“The Specials emerged in the late 1970s during a time of great social, political, and economic upheaval in England. These deep subjects have heavily influenced their music right up to the present day.
The band’s songs Ghost Town, Gangsters, Too Much Too Young have bravely tackled issues of racism, unemployment, and social inequality, unafraid to reflect England’s shadow back onto itself.
With the passing of Terry Hall this film reflects on The Specials’ cultural impact. The Specials were not just a musical phenomenon but a cultural one that influenced fashion, style, popular culture, trends and even the mood of the entire nation.
This film explores how their legacy lives on in contemporary culture and how their influence can still be seen in modern art, fashion, and media. Their messages are universal. They soundtrack moments in history.”
I missed November’s episodes on Paul Weller and New Order*, the Specials ep airs next Tuesday (19th) evening on Sky Arts.
(*) can anyone help?
https://www.white-light.tv/all/record-on-the-specials-a-message-to-you
I’ll record it – I’m planning a bootleg LP.
You are Bernie Rhodes and I claim my five pounds.
I absolutely love the music of 2Tone and The Specials since ’79, but it has been documented and written about so extensively that I’m not sure what more can be said about this brief period in popular culture. There are ten books I can think of off the top of my head on the subject and several TV documentaries.
However, I will be tuning in and will be expecting that footage of piled up rubbish bags, those skinheads fighting in a nightclub and what Pauline Black’s fedora looks like today. Again.
I didn’t like skinheads (and as a longhair they didn’t like me!) so I ignored all this stuff TBH. There are some good tracks though I agree.
I was slightly too young at the time, but my cousin Paul was a couple of years older than me and a Mod. He had been into the Jam, the Fabs, and then 2-Tone, so I knew the music.
There was a small indie chart-return shop (Tracks) just off the market square in Hertford which seemed to be full of scary-looking punks and skins. Just-turned-11 me was determined to buy Ghost Town after seeing the video on ToTP, so I braved entering the shop where I would waste much of my spare time and cash over the next decade or so.
I’ve bought the rest of the 2-Tone catalogue over the last few years as they are reissued by Chrysalis. It’s mostly excellent. It burned bright, but not for long.
I was very briefly a Mod in the mid ’60s, but couldn’t afford the necessary schmutter and anyway I was (and still am) one of life’s natural scruffs. I’ve never ever looked or felt right in a suit.
Those ’60s Mods either became Skinheads or Hippies. There was a very sharp and unpleasant divide.
Punk was a thing that I could respect for the way it shook things up, but I scorned the Mod Revival, when it occurred, seeing it as inferior to the real thing that I’d experienced.
I had similar misgivings about 2-Tone, preferring the Ska, Bluebeat and Rocksteady of earlier times. By then I was approching my ’30s, so maybe that was a factor.
I liked The Beat (first album and related singles) but was not impressed at all by The Specials, with the notable exception of Ghost Town, which I still think is really exceptional. Nothing else of theirs that I’ve heard has “hit the spot” for me.
Seriously, you might like their most recent, and presumably final, release, Protest Songs, as it veers more toward reggae than ska.
The first return, Encore, was good, too.
Ska revival was always a misnomer. A lot of that music was rocksteady, eg Message To You or just reggae eg Ghost Train.
There’s more to ska than a pork pie hat.
The Specials and the Beat were the best of those bands by a long way. At the time, there were great post punk and reggae records being released which were much higher up my wants list.
I was solidly into progressive music and flashy jazz-rock about then. The closest I got to 2-Tone at the time was owning the Front Line comp, ie, not very close at all.
Nowadays, if I want to listen to ska, I reach for a Trojan box.
Why would you listen to 2 Tone when you had the superb Front Line comp?
Well, exactly…
Never mind that there’s a Tangerine Dream doc on Saturday night.
Huzzah! Which channel, @Twang?
Yeah, that’s more like it! White men with beards! Will they be sitting next to mixing desks?!? Don’t spoil it for me!
Harsh…
I suspect 2-Tone conforms much more to the Afterword stereotype than TG these days – look at the “best choon of all time” vote…
Sky Arts @fitterstoke. See my post below
Many thanks
The thing that doesn’t get mentioned too much about the Specials is how successful they were. Their first six singles were all Top 10 with two of them going to Number 1. It’s true that the Specials were “not just a musical phenomenon”, but they also were a musical phenomenon. People bought their records in droves.
Amazing how quick they came and went, and the success they had squeezed into it.
Just missed it (couple of years to young – I heard and liked the music though)
Around lare 82, someone school had a T-shirt with the debut album cover.
In my 12 year old mind, they were an “old” band)
TRIVIA: Lynval & Neville were the first ever black faces to appear on MTV.
I miss lots of things on Sky Arts simply because I don’t bother to scroll, tediously, through the viewing schedule on the PVR. Anyway, I’ve found a handy webpage which makes it much easier.
https://www.mytelly.co.uk/tv-guide/listings/channel/602/sky-arts.html?dt=2024-03-14
In related early-80s West Midlands news, This Town is coming to the BBC on March 31st.