Rude boys, skins, punks and new ravers—England’s former youth tribes were distinguished by their musical affiliations, their fashions, and the times in which they thrived. It may be hard to see from the vantage of today’s homogenized monoculture, but a 60s mod was a far cry from an 80s psychobilly, which means that differentiating and cataloging each group’s unique identity matters. Youth Club Archive, a London nonprofit working to preserve the visual histories of these and other late 20th century subcultures, aims to do just that.

In a 2014 Guardian article, Alexis Petridis reminisces, “When I arrived at secondary school in the mid-80s, [it] looked like a mass of different tribes, all of them defined by the music they liked, all of them more or less wearing their tastes on their sleeves.” But that variety has since been supplanted by a pervasive apathy running counter to the irony-free idealism of his generation. Young people today—in England and the U.S. alike—are more likely to express their individualism online than in the streets. This cynicism can galvanize efforts like those of Youth Club Archive, but it also threatens to relegate their collections to the realm of pure nostalgia. Remembering has to be about more than just surface—that’s history.

Where does the mainstream end and subculture begin? It may be harder to tell now than in previous decades. More than fashions or trends, what remains apparent in these images is their subjects’ authenticity. These are mohawks for self, not selfies.

Photographs courtesy Youth Club Archive from their forthcoming publication, Subculture Diary.