feeding into this new musical movement, whatever it ends up being called. The influence of the programme may become more explicit as time gives us perspective. If the programme makers really have contributed to this culture (rather than exploit it, as the industry will surely do when and if it gets big) then they will have created a small piece of cultural history.

Now for the other point (warning: a few minor plot spoilers follow.) A lot of moralising has been done about the drug taking and sex depicted in Skins. The tabloid press, notorious for their lack or irony, take it all at face value and denounce the show as immoral and corrupting. Of course Skins is an exaggeration; all the best comedy is made by taking real life situations and pushing them to the extreme. It’s a comedy, not a documentary; but what makes the programme popular and relevant is that it does have an element of truth to it, and its probably closer to reality than moralising teen dramas such as Hollyoaks.

So what does Skins tell us about growing up in Britain in the 21st century, other than that kids are fucked up? Well, the stock reasoning of the Daily Mail et al is that the wayward kids are the result of drug dealers preying on our youth, or black cultural influences, or programmes like Skins, or deadbeat single mothers, or immigrants, or whatever. The finger is pointed firmly at ‘the Other’, factors which exist outside of the typical white middle-class family home, which is a source of support and stability. What Skins portrays is a generation going array precisely because of the sort of bourgeois family life that small-c conservative tabloids espouse.

Take Tony and Effy. Their dad (played by Harry Enfield) is a pathetic character, which is aptly illustrated by his painfully embarrassing conduct at his own birthday celebration at the start of episode eight. Tony, an existentialist, hides a contempt for his dad and subtly undermines him at every opportunity. Effy is silent throughout the day but every evening secretly escapes her parent’s neurotic protectionism and returns at dawn after a night of sex drugs and partying.

Or take Cassie, whose mum and (step?) dad are too obsessed with each other to notice her anorexia and self-destructive tendencies. Or Jal, whose comfortable record producer father has no interest in her talent at classical music and secretly blames her for the departure of her mother. Or Chris, whose parents were torn apart by the death of his brother and now want nothing to do with him or each other. Both Sid and Michelle have parents who appear to be incapable of conducting a steady relationship, and Josh and Abigail’s mother is a wealthy psychologist who plies them with pharmaceuticals which seem to do more harm than good.

The behaviour of the kids is clearly linked to the actions of the parents, and significantly the parents are not cases for the social services; rather, they are the sort of people who would be more likely to buy the Daily Mail than feature in it. In fact, very few adults at all are portrayed kindly in Skins. The teachers at the sixth form college attended by the characters are selfish, manipulative, naive or just plain incompetent. Also the show contains subtle digs at private healthcare, private education and the class system which is prevalent in Bristol, a schizophrenic city which badly wants to be London.

All in all, it’s nice to see something on TV which doesn’t feature the usual rehashed plots and predictable villains. Season two is due early next year. Meanwhile, here’s some more Decline: