America has a love affair with biker gangs going back almost half a century. Since Easy Rider brought the counterculture to the mainstream and made people aware of the concept of cross-country motorcycle trips undertaken by dudes in matching leathers, pop culture has been lousy with outlaw gangs: Hunter S Thompson brought the real-life Hell's Angels to national attention with his non-fiction book of the same name, and whole subgenre of exploitation flicks starring tough dudes straddling bikes cluttered multiplexes across the land. Part of the allure of the biker gang in fiction is that they have a real-life precedent - there actually are outlaw gangs crowding the nation's highways and byways. Which is the big allure of Sons Of Anarchy, too, Kurt Sutter's celebrated cult hit TV show which sets its stall out as a totally realistic portrayal of a 1% motorcycle gang. The creator and showrunner (and occasional star) did a significant amount of research into bikers before starting the show, which centres on the fictional SAMCRO - that's Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original - who run guns, scrap with rival gangs and keep all the local law enforcement on side. At least, Sons Of Anarchy certainly purports to be realistic - or as close as dammit - and being on the F/X cable network certainly lets it get away with plenty of gritty violence, swearing and sexual scenes that give the feeling of it being like "real life". For the most part it can back it up, too, because whilst some actual bikers pick faults in parts of the show but, for the most part, it's fairly on the money: here are ten things Sons Of Anarchy gets right about bikers.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
