It's hard to describe what Ska did in UK, it definitely did more for interracial understanding than any politician did. The government's attempts were hopeless.. what happened was, ... white British kids and black West Indian kids found a common ground in music... and it rocked! We loved it! And we found out that we had the same problems, worries etc. Even though I was brought up in a very anti-racist family, this was the time that taught me to really hate racism, now, in my 50's, I'm a massive Ska fan, especially 60's Jamaican Ska. My sadly departed wife and I, had always planned to visit Jamaica.. Orange Street, District 1 etc. unfortunately she died before we could manage it. I still want to, but it will be hard without her. Keep up with the channel guys. More Ska, more love, more life!
Sadly also, in 1981 sadly those were the days of the national front movement, a disgusting, hideous, far-right openly racist group, was gaining prominence in those days, It was 3 years into Thatcher's reign, I believe these were all aspects that influenced the song
I've loved this song for years and years and that 👆 Was the first time I analyzed the lyrics, I think I'm right though with lines like "Why must the youth fight against themselves?" "Government leaving the youths on the shelf" "No job to be found in this country" It's definitely against Thatcher, who thinking about it, undid all the good work The Special had done against racism, under her reign, it became rife again and that's a sad fact in British history.
The song is a social commentary about their home town of Coventry where jobs were being lost by the thousands as industry was fading and jobs becoming scarce, a bit like Detroit now.
Yes boom town in the 50’s and 60’s, culturally rich with one of the highest standards of living in the UK, to one of the biggest shit holes of the 80’s. Despite bouncing back a long way, it has a hard time to shake off that reputation.
This song takes me right back to a 15 16 year old me, growing up in the UK, and in a lots ways how depressing it was. But we had incredible music to lift our young souls 🤗🙂🇬🇧
And now we're headed back that way, but without the music. And no idea about collective action in the real world, but we sure can get angry on the internet!
it weas all thatcher, she had an idealistic view that didnt correspond with what was actually happening......look how capitalism has ruined the world....people just want more..
After the recession and strikes in the 70's and 80's. Margaret Thatcher was PM and industry was being ripped apart. Here on Northern Ireland we were in the grip of 'The Troubles' and life was extremely difficult for many reasons on top of poverty and unemployment. Cities were fast becoming ghost towns.
This song sums up the way a lot of people felt in 1981 in the UK. Times were extremely tough, unemployment was at a record high, we had a very harsh Conservative government and the police were aggressive towards blacks and younger people. A lot of the UK's biggest cities exploded into rioting that summer, as a result of all the simmering anger and resentment.
Wait a minute, a harsh Conservative government, racial tension and record unemployment, thank goodness that hasn't happened since, right!!!! ;). Great song, sadly all too relatable. The empty streets, not many people socialising in pubs/nightclubs, remind anyone of lockdown?
Look up things like "3 day week" and "miners strike" The country was in a mess, jobs going overseas, industry collapsing, docks closing, people had very little in the moment and seemingly less to look forward to every day.
This song is about the destruction of Britain's national industry's (coal mines, steel foundries etc) and how it affected the working class of these industrial towns Check out Angelic Upstarts-soldier (about the troubles in Ireland)
Your wrong it was written about Coventry city when it was the 2nd most violent city in Europe , to deal with the violence they revoked the club licenses . Nightclubs and music venues where shut killing the night life , i remember it well and remember them filming the music video at the sports hall and Cinama one .
@@mickjmcgregor4384 Why do you think all the troubles started in Coventry? Thatcher came to power in 1979, crushed the unions, decimated industry, left millions without a job and without hope for the future, and the people became angry and turned to violence. There's even a line in the song "the government is leaving the youth on the shelf"
@@CowmanUK Yes but my comment is it's not about coal and steel it's about the violence in Coventry i was there i lived through it , young people from the midlands used to travel to Coventry for the night clubs and venues but they where all closed over night killing the night life.
One of my favourite songs of all time, it's very bleak lyrically reflecting the brutal hardships endured by the working classes in particular. The music is just amazing, and fits it's theme perfectly. Oh, and it's also the Irish national anthem, thanks to the "Spinmaster"...
Truly iconic band, some members are still very involved in the community in Coventry. They live locally and always have time to stop and chat. We see them all the time out shopping and doing their normal day to day. Another great Coventry ska band ' Selecter ' from the same time are also still local, performing and community driven.
Yes as others have said this song was about Coventry, which is in the Midlands area of England. The city was very badly damaged by bombing raids during WW2 and a lot of it had to be rebuilt. In the early 80s there was huge unemployment and hardship for many people in the UK, with many towns and cities suffering as a result. Great song which reflected the time so well 👍
Although the band are from Coventry, the song reflects what they were seeing as they played gigs all round the UK at that time, social unrest and growing right wing racially motivated aggression, which would explode into violence, and later that year there were riots in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Ellesmere Port, Luton, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Preston, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Derby, Southampton, Nottingham, High Wycombe, Bedford, Edinburgh, Wolverhampton, Stockport, Blackburn, Huddersfield, Reading, Chester, Aldershot, Moss Side, Southall, Toxteth and Brixton. In June 1981 more than 80 arrests were made in Coventry because the National Front planned a march to coincide with an anti-racist concert by The Specials.
As I interpret it this is a reference to de-industrialisation and not to do with literal ghosts or Halloween. The phrase 'ghost town' was used of a town where the main source of employment would close e.g. Corby's steel works (or coal mines etc) and then the source of revenue would dry up for everything else, hence the town would become an empty shell as other employers and sources of entertainment would also close. And of course a lot of the music generated would be in reaction to that.
So glad u checked this classic out. I was one of ur subscribers that suggested it n wanted to c what u thought. It encapsulates the feelings of the disassociated youth of the early '80's, where our government was led by Margaret Thatcher, (1 clueless woman when it came to working class problems). They all spoke like The Queen and where closing down huge industrial factories. That in turn led to a class war and the highest levels of unemployment ever. Young guys like The Specials n Fun Boy 3 couldn't see a decent future for themselves n it (quite rightly) pissed 'em off. Also there was A LOT of racial tension back then so I think that u two blokes from America got the jist of it without knowing the back story. Nicely sussed out Guys. Thanx 4 reviewing it. Yous have got good taste! 👍🏼👍🏼 2 thumbs up to both of u. 💚 & 🕊.
This still sends a chill. Grew up near Cov, all my family worked there. I was young and just getting into music. And this takes me back to those days and those people. RIP General Wolfe on the Fosehill Rd.
Before I moved to San Francisco (thanks to my mrs) I grew up in Newport and Bristol, Bristol having portishead, massive attack, tricky all the main trip hop bands being from Bristol!
I've had my photograph taken inside that car :) The SKA museum in Coventry has it and I went when I travelled from Glasgow to a SKA exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry last year...it was amazing :) It has to be remembered that this struck a chord in the UK as it was after the Winter of Discontent in 1979 and things had got steadily worse since then...the cities were a mess, youth felt little hope and unemployment never fell below 3 Million.....it was a bad time for life, great time for creativity.
As far as the Ska revival/two tone movement of the 70's-80's the music like that of Punk mirrored the political landscape of the UK at that time. In the 70's we had "the winter of discontent", 3 day weeks, work to rule, continual strikes and massive unemployment. We had constant power cuts, garbage collectors went on strike so the streets were full of waste and crap. Inner city kids were rioting and yes there were race riots and the growth of right wing racist politics. Engineering works, coal mines and other traditional manufacturing trades were all closing down and even the firemen/women went on strike which meant the army had to come and fight fires. The Irish troubles were in full flow so there was regular terrorist bombings in England as well as in Northern Ireland (they left Scotland alone - they were never stupid enough to poke that hornet's nest). In World politics from the early 80's we had the growing awareness of Apartheid in South Africa unrest in the Middle East, famine in Ethiopia and the Falkland Islands conflict - in short it was a very dark time so a lot of the music showed that. In 1981 the Specials split up and they became two bands Fun Boy Three and the Special AKA. Both bands had some great hits though FBT went more poppy. The Beat (the US know them as the English Beat) and The Selecter were also big two tone bands of the time. There was also a crossover by some Punk bands like the Clash and the Stranglers to use Reggae, Ska beats and influence. Musically it as an amazing time but otherwise it was hard.
Terence Edward Hall (19 March 1959 - 18 December 2022) was an English musician and the lead singer of the Specials, and formerly of Fun Boy Three, the Colourfield, Terry, Blair & Anouchka and Vegas.
I used to live 13 miles from Cov when this came out. I sometimes went there for night out, spending all my money and have to walk home. Left drunk got home sober.
It was the time when some people especially in 'the city' were making more money than they knew what to do with whilst others saw their jobs cut and those in work lost their long fought for, rights. The Ska music reflected the disenchantment of those years.
Incorrect. It was the end of Britain as an industrialised nation overtaken by others as a result of bad management , the economy and the trade union movement. At that time there wasn't much talk of people making money in the city, but the end of an era.
@@augustlion6645 That's a very biased one-sided view you have there. There was plenty of banking jobs in London making tons of money, while Thatcher destroyed the unions and caused massive unemployment for the working class. The OP was spot on. Thatcher brought in the neoliberalism we've suffered with since, with the rich getting wealthier and the poorest paying for it.
They are from the same time and place as me, it was a time of urban decay, mass unemployment, race riots, football violence and Friday and Saturday night out not being complete without a mass brawl, the police used to have two vans of riot police outside my local at chucking out time. Listen to their song Concrete Jungle for a flavour of the culture of casual violence.
Blank Expression by The Specials is one of my favourites. There’s also a documentary called “2 Tone: The sound of Coventry” that was shown on the BBC, see if you can find it - it’s a great watch.
The specials are one of the most influential bands in British history, not just because of their music, but also the fact that during the turmoil of the 70’s with racial politics, they formed a multiracial band at the height of it all. A lot of working class British men realised they were the same as the black immigrants coming from the West Indies.
Great reaction again lads , Have you tried ,the Beat ,mirror in the bathroom , two tone music connected people of every race and colour from working classes across the uk, two tone like northern soul is still loved by the generations that grew up at that depressive time , its what kept me going during my tours of northern ireland , off duty i listened to it all the time
Another 80s two tone music in the uk was a group called The Beat, and one of there songs is called Mirror in the bathroom and also Hands off shes mine. You must check these out
A savage indictment of Thatcher's brutal policies. She, along with Reagan, began the process which has led to the mess we're all in today. This song was a sad portender of things to come.
I was Quite young in the 80s but can't believe our country voted for that vile sub human twice. She hammered the poorest stole from the poor to give to the rich. Even took milk from poor school children. Not a huge shock SHE recommended Jimmy Savile for his knighthood. Shame on those who voted for that vile creature
@@charliegeorge9393 The policies of Thatcher.. they were worse than anything seen since. Taking free milk away from poor school children at a time of record unemployment not seen since or before. Trying to introduce a poll tax !! Wich meant taxing people based on how many lived in a house!! Aka the poor more! Trying to privatise the NHS and achieving privatisation of utilities! Social housing? Nope not under Thatcher. She was on another level! She made pritti Patel and Johnson look like Mary Poppins!
@@brianmason8059 I know I remember all of it! Saying it started with her is nonsense. Hated her as much as anyone, fact is all politicians are just there to take the flak from the people who are really in charge.
This was a time of high unemployment in England. Mines closing, car factories, steel factories closing particularly in the West Midlands but right across Britain too. This was number One in the charts when there were riots all over England as the youth rebelled. It was music like this and football that kept the working class going at a time when the government and the sands of time were squeezing them and eroding away their lives. We had several riots in Wolverhampton and the area where i lived was damaged quite badly. Lost friends some by their own design because of the situation. Great music but not necessarily great times.
Great song. Coverntry was particularly grim, where The Specials hailed from if I remember rightly. They were also a mixed band which was pretty rare back then. I remember being really impressed by them as a kid.
Guys check out “on my radio” by the selecter, and “mirror in the bathroom” by the beat ( known as the english beat in the u.s.) , seriously, you won’t be disappointed….👍👍
I don't think a song ever captured a cultural or political zeitgeist more than "Ghost Town" - they sang "People getting angry" and, as it was climbing up the charts riots, were breaking out in U.K. cities. Another from this era to check out would be a group which supported The Specials on tour... Dexys Midnight Runners! Don't be confused by the "Come On Eileen" era - 1980 era Dexys had a Horn-Driven New Wave take on Sixties Soul which sat well alongside the Two Tone Groups. Check out "Geno", "Dance Stance", "There There My Dear" or even "Tell Me When My Light Turns Green" to understand why!
Watch the intro to Future Shock: The story of 2000ad (The British comic) if you want to see what the UK was like in the late 70s/early 80s. Thanks for uploading, guys. 👍🇺🇸🇬🇧
Just been reading a book called Walls Come Tumbling Down. About the history of 2Tone, Red Wedge and RAR (Rock Against Racism). Interesting and challenging times Britain was back then.
I love the music from this genre.. I'd recommend.. Just a feeling from Bad Manners.. Lorraine also from Bad Manners.. Also could you check out some of the tunes from the Jam.. A group very popular in the late 70s and early 80s.. They were fronted by Paul Weller and were part of the Mod culture.. When Paul left the Jam he formed the Style Council who also had a few good tunes.. He then went solo.. The rest is history.. Lolxx Love and light from across the pond xxx 🙏🎵🎶🎸🎤🎧🥰😘🇬🇧👌
Filmed in Rotherhithe Tunnel just 3 miles from where I lived my first 29 years and those eerie streets are some of the richest in the world as they are in the 1-mile square "City Of London" which is Europe's main financial area and they closed it off so they could film @5am:) before the workers arrived.
The Specials, you have just got to love them. This song in just a little over 3 minutes paints a complete picture of social upheaval the UK at that time, simply brilliant song and a great reaction......
This was my first coming of age tune... This was the very first piece of Music, Record (Vinyl), I ever bought. And, on the same day (that afternoon) I bought The Undertones "It's Going To Happen". Both very much anti-Thatcher songs. All this was happening in the middle of the H-Block Hunger Strikes (Bobby Sands & Gang). A few weeks later I bought The Police "Invisible Sun", my third piece of vinyl. Seems to be a pattern forming, my destiny written... I was 11 years old in 1981. 1981 made such an impressionable indelible impact in the rest of my life. The Thing I Done Ye should check out -- C.W. Stoneking ~ The Thing I Done .
There were plenty of fights in clubs in the specials hometown of Coventry in the late 70s and 80s! It was apparently the most violent city in the UK for a while but even by the 90s when I started at university there it was starting to clean up its act. It's pretty tame by comparison these days.
i grew up with the specials. originally they are from Coventry (midlands of England) The video, directed by Barney Bubbles, consists of bass player Panter driving the band around London in a 1962 Vauxhall Cresta, intercut with views of streets and buildings filmed from the moving vehicle, and ends with a shot of the band standing on the banks of the River Thames at low tide. The video's locations include driving through the Blackwall Tunnel and around semi-derelict areas of the East End before ending up in the financial district of the City of London in the early hours of daylight on Sunday morning, where the streets were deserted as it was the weekend. The shots of the band in the car were achieved by attaching a camera to the bonnet using a rubber sucker: Panter recalled that at one point the camera fell off (briefly seen in the finished video at 1:18) and scratched the car's paintwork, to the displeasure of the car's owner.....great Nostalgia trip..thanks 👍🏻👍🏻
Need to do specials “man at c&a” also "little bitch", A lot of people comment about how the clash helped out the specials back in the day, but the guy who did more for them in respect of helping with production, song writing and taking them on tour was elvis costello. he actually helped turn the long ska jams into concise songs. The most interesting band of the two tone era for me was the toasters because they were a band formed in new york by an englishman, so they had a really british meets american approach to ska. There's also the ruts who had more of a punk approach to ska "staring at the rude boys" and "jah war" are choons!
This song is about a city called Coventry.... Coventry was a very violent City to have a night out in back in the 80s... Glassing people in the face, stabbings, and racial divide between blacks n whites forced nightclubs all over the city to shut down from all the violence being caused. Coventry City Centre is still the most CCTV watched City in the uk... Even some pubs today still have cameras directly linked to Coventry’s police station... How do I know?.. I lived n clubbed in Coventry back in the 80s... Most of the 20+ yr old men then that clubbed in Coventry from the 80s bear the scars from their experience of clubbing in Coventry's nightlife culture.... Two-Tone Specials are Coventry’s own... Most of the band members came from the city of Coventry...
You two should listen to the extended version of this song most especially for the fantastic trombone solo towards the end of it. While it might sound dire and depressing to your ears it was also very politically accurate and described the feelings that most of us had towards that monster Thatcher and her Government throughout the whole of the 1980's....songs like this were very unifying for the rest of us and it crossed all boundaries and we all hated those Tory Toffee-nosed Tw@ts because of the permanent damage that they did to the entire country with their insistence of using trickle-down economics. She was also a close friend of Reagan and copied almost everything that he did while he was President. Does that sound familiar to both of you? Your ex-President Numpty-Trumpty is a big fan of both of them and despite the abject failure of their policies almost 40 years ago it didn't stop him from trying the exact same sh*t in the U.S.A. up until early 2021, did it? If things like that failed the first time around then they're not likely to be successful either the second, third or fourth time around, are they?
"Ghost Town" was The Specials best selling song.... but LIVE the band were (and still are) outstanding ... so check out 'Skinhead Symphony' from 'rock goes to college' (a medley of 3 classic ska tunes) but my favourite Specials tune is the one that broke it for them... "Gangsters"... Based very, very loosely on 'Al Capone' by Prince Buster. As for the times ... the Specials formed in Coventry , an industrial town (mostly car manufacturing but also with tanks , airplane components, farm machinery... etc) Industry was in sharp decline at the time ... Coventry had been devastated in WWII and had been re -built (mostly in concrete) in the 50s, 60s and 70s... much of the reconstruction had been done with migrant workers, and Coventry was a very multi-cultural town ... The band reflected that in it's multicultural line up, they actively stood against racism and bigotry. The Specials took the Ska and mixed it with Punk and Northern Soul (you must check some of that out) and came up with 2 tone... I'm a proud 'Cov Kid' and I was 16 when 'Gangsters' came out .... this band is the soundtrack to my youth.
No jobs..youth rebellion..riots..and that was in the 80's! Now its not just the clubs been closed, everywhere boarded up man!! But hey, on a Lighter note😂😂😂❤Great show, and Proud of the Specials r.i p Terry😢
The things other people are saying is about 80s England are accurate. The film This Is England is a good artistic representation of that time focusing on ska, skinhead culture and racism in a Midlands town. There are parallels with deindustrialisation in rustbelt USA now - eg think of the Ghost Town as being Detroit now for rexamole. And it was a time of rioting, looting. and city centres being set on fire - like the US a couple of years ago.
Yes brings back all the hopeless feeling😞I was 16 and working on a government scheme in a fashion shop...doing all the work for £23.50 a week!!!! No other work around and my mam took a tenner off for keep...busfare etc ended up with about £8.00 a week 😭😭taught me the value of money tho☺️🏴🏴🏴
Hey I’m from England and back in the 70s but mainly 80s fighting is why you went out clubbing and many clubs closed because people kept fighting and scared of other people by there bad reputations but this was also when football was full of violence it was huge here like full on riots after matches especially when it’s a rival team. But that was that time period here still get it quite a bit but not no where near as much as back then
This was number 1 while there were riots going on in cities all over the UK. This song very much was a reflection of what was going on in the UK at the time. Terry Hall the lead singer passed away in the last day or so RIP.
There's a wonderful instrumental track called The Selecter by a band also called The Selecter - it's a fantastic little ska track. Another band you might enjoy is The (English) Beat - try their song "Mirror in the Bathroom"
I have a book of the no. 1 songs since the inception of the UK charts 1952. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this was no. 1 on the day I was born (20th July 1981)
some selector,3 minute hero,on my radio,the beat,hands off she mine,tears of a clown,mirror in the bathroom, theres alot more if you look.enjoying you guys btw!
I can't be arsed to read back and see if anyone has commented to tell you what it's about. It's about their hometown of Coventry in the West Midlands - it got pretty rough at times but always had a vibrant music scene. The Specials grew out of that. I grew to understand and love their music because I have a family connection to Coventry.
Specials gigs attracted far right skins for some reason given 2tones outlook, there were several fights and disturbances. The song is also a commentary on the UK in general at this time, Coventry, the bands home town had suffered a lot under Margaret Thatcher. A famous industrial town that was devastated by factory and plant closure. If I could recommend a Specials track that closely relates to this it would be my personal favourite Do Nothing. Going to see the boys in Bedford on Friday, can’t wait.
This song is now the unofficial national anthem of Ireland after the episode "Think fast, Father Ted" of the classic comedy Father Ted. It's played here every St.Patricks Day.
Socially at that time when two tone bands were playing, they attracted mods, rudeboys and skinheads, it caused a lot of fights at gigs, mods being smartly dressed like rudeboys, whereas ironically a lot of skinheads were racist.
The late 70s and early 80s were a peak time for the national front, predominantly young easily led skinheads, infected football matches and gigs with their behaviours, not implying all skinheads were or are racist but there was plenty who jumped on the racist bandwagon
I grew up in Coventry. Proper shithole. This song is still very relevant today, I play it my local pub on the jukebox in Somerset and everybody just vibes out. Timeless classic.
Fab, fellas, can I suggest, Big Audio Dynamite? Where punk rock (Mick Jones, of The Clash, meets Reggae) creates a very alternative and interesting sound.
Large scale unemployment, coal, steel and shipping industries getting closed and as a result a lot of working clubs shut down, hence the song. Great Ska music of that period and you’ve mentioned a few other great groups at the end of your vid. I would have a look at The Beat, “Mirror in the Bathroom” or “Tears of a Clown” too.
Imagine Detroit, the downturn of industry and derelict/abandoned buildings? Plus factor in the violence in clubs? This was the UK version, put in music and words.
Also Check out the Father Ted episode with Ghost town, like Stonehenge in Spinal tap, Batman in only fools….cracks me up every time. “Please stand for your national anthem”
The specials were the originator of Ska Punk with Gangsters and the 2 tone movement, so if you think about it they spawned so many groups from 2rd, 3rd and now 4th wave Ska punk
This song was a criticism of Thatcher's Britain and how people were being left behind.
It's hard to describe what Ska did in UK, it definitely did more for interracial understanding than any politician did. The government's attempts were hopeless.. what happened was,
... white British kids and black West Indian kids found a common ground in music... and it rocked! We loved it! And we found out that we had the same problems, worries etc. Even though I was brought up in a very anti-racist family, this was the time that taught me to really hate racism, now, in my 50's, I'm a massive Ska fan, especially 60's Jamaican Ska. My sadly departed wife and I, had always planned to visit Jamaica.. Orange Street, District 1 etc. unfortunately she died before we could manage it. I still want to, but it will be hard without her. Keep up with the channel guys. More Ska, more love, more life!
Sadly also, in 1981 sadly those were the days of the national front movement, a disgusting, hideous, far-right openly racist group, was gaining prominence in those days, It was 3 years into Thatcher's reign, I believe these were all aspects that influenced the song
I've loved this song for years and years and that 👆
Was the first time I analyzed the lyrics, I think I'm right though with lines like
"Why must the youth fight against themselves?"
"Government leaving the youths on the shelf"
"No job to be found in this country"
It's definitely against Thatcher, who thinking about it, undid all the good work The Special had done against racism, under her reign, it became rife again and that's a sad fact in British history.
The song is a social commentary about their home town of Coventry where jobs were being lost by the thousands as industry was fading and jobs becoming scarce, a bit like Detroit now.
Jerry Dammers has said he got the idea of the song by visiting various towns and the mood of people in those towns
For a bit of social commentary One In Ten by UB40 is solid, before they became a cruise ship tribute band
Tbh, it's still a hole.
Yes boom town in the 50’s and 60’s, culturally rich with one of the highest standards of living in the UK, to one of the biggest shit holes of the 80’s. Despite bouncing back a long way, it has a hard time to shake off that reputation.
Not just about their hometown, though the poverty and tensions/unrest across urban U.K. at the time.
This song is an absolute classic.
This song takes me right back to a 15 16 year old me, growing up in the UK, and in a lots ways how depressing it was. But we had incredible music to lift our young souls 🤗🙂🇬🇧
And now we're headed back that way, but without the music.
And no idea about collective action in the real world, but we sure can get angry on the internet!
it weas all thatcher, she had an idealistic view that didnt correspond with what was actually happening......look how capitalism has ruined the world....people just want more..
After the recession and strikes in the 70's and 80's.
Margaret Thatcher was PM and industry was being ripped apart.
Here on Northern Ireland we were in the grip of 'The Troubles' and life was extremely difficult for many reasons on top of poverty and unemployment. Cities were fast becoming ghost towns.
This song sums up the way a lot of people felt in 1981 in the UK. Times were extremely tough, unemployment was at a record high, we had a very harsh Conservative government and the police were aggressive towards blacks and younger people. A lot of the UK's biggest cities exploded into rioting that summer, as a result of all the simmering anger and resentment.
I was a young man then and times were tough. Unfortunately times are going that way again thanks once more to our vile Conservative government.
Wait a minute, a harsh Conservative government, racial tension and record unemployment, thank goodness that hasn't happened since, right!!!! ;). Great song, sadly all too relatable. The empty streets, not many people socialising in pubs/nightclubs, remind anyone of lockdown?
@@JollyGraham You'd think we'd fv
@@SeeDaRipper... Chance would be a fine thing.
So what's changed? The decline started in 1979 and hasn't stopped since.
Check out the episode of Father Ted when they hold a raffle, and this is the only record that the DJ has! All of Ted is brilliant!
Look up things like "3 day week" and "miners strike"
The country was in a mess, jobs going overseas, industry collapsing, docks closing, people had very little in the moment and seemingly less to look forward to every day.
This song is about the destruction of Britain's national industry's (coal mines, steel foundries etc) and how it affected the working class of these industrial towns
Check out Angelic Upstarts-soldier (about the troubles in Ireland)
Your wrong it was written about Coventry city when it was the 2nd most violent city in Europe , to deal with the violence they revoked the club licenses .
Nightclubs and music venues where shut killing the night life , i remember it well and remember them filming the music video at the sports hall and Cinama one .
RIP MENSI MARX, just had a full leg tat dedicated to him.
@@mickjmcgregor4384 Why do you think all the troubles started in Coventry? Thatcher came to power in 1979, crushed the unions, decimated industry, left millions without a job and without hope for the future, and the people became angry and turned to violence. There's even a line in the song "the government is leaving the youth on the shelf"
@@CowmanUK Yes but my comment is it's not about coal and steel it's about the violence in Coventry i was there i lived through it , young people from the midlands used to travel to Coventry for the night clubs and venues but they where all closed over night killing the night life.
@@mickjmcgregor4384 Jerry Dammers said he wrote it initially inspired by the poverty they saw while in Glasgow I think
Quite possibly one of the greatest British songs of modern(ish) times.
Top choice! This was life in the U.K. very grim and no prospects! What a tune and an exact representation of the time
Still is life in the UK
Guess what, I'm from Coventry in my 50s, we were so proud of The Specials bought the single when it came out. Yes that old.
Rudy by the Specials is just perfect!
One of my favourite songs of all time, it's very bleak lyrically reflecting the brutal hardships endured by the working classes in particular. The music is just amazing, and fits it's theme perfectly. Oh, and it's also the Irish national anthem, thanks to the "Spinmaster"...
Truly iconic band, some members are still very involved in the community in Coventry. They live locally and always have time to stop and chat. We see them all the time out shopping and doing their normal day to day. Another great Coventry ska band ' Selecter ' from the same time are also still local, performing and community driven.
Yes as others have said this song was about Coventry, which is in the Midlands area of England. The city was very badly damaged by bombing raids during WW2 and a lot of it had to be rebuilt. In the early 80s there was huge unemployment and hardship for many people in the UK, with many towns and cities suffering as a result. Great song which reflected the time so well 👍
Grew up in West Midlands In 80s. WW2 damage wasn't the problem. Thatcher damage was. WW2 didn't steal milk from our children or introduce poll tax.
It was damaged far worse by Thatcher
The UK was grim back then. The Jam That's entertainment another social comment on life in the UK, so would Eton Rifles come to think of it.
Although the band are from Coventry, the song reflects what they were seeing as they played gigs all round the UK at that time, social unrest and growing right wing racially motivated aggression, which would explode into violence, and later that year there were riots in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Ellesmere Port, Luton, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Preston, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Derby, Southampton, Nottingham, High Wycombe, Bedford, Edinburgh, Wolverhampton, Stockport, Blackburn, Huddersfield, Reading, Chester, Aldershot, Moss Side, Southall, Toxteth and Brixton. In June 1981 more than 80 arrests were made in Coventry because the National Front planned a march to coincide with an anti-racist concert by The Specials.
As I interpret it this is a reference to de-industrialisation and not to do with literal ghosts or Halloween. The phrase 'ghost town' was used of a town where the main source of employment would close e.g. Corby's steel works (or coal mines etc) and then the source of revenue would dry up for everything else, hence the town would become an empty shell as other employers and sources of entertainment would also close. And of course a lot of the music generated would be in reaction to that.
It was written at time of riots around the UK due to job losses but also the were tensions within the band it was hard times in the 80s
So glad u checked this classic out.
I was one of ur subscribers that suggested it n wanted to c what u thought.
It encapsulates the feelings of the disassociated youth of the early '80's, where our government was led by Margaret Thatcher, (1 clueless woman when it came to working class problems). They all spoke like The Queen and where closing down huge industrial factories.
That in turn led to a class war and the highest levels of unemployment ever.
Young guys like The Specials n Fun Boy 3 couldn't see a decent future for themselves n it (quite rightly) pissed 'em off.
Also there was A LOT of racial tension back then so I think that u two blokes from America got the jist of it without knowing the back story.
Nicely sussed out Guys.
Thanx 4 reviewing it.
Yous have got good taste!
👍🏼👍🏼 2 thumbs up to both of u.
💚 & 🕊.
This song is about Coventry where the lads are from 👍👍🔥👏👏
This still sends a chill. Grew up near Cov, all my family worked there. I was young and just getting into music. And this takes me back to those days and those people. RIP General Wolfe on the Fosehill Rd.
The background to this song was urban decay, deindustrialisation, unemployment and violence in inner cities,
My two favourite genre’s of music, both quintessentially British and thoroughly under rated. 80’s SKA/two tone and the other 90’s trip hop.
Before I moved to San Francisco (thanks to my mrs) I grew up in Newport and Bristol, Bristol having portishead, massive attack, tricky all the main trip hop bands being from Bristol!
I've had my photograph taken inside that car :) The SKA museum in Coventry has it and I went when I travelled from Glasgow to a SKA exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry last year...it was amazing :) It has to be remembered that this struck a chord in the UK as it was after the Winter of Discontent in 1979 and things had got steadily worse since then...the cities were a mess, youth felt little hope and unemployment never fell below 3 Million.....it was a bad time for life, great time for creativity.
I'm heading to Coventry in July to visit the 2 Tone Village.Can't wait.
The museum in the canal basin?
A 1961 Vauxhall (PA) Cresta. Full of 50's american styling but without a gas (petrol) guzzling V8. Instead it had a gas guzzling 2.5 Ltr straight 6.
The specials are from Coventry💙
The English beat - save it for later, mirror in the bathroom.
The Specials - gangsters, rat race.
Madness - embarrassment, the prince.
All top choices!☺
As far as the Ska revival/two tone movement of the 70's-80's the music like that of Punk mirrored the political landscape of the UK at that time. In the 70's we had "the winter of discontent", 3 day weeks, work to rule, continual strikes and massive unemployment. We had constant power cuts, garbage collectors went on strike so the streets were full of waste and crap. Inner city kids were rioting and yes there were race riots and the growth of right wing racist politics. Engineering works, coal mines and other traditional manufacturing trades were all closing down and even the firemen/women went on strike which meant the army had to come and fight fires. The Irish troubles were in full flow so there was regular terrorist bombings in England as well as in Northern Ireland (they left Scotland alone - they were never stupid enough to poke that hornet's nest).
In World politics from the early 80's we had the growing awareness of Apartheid in South Africa unrest in the Middle East, famine in Ethiopia and the Falkland Islands conflict - in short it was a very dark time so a lot of the music showed that.
In 1981 the Specials split up and they became two bands Fun Boy Three and the Special AKA. Both bands had some great hits though FBT went more poppy. The Beat (the US know them as the English Beat) and The Selecter were also big two tone bands of the time. There was also a crossover by some Punk bands like the Clash and the Stranglers to use Reggae, Ska beats and influence. Musically it as an amazing time but otherwise it was hard.
Terence Edward Hall (19 March 1959 - 18 December 2022) was an English musician and the lead singer of the Specials, and formerly of Fun Boy Three, the Colourfield, Terry, Blair & Anouchka and Vegas.
I used to live 13 miles from Cov when this came out. I sometimes went there for night out, spending all my money and have to walk home. Left drunk got home sober.
Welcome to ska boys! My kinda genre seems like you’re enjoying it too xD
Please check out "Do Nothing", it's another great Specials tune.
@bob I had to google it, it was a double A side! Maggie's farm on the other.
It was the time when some people especially in 'the city' were making more money than they knew what to do with whilst others saw their jobs cut and those in work lost their long fought for, rights.
The Ska music reflected the disenchantment of those years.
Incorrect. It was the end of Britain as an industrialised nation overtaken by others as a result of bad management , the economy and the trade union movement. At that time there wasn't much talk of people making money in the city, but the end of an era.
@@augustlion6645 That's a very biased one-sided view you have there. There was plenty of banking jobs in London making tons of money, while Thatcher destroyed the unions and caused massive unemployment for the working class. The OP was spot on. Thatcher brought in the neoliberalism we've suffered with since, with the rich getting wealthier and the poorest paying for it.
I play this on bass - one of my fave songs ever! So glad you dig it!
They are from the same time and place as me, it was a time of urban decay, mass unemployment, race riots, football violence and Friday and Saturday night out not being complete without a mass brawl, the police used to have two vans of riot police outside my local at chucking out time.
Listen to their song Concrete Jungle for a flavour of the culture of casual violence.
Blank Expression by The Specials is one of my favourites.
There’s also a documentary called “2 Tone: The sound of Coventry” that was shown on the BBC, see if you can find it - it’s a great watch.
Absolutely in bits when I heard Terry Hall died last night. Bit by bit my childhood is being eroded away. RIP Terry.
Epic ska tune! Seen them live at Glasto.
The specials are one of the most influential bands in British history, not just because of their music, but also the fact that during the turmoil of the 70’s with racial politics, they formed a multiracial band at the height of it all. A lot of working class British men realised they were the same as the black immigrants coming from the West Indies.
Great reaction again lads , Have you tried ,the Beat ,mirror in the bathroom , two tone music connected people of every race and colour from working classes across the uk, two tone like northern soul is still loved by the generations that grew up at that depressive time , its what kept me going during my tours of northern ireland , off duty i listened to it all the time
Another 80s two tone music in the uk was a group called The Beat, and one of there songs is called Mirror in the bathroom and also Hands off shes mine. You must check these out
A savage indictment of Thatcher's brutal policies. She, along with Reagan, began the process which has led to the mess we're all in today. This song was a sad portender of things to come.
I was Quite young in the 80s but can't believe our country voted for that vile sub human twice. She hammered the poorest stole from the poor to give to the rich. Even took milk from poor school children. Not a huge shock SHE recommended Jimmy Savile for his knighthood. Shame on those who voted for that vile creature
These policies sadly have always been around to keep the illusion of democracy going.
@@charliegeorge9393 The policies of Thatcher.. they were worse than anything seen since. Taking free milk away from poor school children at a time of record unemployment not seen since or before. Trying to introduce a poll tax !! Wich meant taxing people based on how many lived in a house!! Aka the poor more! Trying to privatise the NHS and achieving privatisation of utilities! Social housing? Nope not under Thatcher. She was on another level! She made pritti Patel and Johnson look like Mary Poppins!
@@brianmason8059 I know I remember all of it! Saying it started with her is nonsense. Hated her as much as anyone, fact is all politicians are just there to take the flak from the people who are really in charge.
@@charliegeorge9393 ... together with a compliant MSM.
This was a time of high unemployment in England. Mines closing, car factories, steel factories closing particularly in the West Midlands but right across Britain too. This was number One in the charts when there were riots all over England as the youth rebelled. It was music like this and football that kept the working class going at a time when the government and the sands of time were squeezing them and eroding away their lives. We had several riots in Wolverhampton and the area where i lived was damaged quite badly. Lost friends some by their own design because of the situation. Great music but not necessarily great times.
Great song. Coverntry was particularly grim, where The Specials hailed from if I remember rightly. They were also a mixed band which was pretty rare back then. I remember being really impressed by them as a kid.
The song is about the city of Coventry but it can be a good description for most UK cities and towns back in the day
Guys check out “on my radio” by the selecter, and “mirror in the bathroom” by the beat ( known as the english beat in the u.s.) , seriously, you won’t be disappointed….👍👍
On my radio is an all time tune.
Hell yeah, Mirror In The Bathroom!
I don't think a song ever captured a cultural or political zeitgeist more than "Ghost Town" - they sang "People getting angry" and, as it was climbing up the charts riots, were breaking out in U.K. cities. Another from this era to check out would be a group which supported The Specials on tour... Dexys Midnight Runners! Don't be confused by the "Come On Eileen" era - 1980 era Dexys had a Horn-Driven New Wave take on Sixties Soul which sat well alongside the Two Tone Groups. Check out "Geno", "Dance Stance", "There There My Dear" or even "Tell Me When My Light Turns Green" to understand why!
When this first came out , every hair would stand on end whenever it came on... definitely defined how things felt then
Watch the intro to Future Shock: The story of 2000ad (The British comic) if you want to see what the UK was like in the late 70s/early 80s. Thanks for uploading, guys. 👍🇺🇸🇬🇧
Loved this song, very atmospheric
Just been reading a book called Walls Come Tumbling Down. About the history of 2Tone, Red Wedge and RAR (Rock Against Racism). Interesting and challenging times Britain was back then.
I love the music from this genre.. I'd recommend.. Just a feeling from Bad Manners.. Lorraine also from Bad Manners.. Also could you check out some of the tunes from the Jam.. A group very popular in the late 70s and early 80s.. They were fronted by Paul Weller and were part of the Mod culture.. When Paul left the Jam he formed the Style Council who also had a few good tunes.. He then went solo.. The rest is history.. Lolxx Love and light from across the pond xxx 🙏🎵🎶🎸🎤🎧🥰😘🇬🇧👌
The modl father 😎
Filmed in Rotherhithe Tunnel just 3 miles from where I lived my first 29 years and those eerie streets are some of the richest in the world as they are in the 1-mile square "City Of London" which is Europe's main financial area and they closed it off so they could film @5am:) before the workers arrived.
This song is incredible in my opinion. It sounds like nothing else, maybe a movie in song.
Saw them live in 80's in Derby UK! Great to see u guys enjoying them.
The Specials, you have just got to love them. This song in just a little over 3 minutes paints a complete picture of social upheaval the UK at that time, simply brilliant song and a great reaction......
Another ageless classic fellas👌🏽still played now as much as it always was🔥❤️
Loved this song then and still love it now ❤️
This was my first coming of age tune...
This was the very first piece of Music, Record (Vinyl), I ever bought. And, on the same day (that afternoon) I bought The Undertones "It's Going To Happen". Both very much anti-Thatcher songs.
All this was happening in the middle of the H-Block Hunger Strikes (Bobby Sands & Gang).
A few weeks later I bought The Police "Invisible Sun", my third piece of vinyl. Seems to be a pattern forming, my destiny written...
I was 11 years old in 1981. 1981 made such an impressionable indelible impact in the rest of my life. The Thing I Done
Ye should check out --
C.W. Stoneking ~ The Thing I Done
.
Thatcherite urban and societal decay.
There were plenty of fights in clubs in the specials hometown of Coventry in the late 70s and 80s! It was apparently the most violent city in the UK for a while but even by the 90s when I started at university there it was starting to clean up its act. It's pretty tame by comparison these days.
Coventry was our Motown huge car industry that died in the 70/ 80s
i grew up with the specials.
originally they are from Coventry (midlands of England)
The video, directed by Barney Bubbles, consists of bass player Panter driving the band around London in a 1962 Vauxhall Cresta, intercut with views of streets and buildings filmed from the moving vehicle, and ends with a shot of the band standing on the banks of the River Thames at low tide. The video's locations include driving through the Blackwall Tunnel and around semi-derelict areas of the East End before ending up in the financial district of the City of London in the early hours of daylight on Sunday morning, where the streets were deserted as it was the weekend. The shots of the band in the car were achieved by attaching a camera to the bonnet using a rubber sucker: Panter recalled that at one point the camera fell off (briefly seen in the finished video at 1:18) and scratched the car's paintwork, to the displeasure of the car's owner.....great Nostalgia trip..thanks 👍🏻👍🏻
Definitely needed a rewatch.(also)....R.I.P Terry Hall ✝️🙏
Need to do specials “man at c&a” also "little bitch", A lot of people comment about how the clash helped out the specials back in the day, but the guy who did more for them in respect of helping with production, song writing and taking them on tour was elvis costello. he actually helped turn the long ska jams into concise songs. The most interesting band of the two tone era for me was the toasters because they were a band formed in new york by an englishman, so they had a really british meets american approach to ska. There's also the ruts who had more of a punk approach to ska "staring at the rude boys" and "jah war" are choons!
little bitch is a banger of a tune!
This song is about a city called Coventry.... Coventry was a very violent City to have a night out in back in the 80s... Glassing people in the face, stabbings, and racial divide between blacks n whites forced nightclubs all over the city to shut down from all the violence being caused. Coventry City Centre is still the most CCTV watched City in the uk... Even some pubs today still have cameras directly linked to Coventry’s police station... How do I know?.. I lived n clubbed in Coventry back in the 80s... Most of the 20+ yr old men then that clubbed in Coventry from the 80s bear the scars from their experience of clubbing in Coventry's nightlife culture.... Two-Tone Specials are Coventry’s own... Most of the band members came from the city of Coventry...
They recorded this track about a mile from where I live. Woodbine Street Recording Studios, Leamington Spa.
You two should listen to the extended version of this song most especially for the fantastic trombone solo towards the end of it. While it might sound dire and depressing to your ears it was also very politically accurate and described the feelings that most of us had towards that monster Thatcher and her Government throughout the whole of the 1980's....songs like this were very unifying for the rest of us and it crossed all boundaries and we all hated those Tory Toffee-nosed Tw@ts because of the permanent damage that they did to the entire country with their insistence of using trickle-down economics.
She was also a close friend of Reagan and copied almost everything that he did while he was President. Does that sound familiar to both of you? Your ex-President Numpty-Trumpty is a big fan of both of them and despite the abject failure of their policies almost 40 years ago it didn't stop him from trying the exact same sh*t in the U.S.A. up until early 2021, did it? If things like that failed the first time around then they're not likely to be successful either the second, third or fourth time around, are they?
"Ghost Town" was The Specials best selling song.... but LIVE the band were (and still are) outstanding ... so check out 'Skinhead Symphony' from 'rock goes to college' (a medley of 3 classic ska tunes) but my favourite Specials tune is the one that broke it for them... "Gangsters"... Based very, very loosely on 'Al Capone' by Prince Buster.
As for the times ... the Specials formed in Coventry , an industrial town (mostly car manufacturing but also with tanks , airplane components, farm machinery... etc) Industry was in sharp decline at the time ... Coventry had been devastated in WWII and had been re -built (mostly in concrete) in the 50s, 60s and 70s... much of the reconstruction had been done with migrant workers, and Coventry was a very multi-cultural town ... The band reflected that in it's multicultural line up, they actively stood against racism and bigotry. The Specials took the Ska and mixed it with Punk and Northern Soul (you must check some of that out) and came up with 2 tone... I'm a proud 'Cov Kid' and I was 16 when 'Gangsters' came out .... this band is the soundtrack to my youth.
No jobs..youth rebellion..riots..and that was in the 80's! Now its not just the clubs been closed, everywhere boarded up man!! But hey, on a Lighter note😂😂😂❤Great show, and Proud of the Specials r.i p Terry😢
The things other people are saying is about 80s England are accurate. The film This Is England is a good artistic representation of that time focusing on ska, skinhead culture and racism in a Midlands town. There are parallels with deindustrialisation in rustbelt USA now - eg think of the Ghost Town as being Detroit now for rexamole. And it was a time of rioting, looting. and city centres being set on fire - like the US a couple of years ago.
Yes brings back all the hopeless feeling😞I was 16 and working on a government scheme in a fashion shop...doing all the work for £23.50 a week!!!! No other work around and my mam took a tenner off for keep...busfare etc ended up with about £8.00 a week 😭😭taught me the value of money tho☺️🏴🏴🏴
Hey I’m from England and back in the 70s but mainly 80s fighting is why you went out clubbing and many clubs closed because people kept fighting and scared of other people by there bad reputations but this was also when football was full of violence it was huge here like full on riots after matches especially when it’s a rival team. But that was that time period here still get it quite a bit but not no where near as much as back then
This was number 1 while there were riots going on in cities all over the UK. This song very much was a reflection of what was going on in the UK at the time. Terry Hall the lead singer passed away in the last day or so RIP.
There's a wonderful instrumental track called The Selecter by a band also called The Selecter - it's a fantastic little ska track. Another band you might enjoy is The (English) Beat - try their song "Mirror in the Bathroom"
My home town and current UK city of culture!
Oh man I love this...thankyou xx
Hearing this song always reminds me of the Father Ted episode "think fast Father Ted" 😂
I have a book of the no. 1 songs since the inception of the UK charts 1952. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this was no. 1 on the day I was born (20th July 1981)
some selector,3 minute hero,on my radio,the beat,hands off she mine,tears of a clown,mirror in the bathroom, theres alot more if you look.enjoying you guys btw!
This was the first record i bought for myself aged 9, played it non stop for hours. 👍👍
I can't be arsed to read back and see if anyone has commented to tell you what it's about. It's about their hometown of Coventry in the West Midlands - it got pretty rough at times but always had a vibrant music scene. The Specials grew out of that. I grew to understand and love their music because I have a family connection to Coventry.
Specials gigs attracted far right skins for some reason given 2tones outlook, there were several fights and disturbances.
The song is also a commentary on the UK in general at this time, Coventry, the bands home town had suffered a lot under Margaret Thatcher. A famous industrial town that was devastated by factory and plant closure.
If I could recommend a Specials track that closely relates to this it would be my personal favourite Do Nothing.
Going to see the boys in Bedford on Friday, can’t wait.
Takes me back to going thur my older brothers vinyl collect when i was a kid.👍👍
This song is now the unofficial national anthem of Ireland after the episode "Think fast, Father Ted" of the classic comedy Father Ted. It's played here every St.Patricks Day.
Socially at that time when two tone bands were playing, they attracted mods, rudeboys and skinheads, it caused a lot of fights at gigs, mods being smartly dressed like rudeboys, whereas ironically a lot of skinheads were racist.
Real skinheads weren't racist, it was minority of dickheads that were racist.
The late 70s and early 80s were a peak time for the national front, predominantly young easily led skinheads, infected football matches and gigs with their behaviours, not implying all skinheads were or are racist but there was plenty who jumped on the racist bandwagon
Here's a british musical experience: X ray spex germfree adolescent live tv 1978 (RIP polly styrene)
I grew up in Coventry. Proper shithole. This song is still very relevant today, I play it my local pub on the jukebox in Somerset and everybody just vibes out. Timeless classic.
Fab, fellas, can I suggest, Big Audio Dynamite? Where punk rock (Mick Jones, of The Clash, meets Reggae) creates a very alternative and interesting sound.
Large scale unemployment, coal, steel and shipping industries getting closed and as a result a lot of working clubs shut down, hence the song. Great Ska music of that period and you’ve mentioned a few other great groups at the end of your vid. I would have a look at The Beat, “Mirror in the Bathroom” or “Tears of a Clown” too.
Ghost Town perfectly summed up where UK was at the time…he was a brilliant songwriter, such a shame to hear the news he’d passed
Imagine Detroit, the downturn of industry and derelict/abandoned buildings? Plus factor in the violence in clubs? This was the UK version, put in music and words.
This song hit the top of the UK charts in the summer of 1981 just as widespread rioting erupted in towns and cities all over the country.
Gangsters by The Specials..... tune!
There from Coventry in England were 2tone was birn
This song was made in Coventry my hometown. It summed up the times. Cov was a ghost town.
My favourite song of theirs was ‘Gangsters’ a really upbeat Two Tone classic.
Also Check out the Father Ted episode with Ghost town, like Stonehenge in Spinal tap, Batman in only fools….cracks me up every time.
“Please stand for your national anthem”
The specials were the originator of Ska Punk with Gangsters and the 2 tone movement, so if you think about it they spawned so many groups from 2rd, 3rd and now 4th wave Ska punk