Kudos for airing this track. I’m from the UK and these were one of my favourite bands growing up, not just the sound but the look, ideals and morals. Black and white working class kids with a love of ska and a hatred of Thatcher 🏁
My old group was lucky enough to open for a version of the reformed Specials. Got completely loaded with Roddy on their tour bus. I also had Lynval at my apartment listening to my collection of classic Jamaican music!
This was the first 7 inch single record I ever bought, back in about 1979. A revival of a Jamaican sixties music style, ska, which was a precursor to reggae. The Specials led a big revival of it in the late 70s in the UK. This song is heavily based on an older song called "Al Capone" by Jamaica's Prince Buster. Their songs "A Message to Rudy" and "Ghost Town" are worth hearing too, as are other ska revival bands like The English Beat, Madness, and The Selecter.
The Specials were Ska, clearly, but Terry Hall brought an extra post-punk vibe to it which is what both made it unique to Jamaican Ska and particularly relevant to the British sound in my view.
I grew up with Madness and The Specials and didn't realize until a couple years ago that many of their songs were covers. It's really shameful that the original artists didn't get the recognition they deserved.
I still have my mini buttons that I got at the record (yes record) store that spell out The Specials. Ska was a bit underground here in the US, but huge in the UK . Thanks for bringing back some good memories. 💜
The 70s ska/2-Tone musical movement was an awesome thing - well worth checking out! In addition to the Ghost Town by the Specials, I'd recommend On My Radio by The Selecter, Mirror in the Bathroom by English Beat (also their cover of Tears of a Clown), and One Step Beyond by Madness - that'll give you the flavor. Enjoy!
Lol The specials were 100% not ska.... They are O.G. punk rock... The inspiration for Rancid...Sublime and many other bands The Specials were 40 years ahead of their time...and possibly a top 20 most under rated and influential bands in history
This music and band is SKA. Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat.
Yeah, you should check out their song Ghost Town, it might just be their best and best known song. It was cool discovering this one, I'd never heard it before!
The music is ska. It was popular back in the 80’s with Brits inspired by the influence of those with West Indian roots. You should give a listen to Ghost Town or Free Nelson Mandela from the Specials. Those were there biggest hits.
This is 2nd generation Ska music from the 70's. In the 90's we were blessed with 3rd generation Ska music by bands like Sublime, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt, The Dancehall Crashes, The Toasters, The Pietasters, Less Than Jake and many many more great 3rd Generation Ska bands of the 90's ❤
@@Cicero207 Well, they're an awsome band in every style they play, even Metal or when they did a Devo-style song (Modern Industry). And their concerts are legendary.
I was blessed to live in Hawaii in the mid 90's and that was the Ska capital of the world. Reel Big Fish, Let's Go Bowling, Dance Hall Crashers.....So many good shows.
The Specials were the first band I got into as a child. Was lucky enough to see them in my hometown a couple of years ago. Fantastic night. Well worth checking out Ghost Town, Monkey Man or Too Much, Too Young.
Great band, you should check out A Message To You Rudy, and Ghost Town, which are their two biggest hits, also the band, Madness and from the same era, Ian Dury and the Blockheads.
I've worked in the Southern US States and I can see why it would shock you that black and white kids were friends, That was one of the trademarks of the whole two-tone movement, It was a fusion. The UK has never had the same levels of segregation as the US. We don't get that at all. I used to love going to the Christmas parties in Atlanta, I would see all of the tables segregated, not deliberately, but because that was the way things were done, and I would go and sit on a black table, and have the best time.
Developed out of Reggae Ska was the new sound in the late 70s coming out of the black areas of London, Birmingham, in UK. Other bands are Madness, Selecter, The Beat, UB40
Ska formed from Bluebeat from the 1960s which was Jamacian,but 2 Tone may have emanated from “black areas”,but was predominantly a white thing. Jerry Dammers formed 2 Tone Records and wrote the majority of the Specials records,Madness were a wholly white band,UB40 were a reggae band,not 2 Tone or ska,and again,led by white men. The fans were 99.9% white. Still,don’t let the facts spoil your rewriting of social and cultural history.
@@normandavidtidiman9918 I'm no music expert but I think you are confusing Ska and TwoTone - I believe that Ska originated in Jamaica in the 50's/60's and was a precursor to Reggae - it was not "predominantly a white thing" at all. TwoTone was a British music genre/label of the 70's/80's heavily influenced by Ska and promoting racial harmony. Making this a race thing goes completely against what Two Tone and the Specials were all about.
@julesgosnell9791 You're correct on the first part..my mistake, I've edited now. However,the OP was the one who brought race into it using the phrase "black areas".
Sorry ska pre dated reggae by about 8 years. Ske is the grandfather, rocksteady is the father and reggae is the son. Check out the Skatalites, Laurel Aitken and Prince Buster. Most of the British 2 Tone ska was covers or reworkings of classic ska, rocksteady and reggae. Gangsters for example was a reworking of the Prince Buster ska classic Al Capone.
They were a Coventry band, the UK's equivalent to Detroit (Motown/Motor city). Then Thatcher came along, sold off the motor and engineering nationalised industries to lead *Coventry into very dark times. If you haven't checked out their song Ghost Town, it will give you an insight. *And the nation as a whole. Food banks, zero hour contracts, care in the community etc.
IT was Britain 🇬🇧 we WEARNT Devided. White and Black grew up together. The Music developed. Together. Young kids Black & White Listen to the same shit .
Specials Gansters great song. Released in 1979. Part of the 2 tone movement which took off in Britain around this time. Other bands that were part of 2 tone were Madness Bad Manners The Beat The Selector The Bodysnatchers. They were the 2nd wave of ska.The 1st wave was late 60s
Ska is a hybrid between reggae and punk/rockabilly, so you can get a lot of different vibes off it at the same time. This was actually one of my first ten albums. Just about wore the vinyl flat. (And started hearing the intro to "Little Bitch" as soon as it began to fade.)
Ska, definitely from Jamaica 🇯🇲 but this is 2nd wave Ska in Britain when Jamaican immigrants formed bands with white fans, mostly from Coventry in England 🏴
Yes please, more Specials and other ‘2 tone’ music. So glad you finally reacted to this. Would love you to react to Ghost town next. Also anything by the Fun Boy 3 (especially Tunnel of Love or The Lunatics)
This is (two tone) ska music. Ska is originally the faster precursor of reggae and originated in the early sixties in jamaica. But at the end of the 70 a movement started in Coventry where they reinvented the ska, put some punk influence in it and two tone ska was born. Most two tone ska bands had as well black as white musicians.
In the 50s (anyone in the comments correct me if I'm wrong) there was an influx of Jamaican people to the UK because they had a labor shortages and started encouraging migration from their colonies to fill in those labor shortages. In turn they got a lot of Jamaican/Carribean influence on their music and culture in general. This form of music is Ska. Some punk rock around that time was taking influence from Reggae and you got bands like The Specials and plenty others who were doing this. Also a funfact, skinheads originated in the UK. And back then included blacks too. Skinheads over thereback then listened to reggae music, the thing is that they still targeted and hated Pakistani and Asians. Skinheads in the UK were originally working class youths who were angry about what they percieved as those Asians and Pakistanis taking jobs and taking over their neighborhoods. Somewhere along the lines that split even further down and you got nationalist white supremacists skins, and it took off here in the United States. There's a good movie and TV series that kinda goes into this called This is England. The original This is England is a movie that shows how some skinheads started turning nationalist/white supremacist, but that's not all it was about. Then you have This Is England '86, This Is England '88, and This Is England '90 which are all TV series. 86,88, and 90 don't really go into the stuff about skinheads but it has the same cast as they grown up. And '90 is interesting because a character in their who is a racist skin, ends up getting karma for something messed up he did in the original This Is England. It all used to be up on Netflix but I think they took it down long ago.
The migration of people from the Caribbean to the U.K. started in June 1948 when HMT Empire Windrush landed at Tilbury in answer to the UK’s call for help to bolster the workforce in the wake of WWII and over the subsequent decades bringing with them Caribbean Mento, Calypso, Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae. All of which were absorbed in the U.K. music scenes to varying degrees but Ska was a little different, in that twenty years after its introduction to these shores it saw a full on resurgence which eclipsed its debut in the 50’s and 60’s. The Ska boys and girls of the late 70’s into very early 80’s were really the original skinheads and there was nothing remotely racist about them, the racism came about when some elements of the Ska boys and girls style was hijacked by what were known as bovver boys and girls, who held far right opinions and tended to be affiliated with the likes of the National Front or the British Nationalist Party (BNP). Many, if not most of whom, were not really interested in the music other than using it as an excuse to jump around and smash things and places up. The Ska revival has also become known as 2 Tone in reference to the record label that The Specials started and probably also in part because most of the biggest acts from that genre were in fact signed to that label and to this day is really rather beloved in the U.K…especially The Specials and Madness.
Please don't exclude the "Baldies" from this narrative. Baldies were anti-racist skinheads. They looked the same, dressed the same, listened to a lot of the same music, as skinheads. But these guys made it their business to go out of their way to target and confront skinheads. These were angry young white men who were looking for a fight. Looking for an appropriate target for their rage. And cowardly skinheads who exclusively targeted minorities and vulnrable people felt justified to them. Many a bloody battle was fought between these two groups of people. I've heard first person accounts of Baldies rushing a skinhead club, knowing full well that they would be out numbered. Of course they got their asses kicked. But they did significant damage. And they expressed zero regrets to me. They felt they fought a good fight, and for the right reasons. It was a good versus evil kind of scenario. I have tremendous respect for these guys.
It's the 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush arriving at Tilbury docks. Looking back it's amazing how they enriched the UK, despite the obstacles put in their way.
Ska came first in Jamaica in the 50s & 60s before rocksteady and reggae. The Specials, along with several other UK bands, were a second wave of ska that came along in the late 70s, early 80s. The third wave happened in America in the late 80s & 90s and bears little resemblance to the first or second wave. For fun sounds, find UK DJ David Rodigan. (BBC Sounds) He’ll teach.
This is one of my favorites! Please do some more two tone (madness, english beat…) and some third wave (streetlight manifesto, buck o nine…). It’s all born out of reggae and jazz and now mixed with punk
Two Tone music was not just about the sound; it also carried a strong social message. It aimed to promote racial unity and address issues of economic hardship and racism in Thatcher-era Britain. Bands like The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, and The Beat were central to the movement.
This period of music was called 2 tone hence black and white people in the same band. Started by Gerry Dammers keyboard player in the specials. This is the second wave of ska music brought over from Jamaica in the 1960s. Google Gerry Dammers also the band Madness.
I have never heard this before....no idea what year this was...it reminds me of early 80's new wave. The singer looks familiar for some reason....might have to research this group.
Try "A Message to You Rudy" or "Ghost Town" - also, the three singers recorded under the name Fun Boy Three - try "The Telephone Always Rings" or "Our Lips Are Sealed"
Hey! Glad to see you’re back and well. For more special Ska, check out “Please Don’t Bend” by Desmond Dekker. Great fun humorous lyrics and vibing beat!
Back in a time and place were instead of seeing colour with the mass migration of the West Indians to the UK, they found a common love of music. We could learn a lot from this today IMO
I remember this from the 70s I was so proud in my suit and being a RUDE BOY And my sister was a RUDE GIRL With 95% of the youth In the UK there was no racism IN Royal Leamington Spa it was the older gen who had the the problem the the new wave skin heads kicked up racism and boy the fights me and my brothers and sisters got into with the National front back then was weekly, And I still love two tone and ska.(even though I am a lot older LOL)
Was a little rudeboy when i saw my fave ska band the Specials at sophia gardens Cardiff,brogues on my feet / Fred Perry T-shirt + stay press trousers/ Harrington jacket 😂 saw the Selector/ the Beat / Ub40 with Mikey Dread / Madness , can remember the mass unemployment +riots due to Margaret thatcher’s government,the whole country was a mess but still the good old days 👌😂
2-tone Ska! Reggae influence mixed with klezmer music and some rock steady. Unlike the first wave of Ska with many more horns and solos, 2-tone was a reaction to the racial violence affecting the British youth at the time and featured punk lyrics and pace
The Two Tone label bands of the late 1970's were a revival, the original ska music evolved in Jamaica in the late 1950's and early 60's. Through immigration into the UK the music filtered into working class areas and became very popular in the UK with both black kids, and also white kids within the British mods and skinhead youth cultures of that era. Ska was the precursor to Reggae.
Kudos for airing this track. I’m from the UK and these were one of my favourite bands growing up, not just the sound but the look, ideals and morals. Black and white working class kids with a love of ska and a hatred of Thatcher 🏁
I'm sure they're now wishing the policy of Thatcher was still around.
@@rbrtgrdn why would they wish that?
@@Conquistador75 Oh...I don't know, maybe reducing the economic malaise.
@@rbrtgrdn for who though?
@@Conquistador75 The citizenry.
I was lucky to see the Specials a couple of times. RIP to the late great Terry Hall.
Read about what happened to Terry in his childhood. Terrible.
Me too. Amazing band.
@@duchessoflangley6894 Is there a book about Terry?
My old group was lucky enough to open for a version of the reformed Specials. Got completely loaded with Roddy on their tour bus. I also had Lynval at my apartment listening to my collection of classic Jamaican music!
@@duchessoflangley6894Same thing happened to me. Still haven't gotten over the trauma and it's been just over 40 years.
This was the first 7 inch single record I ever bought, back in about 1979. A revival of a Jamaican sixties music style, ska, which was a precursor to reggae. The Specials led a big revival of it in the late 70s in the UK. This song is heavily based on an older song called "Al Capone" by Jamaica's Prince Buster. Their songs "A Message to Rudy" and "Ghost Town" are worth hearing too, as are other ska revival bands like The English Beat, Madness, and The Selecter.
I LOVE Prince Buster's "Al Capone"!
Hope they reveiw that next.
Also, "Rudy Got Married".
- In a three piece suit, and a two tone boot.
The Specials were Ska, clearly, but Terry Hall brought an extra post-punk vibe to it which is what both made it unique to Jamaican Ska and particularly relevant to the British sound in my view.
@@matthewwalker5430 True. Songs like "Do the Dog" are far more punk than ska.
I grew up with Madness and The Specials and didn't realize until a couple years ago that many of their songs were covers. It's really shameful that the original artists didn't get the recognition they deserved.
Two tone. Black and white. We seemed to be on the right path back in the 80's.
I still have my mini buttons that I got at the record (yes record) store that spell out The Specials. Ska was a bit underground here in the US, but huge in the UK . Thanks for bringing back some good memories. 💜
The 70s ska/2-Tone musical movement was an awesome thing - well worth checking out! In addition to the Ghost Town by the Specials, I'd recommend On My Radio by The Selecter, Mirror in the Bathroom by English Beat (also their cover of Tears of a Clown), and One Step Beyond by Madness - that'll give you the flavor. Enjoy!
Lol The specials were 100% not ska.... They are O.G. punk rock... The inspiration for Rancid...Sublime and many other bands
The Specials were 40 years ahead of their time...and possibly a top 20 most under rated and influential bands in history
This music and band is SKA. Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat.
Yeah, you should check out their song Ghost Town, it might just be their best and best known song.
It was cool discovering this one, I'd never heard it before!
Yes!! Please do. Great song!
So many classics to pick from Rudy for me
The music is ska. It was popular back in the 80’s with Brits inspired by the influence of those with West Indian roots.
You should give a listen to Ghost Town or Free Nelson Mandela from the Specials. Those were there biggest hits.
lets not forget message to rudy
This is 2nd generation Ska music from the 70's.
In the 90's we were blessed with 3rd generation Ska music by bands like Sublime, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt, The Dancehall Crashes, The Toasters, The Pietasters, Less Than Jake and many many more great 3rd Generation Ska bands of the 90's
❤
These US 90's bands owe to Fishbone as much as they owe to UK bands.
@@chucku00 I completely forgot about Fishbone. Awesome Ska Band
@@Cicero207 Well, they're an awsome band in every style they play, even Metal or when they did a Devo-style song (Modern Industry). And their concerts are legendary.
I was blessed to live in Hawaii in the mid 90's and that was the Ska capital of the world. Reel Big Fish, Let's Go Bowling, Dance Hall Crashers.....So many good shows.
The Specials were the first band I got into as a child. Was lucky enough to see them in my hometown a couple of years ago. Fantastic night. Well worth checking out Ghost Town, Monkey Man or Too Much, Too Young.
Great band, you should check out A Message To You Rudy, and Ghost Town, which are their two biggest hits, also the band, Madness and from the same era, Ian Dury and the Blockheads.
RIP Terry Hall
I've worked in the Southern US States and I can see why it would shock you that black and white kids were friends, That was one of the trademarks of the whole two-tone movement, It was a fusion. The UK has never had the same levels of segregation as the US. We don't get that at all. I used to love going to the Christmas parties in Atlanta, I would see all of the tables segregated, not deliberately, but because that was the way things were done, and I would go and sit on a black table, and have the best time.
Developed out of Reggae Ska was the new sound in the late 70s coming out of the black areas of London, Birmingham, in UK. Other bands are Madness, Selecter, The Beat, UB40
Ska formed from Bluebeat from the 1960s which was Jamacian,but 2 Tone may have emanated from “black areas”,but was predominantly a white thing. Jerry Dammers formed 2 Tone Records and wrote the majority of the Specials records,Madness were a wholly white band,UB40 were a reggae band,not 2 Tone or ska,and again,led by white men. The fans were 99.9% white. Still,don’t let the facts spoil your rewriting of social and cultural history.
@@normandavidtidiman9918as long as good music was made who the hell cares ? People are so divisive and racist nowadays
@@normandavidtidiman9918 I'm no music expert but I think you are confusing Ska and TwoTone - I believe that Ska originated in Jamaica in the 50's/60's and was a precursor to Reggae - it was not "predominantly a white thing" at all. TwoTone was a British music genre/label of the 70's/80's heavily influenced by Ska and promoting racial harmony. Making this a race thing goes completely against what Two Tone and the Specials were all about.
@julesgosnell9791 You're correct on the first part..my mistake, I've edited now. However,the OP was the one who brought race into it using the phrase "black areas".
Sorry ska pre dated reggae by about 8 years. Ske is the grandfather, rocksteady is the father and reggae is the son. Check out the Skatalites, Laurel Aitken and Prince Buster. Most of the British 2 Tone ska was covers or reworkings of classic ska, rocksteady and reggae. Gangsters for example was a reworking of the Prince Buster ska classic Al Capone.
Skank’in will make you sweat!
They were a Coventry band, the UK's equivalent to Detroit (Motown/Motor city).
Then Thatcher came along, sold off the motor and engineering nationalised industries to lead *Coventry into very dark times.
If you haven't checked out their song Ghost Town, it will give you an insight.
*And the nation as a whole.
Food banks, zero hour contracts, care in the community etc.
Gangsters refers to shady people in the music industry "and catch 22 says if I sing the truth they won't make me an overnight star"
Loved loved loved the Specials .
Terry Hall was my big crush when I was 13
IT was Britain 🇬🇧 we WEARNT Devided. White and Black grew up together. The Music developed. Together. Young kids Black & White Listen to the same shit .
Two Tone, black and white band members that took influence from Jamaican music, SKA.
Specials Gansters great song. Released in 1979. Part of the 2 tone movement which took off in Britain around this time. Other bands that were part of 2 tone were Madness Bad Manners The Beat The Selector The Bodysnatchers. They were the 2nd wave of ska.The 1st wave was late 60s
Coventry UK back in the day when we all got on and appreciated music, whoever you were
Top band, came along at exactly the time and era British Youth needed them!!
Ska is a hybrid between reggae and punk/rockabilly, so you can get a lot of different vibes off it at the same time. This was actually one of my first ten albums. Just about wore the vinyl flat.
(And started hearing the intro to "Little Bitch" as soon as it began to fade.)
SKA predates those
This ska this is two tone music and groups like bad manners and English beat and madness
My favorite 80's group!
Ghost town best song they did about the riots here in UK 😊
Absolutely fantastic track from a great UK Two Tone band.
So glad you're back
Ska came before reggae. All rude boy and girl know dis.
Yes! 🏁
Ska, definitely from Jamaica 🇯🇲 but this is 2nd wave Ska in Britain when Jamaican immigrants formed bands with white fans, mostly from Coventry in England 🏴
the specials were a very important multi racial band in the UK
Yes please, more Specials and other ‘2 tone’ music. So glad you finally reacted to this. Would love you to react to Ghost town next. Also anything by the Fun Boy 3 (especially Tunnel of Love or The Lunatics)
Kidda you NEED to feature more uk classics. So many bands to choose from.
Love your videos brother.....peace
Never heard this one before! That was different, loved it.
YAAAAAASSS OLD SCHOOL SKA!!!
Hey Tim! If you want more Specials, try Too Much Too Young, Ghost Town, or Rudy.
This is Ska and I grew up listening to this .. Ska was tops in those days miss it
This is (two tone) ska music. Ska is originally the faster precursor of reggae and originated in the early sixties in jamaica. But at the end of the 70 a movement started in Coventry where they reinvented the ska, put some punk influence in it and two tone ska was born. Most two tone ska bands had as well black as white musicians.
In the 50s (anyone in the comments correct me if I'm wrong) there was an influx of Jamaican people to the UK because they had a labor shortages and started encouraging migration from their colonies to fill in those labor shortages.
In turn they got a lot of Jamaican/Carribean influence on their music and culture in general. This form of music is Ska. Some punk rock around that time was taking influence from Reggae and you got bands like The Specials and plenty others who were doing this.
Also a funfact, skinheads originated in the UK. And back then included blacks too. Skinheads over thereback then listened to reggae music, the thing is that they still targeted and hated Pakistani and Asians. Skinheads in the UK were originally working class youths who were angry about what they percieved as those Asians and Pakistanis taking jobs and taking over their neighborhoods.
Somewhere along the lines that split even further down and you got nationalist white supremacists skins, and it took off here in the United States.
There's a good movie and TV series that kinda goes into this called This is England. The original This is England is a movie that shows how some skinheads started turning nationalist/white supremacist, but that's not all it was about. Then you have This Is England '86, This Is England '88, and This Is England '90 which are all TV series.
86,88, and 90 don't really go into the stuff about skinheads but it has the same cast as they grown up. And '90 is interesting because a character in their who is a racist skin, ends up getting karma for something messed up he did in the original This Is England.
It all used to be up on Netflix but I think they took it down long ago.
The migration of people from the Caribbean to the U.K. started in June 1948 when HMT Empire Windrush landed at Tilbury in answer to the UK’s call for help to bolster the workforce in the wake of WWII and over the subsequent decades bringing with them Caribbean Mento, Calypso, Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae. All of which were absorbed in the U.K. music scenes to varying degrees but Ska was a little different, in that twenty years after its introduction to these shores it saw a full on resurgence which eclipsed its debut in the 50’s and 60’s. The Ska boys and girls of the late 70’s into very early 80’s were really the original skinheads and there was nothing remotely racist about them, the racism came about when some elements of the Ska boys and girls style was hijacked by what were known as bovver boys and girls, who held far right opinions and tended to be affiliated with the likes of the National Front or the British Nationalist Party (BNP). Many, if not most of whom, were not really interested in the music other than using it as an excuse to jump around and smash things and places up.
The Ska revival has also become known as 2 Tone in reference to the record label that The Specials started and probably also in part because most of the biggest acts from that genre were in fact signed to that label and to this day is really rather beloved in the U.K…especially The Specials and Madness.
Please don't exclude the "Baldies" from this narrative.
Baldies were anti-racist skinheads.
They looked the same, dressed the same, listened to a lot of the same music, as skinheads. But these guys made it their business to go out of their way to target and confront skinheads.
These were angry young white men who were looking for a fight. Looking for an appropriate target for their rage.
And cowardly skinheads who exclusively targeted minorities and vulnrable people felt justified to them.
Many a bloody battle was fought between these two groups of people.
I've heard first person accounts of Baldies rushing a skinhead club, knowing full well that they would be out numbered.
Of course they got their asses kicked. But they did significant damage. And they expressed zero regrets to me.
They felt they fought a good fight, and for the right reasons.
It was a good versus evil kind of scenario.
I have tremendous respect for these guys.
(Punk Rock didn't exist until the 70's.)
It's the 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush arriving at Tilbury docks.
Looking back it's amazing how they enriched the UK, despite the obstacles put in their way.
👍 That beat that you're thinking is a Jamaican vibe is Ska.
Ska came first in Jamaica in the 50s & 60s before rocksteady and reggae. The Specials, along with several other UK bands, were a second wave of ska that came along in the late 70s, early 80s. The third wave happened in America in the late 80s & 90s and bears little resemblance to the first or second wave. For fun sounds, find UK DJ David Rodigan. (BBC Sounds) He’ll teach.
Oh my love of SKA, 9 yrs old when it happened for me and it felt wild! Never stopped loving the music.
This is one of my favorites! Please do some more two tone (madness, english beat…) and some third wave (streetlight manifesto, buck o nine…). It’s all born out of reggae and jazz and now mixed with punk
Original SKA!!!!!!!!
Great rendition of the classic Prince Buster chune "Al Capone" by genius Jerry Dammer's Specials
Effing good ska. Greetings from Gothenburg, Sweden.
Would love to see you react to more of The Specials. They have amazing energy.
Two Tone music was not just about the sound; it also carried a strong social message. It aimed to promote racial unity and address issues of economic hardship and racism in Thatcher-era Britain. Bands like The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, and The Beat were central to the movement.
Have you reacted to “Ghost Town” by the same group? Another good one.
R.I.P Terry Hall.
Two Tone SKA - 🔥🔥🔥
This period of music was called 2 tone hence black and white people in the same band. Started by Gerry Dammers keyboard player in the specials. This is the second wave of ska music brought over from Jamaica in the 1960s.
Google Gerry Dammers also the band Madness.
British Two Tone a mixture of reggae and soul. But some might argue it is in fact the original!
I have never heard this before....no idea what year this was...it reminds me of early 80's new wave. The singer looks familiar for some reason....might have to research this group.
Try "A Message to You Rudy" or "Ghost Town" - also, the three singers recorded under the name Fun Boy Three - try "The Telephone Always Rings" or "Our Lips Are Sealed"
Tim my brother! 💪
Wassup bro
Terry Hall RIP 💕🇬🇧 ✌️
I picked up on that reggae beat also. I enjoyed this song 🎵 😉🥁🪘.
This is known as Ska music.
Hey! Glad to see you’re back and well. For more special Ska, check out “Please Don’t Bend” by Desmond Dekker. Great fun humorous lyrics and vibing beat!
Great band & song.
The Specials! Finally!!!
Back in the day. I danced a hundred dances to this one.
Has that 60s rock and roll sound.
the specials are a ska band, whichis amix of britihs whit epunk and jamaican reggae music, so yes your right
You should listen to Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. Start with their song Conga.
In the late 1970's The Specials epitomised what the UK had become as a is a multi cultural society
They were a great band back in the day DUBLIN IRELAND rip Terry
Back in a time and place were instead of seeing colour with the mass migration of the West Indians to the UK, they found a common love of music. We could learn a lot from this today IMO
I remember this from the 70s I was so proud in my suit and being a RUDE BOY And my sister was a RUDE GIRL With 95% of the youth In the UK there was no racism IN Royal Leamington Spa it was the older gen who had the the problem the the new wave skin heads kicked up racism and boy the fights me and my brothers and sisters got into with the National front back then was weekly, And I still love two tone and ska.(even though I am a lot older LOL)
These guys were so much fun
RUDE BOY SKA!
Desmond Dekker - 007
More ska please!
Brilliant band
💜💜💜💜
Ska from the late 70s/early 80s initially sounds like
Was a little rudeboy when i saw my fave ska band the Specials at sophia gardens Cardiff,brogues on my feet / Fred Perry T-shirt + stay press trousers/ Harrington jacket 😂 saw the Selector/ the Beat / Ub40 with Mikey Dread / Madness , can remember the mass unemployment +riots due to Margaret thatcher’s government,the whole country was a mess but still the good old days 👌😂
2-tone Ska! Reggae influence mixed with klezmer music and some rock steady. Unlike the first wave of Ska with many more horns and solos, 2-tone was a reaction to the racial violence affecting the British youth at the time and featured punk lyrics and pace
R.I.P Terry Hall
The first 2 tone record
The reason they sweating like that is cause they are musicians playing their own music. 😊
Funny that you say that it sounds like reggae because they were part of a musical genre called ska in the 80s
The Two Tone label bands of the late 1970's were a revival, the original ska music evolved in Jamaica in the late 1950's and early 60's. Through immigration into the UK the music filtered into working class areas and became very popular in the UK with both black kids, and also white kids within the British mods and skinhead youth cultures of that era. Ska was the precursor to Reggae.
Not reggae… it’s SKA 😊
Ska can’t help it you gotta move.
Still got all my ska records by way ( mostly 2tone ) 👍
Classic. Do "Ghost Town."
It's called Ska music from Britain
It’s Ska 😌
That's SKA honey bunny... Reggae on Adderal
Ska 80’s 👍
...you're feeling that Jamaican vibe... accurately
its called SKA and is before Reggae and they sweat because Speed was the drug of the late 70s
👍👏👏👏👏
Ghost town is also a great song
#CHECKEREDPAST 🏁
Doesn't Make it Alright and Too hot are more violent.
Ps. Was called " blackandwhiteunite" back then...
....look into "The lunatics have taken over the asylum" by fun boy three
if you like the specials lusten to the song , Free Nelson Mandela bit dated now i know but i really good tune