Low Culture Podcast: Dr Martens Boots

“I’ve been wearing Dr Martens for so long,” says tQ co-pilot Luke Turner, “that I can look down at my feet and can connect with all these different bits of my past – it’s a lovely thing for a shoe to be able to do.” In this week’s podcast, Luke and John Doran eschew the usual album, book or film to discuss the enduring popularity of the Dr Martens boot. They’ve both been wearing this distinctive leather footwear since their tender teenage years, when the hard leather of the OG Dr Martens boot would tenderise their feet while being worn in. John and Luke discuss the history of the boot, its origins in post-war Germany, and the initial popularity with housewives before it moved across Europe to be made by Griggs, the family shoemakers who added the yellow stitch and turned Dr Martens into a global brand. The DM boot has of course been ubiquitous among different cultural tribes, from The Who onwards through punk, mod, OI, indie, and rave. Now, though, it reflects our fragmented, less tribal culture by being worn by artists in any genre going, from the underground to pop red carpets. They ask if new DMs are as hard on the feet as they used to be, discuss the crazy Shoe For Life offer that ought to keep Luke shod until he shuffles off to join the silent majority, and ponder far right associations – and whether they’ve been transcended. Luke and John finish by talking about how brands now end up spending an absolute fortune to be associated with music, with the most egregious examples of this happening in the early 00s – tune in to hear the time Luke commissioned the then extremely thirsty John to go on a 24 hour series of gigs at which all that there was to drink was pissy lager Carling. Thanks to our producer Alannah Chance for putting this together, and all of you our subscribers for helping tQ survive. Subscribers can listen to the podcast below, or via their usual podcast platforms.