Two-tone ska is the genre. Came from first-generation children of Caribbean immigrants melding with working-class whites in mainly industrial cities in the English North and Midlands, coming together to make their own sound, addressing social malaise and urging racial integration. Great group, great motivations. Not too light n fluffy tho ;P
@@BootlegReviews no bother, as the Irish say. I love you guys' reviews by the way. You're the most honest and casually knowledgeable reaction channel i know
@@willywonka7812 Two tone definitely started in the midlands, but I can't think of many two-tone bands from the north. There were plenty from the south of England though.
@@ultrademigod ah ok cheers. I guess north is Newcastle Middlesbrough and that. Meant more northwest then i suppose, being under the assumption that Manchester and Liverpool weren't far behind Birmingham in taking to this
@@willywonka7812 I was young when two-tone started, but I remember it being a huge thing in London with bands like Madness and Bad Manners. When i think of the north in the late 70s and early 80s I think of Alt rock bands like Joy Division, New Order, and the Smiths.
@@BootlegReviews Many of the British 2 Tone Ska bands were multi-racial and strongly opposed the racist National Front and the very right-wing Conservative Government under Maggie Thatcher. If your old enough and remember the boycott of apartheid South Africa you'll remember that it was The Specials who did the classic anti apartheid song 'Free Nelson Mandela'.
This song was about all the job looses at the time due to the destruction of most of manufacturing industry alot of towns were abandoned and left empty in the 1980s.
@AngloGirl85UK - ...It's ALSO . . . "- "But, as a consequence, Specials gigs began to attract the hostile presence of groups like the National Front and the British Movement. When vocalist Neville Staple sighed wearily on Ghost Town that there was "too much fighting on the dance floor", he sang from personal experience."
This music video came out in 1981, and is one of the earliest music videos to air on MTV. It aired at a time at the cable network when most of the music videos that aired on the channel came from the UK or Germany. It was in steady rotation for several months on MTV, before the US record labels started to take notice, and started to make music videos of their own.
As crazy as it might sound, it was through punk rock that Ska had a revival in the late seventies/ early eighties. - Because punk rock shows were all inclusive, black and white kids socializing, DeeJays playing old Prince Buster songs and old reggae in between bands and the punks going "This is just as angry as our music" and the Rastas telling them "Damn right it is, you white kids aren't the only ones suffering here." - So those mixed groups started Reggae and Ska band with the same anger and energy as the punk rock bands. A very similar song to this would be "One in ten" by UB40, a band who named themselves after the Unemployment Benefit file, which in itself is a VERY punk rock thing to do. Lyric-wise, the song is about a reality that the band knew VERY well: being treated as a statistic by the powers that be.
Specials are a band from Coventry in the UK but the video was shot in London. If you wanna know what it felt like in the UK in the early 80s this track sums it up.
There are so many great Specials songs, you might want to check out Too Much Too Young, Gangsters or Monkey Man. All great examples of British ska from the early 80's.
With the windrush in the 1950's a lot of Jamaican / West Indies people came to live in England & they brought with them Jamaican influenced music. That, coupled with a few London white boys, created SKA music (it might be our best export) The Specials. The Special AKA, The Selecta, Bad Manners, Madness. Good tunes :)
I was into Punk but loved Prince Buster and had lots of friends who were into 2 Tone Ska music and bands like The Specials, The Selector, Bad Manners, Madness and The Beat to name but a few and then as some punk bands like The Ruts, The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers fused some of their music with reggae then music was taken into new places. It took about 10 years to cross the pond though.
Is Jimmy Hill still Chairman, Manager and Head of THe Players Union, and does he still play and run the line. All of which he has done when he wasn't organizing the first All Seater Stadium and Sky Blue Express for away matches...
Can’t beat old Jamaica ska, from an old geordie skinhead, 2 tone was a midlands thing, still cut the rug to it though, best regards from County Durham.
As a 13 year old in 1981 I wasn't that tuned into the politics of the time, but for sure, there was ever increasing unemployment due in part to the erosion of industries, and later we had a summer of riots sparked in part by racial tensions and anger toward the police and government. Also on the global stage there was the imminent threat of nuclear war hanging over everybody... mutually assured destruction, and we television painted this scenario in a series called Threads and I think the US had a similar series. It was a strange time but with some amazing music. You should try.... UB40 - One in 10 Duran Duran - Girls on film Hazel O'Connor - Will you Ultravox - All stood still All these tracks were from the same year and summer.
Enjoyed your reaction though it wasn't poor quality. That was deliberate lighting. You could tell it wasn't The USA as the car was Right-Hand drive which we do in Britain, Australia, New Zealand where we drive on the left :)
I hate when people talk all the way through a song they are supposed to be LISTENING to. The footage is of Birmingham and its environs including Coventry (where The Specials were from) the part of Britain's once booming industrial heartland known as the Black Country. At a time of high youth unemployment and economic devastation under the Thatcher regime around the early 80's (1981 its release).
It's about economic depression in the UK early 80s violence poverty and racism, which I grew up with. Probably does seem alien! Means so much to me though
The effects of ‘Thatcherism’ in Britain. Britain was grim back then, the youth were bored out of their minds! Margaret Thatcher thought it wise to shut down clubs and pubs thinking that it was linked to fighting and trouble. The fact people were financially struggling and there were no employment opportunities of course had nothing to do with the unrest!🙄😅The Specials were a huge part of my childhood in Scotland 🏴 🫶🏻♥️
Back in the 1980's in the UK, there were absolutely no jobs to be found in the north of England. The Conservative Government had decimated the cities and towns. Crime was rife. There was nothing to do. Everywhere closed down. Many places became 'ghost towns and cities. Riots broke out through sheer frustration, racism, and economic inactivity - and also police brutality. Life in the UK back then, was as hard as hell growing up in the 1980's.
This was souch a political era in British music. Racially integrated groups against the backdrop of far right activity, taking influences from the Windrush generation. Punk and reggea fans fusing together because they were both marginalised and sharing the same. Club spaces and building genuine self respect. If you want to check out some mad shit, check out Bad Brains.
Please react to Linkin Park-She Couldn't. It was a demo song 20 years ago. This is Linkin Park 20th Anniversary and they just released this song official for UA-cam. Their lead singer passed away three years ago.
u know that ure culture is a a break of of uero culture yours are a mix so is ours the dif is u are 250 years old we are from a country median atleast 1000 years and btw amarican is a dialect of english
Do you not have Ska in the US? This is Birmingham or Coventry in the UK. It is 1980. They are talking about the destruction that our Conservative government was putting on the working class. Dope track??
Two-tone ska is the genre. Came from first-generation children of Caribbean immigrants melding with working-class whites in mainly industrial cities in the English North and Midlands, coming together to make their own sound, addressing social malaise and urging racial integration. Great group, great motivations. Not too light n fluffy tho ;P
Thanks for the info.
@@BootlegReviews no bother, as the Irish say. I love you guys' reviews by the way. You're the most honest and casually knowledgeable reaction channel i know
@@willywonka7812 Two tone definitely started in the midlands, but I can't think of many two-tone bands from the north.
There were plenty from the south of England though.
@@ultrademigod ah ok cheers. I guess north is Newcastle Middlesbrough and that. Meant more northwest then i suppose, being under the assumption that Manchester and Liverpool weren't far behind Birmingham in taking to this
@@willywonka7812 I was young when two-tone started, but I remember it being a huge thing in London with bands like Madness and Bad Manners.
When i think of the north in the late 70s and early 80s I think of Alt rock bands like Joy Division, New Order, and the Smiths.
The horns of Rico Rodriguez just blows you away.
Finally some Americans that react to U.K. ska 😂👌🏼👌🏼💜🇬🇧 ✌🏼 nice video guys x
Siany UK thank you for watching.
@@BootlegReviews Many of the British 2 Tone Ska bands were multi-racial and strongly opposed the racist National Front and the very right-wing Conservative Government under Maggie Thatcher. If your old enough and remember the boycott of apartheid South Africa you'll remember that it was The Specials who did the classic anti apartheid song 'Free Nelson Mandela'.
Theme tune of my youth in Hull,England,tough times,but we had some fun,totally explains Thatchers Britain.👍
This song was about all the job looses at the time due to the destruction of most of manufacturing industry alot of towns were abandoned and left empty in the 1980s.
Joe Ocallaghan deep
It's also about the rise of right wing violence from groups like the National Front.
@@jeffreyallen3461 Lol
@AngloGirl85UK - ...It's ALSO . . . "- "But, as a consequence, Specials gigs began to attract the hostile presence of groups like the National Front and the British Movement. When vocalist Neville Staple sighed wearily on Ghost Town that there was "too much fighting on the dance floor", he sang from personal experience."
The song was about the uk riots of 81 in London Birmingham and Manchester
I love 2 tone music.
The Specials brass section is fire.
This music video came out in 1981, and is one of the earliest music videos to air on MTV. It aired at a time at the cable network when most of the music videos that aired on the channel came from the UK or Germany. It was in steady rotation for several months on MTV, before the US record labels started to take notice, and started to make music videos of their own.
As crazy as it might sound, it was through punk rock that Ska had a revival in the late seventies/ early eighties.
- Because punk rock shows were all inclusive, black and white kids socializing, DeeJays playing old Prince Buster songs and old reggae in between bands and the punks going "This is just as angry as our music" and the Rastas telling them "Damn right it is, you white kids aren't the only ones suffering here."
- So those mixed groups started Reggae and Ska band with the same anger and energy as the punk rock bands.
A very similar song to this would be "One in ten" by UB40, a band who named themselves after the Unemployment Benefit file, which in itself is a VERY punk rock thing to do. Lyric-wise, the song is about a reality that the band knew VERY well: being treated as a statistic by the powers that be.
Excellent explanation thanks...
Specials are a band from Coventry in the UK but the video was shot in London. If you wanna know what it felt like in the UK in the early 80s this track sums it up.
Was a song playing in the background while you were both talking all the way thru' the video ?
That was class 👌👌👌
The specials from My city . Coventry and they were sing about Coventry
People getting Angry..like a very Slow build up😂😂Polital mess man. Thanks for listening to one of my 2tones from the U.K.
When this hit the top of the charts in the UK in July 1981 it coincided with widespread rioting in many towns and cities across the country.
All their stuff is 🙌💪
Relevant in 1981 relevant now two tone for life
There are so many great Specials songs, you might want to check out Too Much Too Young, Gangsters or Monkey Man. All great examples of British ska from the early 80's.
With the windrush in the 1950's a lot of Jamaican / West Indies people came to live in England & they brought with them Jamaican influenced music. That, coupled with a few London white boys, created SKA music (it might be our best export) The Specials. The Special AKA, The Selecta, Bad Manners, Madness. Good tunes :)
Ska music came out of Jamaica in the 1950s, based on American Rhythm & Blues, dude. What are you talking about?
'It looks like downtown New York' 😂😂😂Except it's their hometown of Coventry in England.
It’s London
I have the vinyl of ghost town signed by 3 original members! Roddy Radiation, Horace Panter and Neville Staple.
I was into Punk but loved Prince Buster and had lots of friends who were into 2 Tone Ska music and bands like The Specials, The Selector, Bad Manners, Madness and The Beat to name but a few and then as some punk bands like The Ruts, The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers fused some of their music with reggae then music was taken into new places. It took about 10 years to cross the pond though.
Here's the Prince Buster song that inspired the Ghost Town melody line
ua-cam.com/video/B_2Cs9Rc4Go/v-deo.html
70s britain crazy psychotic wasteland .. loved it! ska ska ska!!!!!!
I have never heard Coventry been compared to New York , play up sky blues though x
Sky blue 💙 army!!
Is Jimmy Hill still Chairman, Manager and Head of THe Players Union, and does he still play and run the line. All of which he has done when he wasn't organizing the first All Seater Stadium and Sky Blue Express for away matches...
That's because it's not Coventry. It's London.
The official theme song of COVID-19 lockdowns!
This track was released at the time of the UK riots of 1981, the lyrics are a reflection of the times
Can’t beat old Jamaica ska, from an old geordie skinhead, 2 tone was a midlands thing, still cut the rug to it though, best regards from County Durham.
Classic!
As a 13 year old in 1981 I wasn't that tuned into the politics of the time, but for sure, there was ever increasing unemployment due in part to the erosion of industries, and later we had a summer of riots sparked in part by racial tensions and anger toward the police and government. Also on the global stage there was the imminent threat of nuclear war hanging over everybody... mutually assured destruction, and we television painted this scenario in a series called Threads and I think the US had a similar series. It was a strange time but with some amazing music.
You should try....
UB40 - One in 10
Duran Duran - Girls on film
Hazel O'Connor - Will you
Ultravox - All stood still
All these tracks were from the same year and summer.
NIce reaction guys.
You should check out 'On my Radio' by the band Selector
Yes, one of the best
Enjoyed your reaction though it wasn't poor quality. That was deliberate lighting.
You could tell it wasn't The USA as the car was Right-Hand drive which we do in Britain, Australia, New Zealand where we drive on the left :)
I hate when people talk all the way through a song they are supposed to be LISTENING to. The footage is of Birmingham and its environs including Coventry (where The Specials were from) the part of Britain's once booming industrial heartland known as the Black Country. At a time of high youth unemployment and economic devastation under the Thatcher regime around the early 80's (1981 its release).
It was filmed in London, ya bonehead.
It's about economic depression in the UK early 80s violence poverty and racism, which I grew up with. Probably does seem alien! Means so much to me though
all about the economy and recession of the late 70's early 80s, brilliant ska band along with madness and bad manners
The effects of ‘Thatcherism’ in Britain. Britain was grim back then, the youth were bored out of their minds! Margaret Thatcher thought it wise to shut down clubs and pubs thinking that it was linked to fighting and trouble. The fact people were financially struggling and there were no employment opportunities of course had nothing to do with the unrest!🙄😅The Specials were a huge part of my childhood in Scotland 🏴 🫶🏻♥️
Driving a 1961 Vauxhall Cresta
Coventry UK 1979, the whole economy had collapsed . . . The centre of the city was empty after 6pm . . . A ghost town is 2 tone, a style of music.
From the 80s Ska Reggae influenced two tone craze. It was London, as they were from there.
Bollocks! Ever heard of Coventry?
No, it’s most definitely not New York, it was filmed in London but the Specials were from Coventry in the Midlands.
Tarantino uses their music in his movies
UY Scuti really? Didn’t know that. Thanks for the info.
I'm English, so play Nicki Thomas have a little faith.
Ps, I'm West Midlands and 100% proud Black country
Look and listen to 'Golden Brown.'
The Stranglers. But you have to see the video with it.
Best song ever written, as we say.
THE Covid-19 Anthem
Throwing rocks in the water is all they have left to do for fun.
I prefer "Rat Race" by the same band (The Specials)
PS: The lead singer wrote the song "Free Nelson Mandela"
Back in the 1980's in the UK, there were absolutely no jobs to be found in the north of England. The Conservative Government had decimated the cities and towns. Crime was rife. There was nothing to do. Everywhere closed down. Many places became 'ghost towns and cities. Riots broke out through sheer frustration, racism, and economic inactivity - and also police brutality. Life in the UK back then, was as hard as hell growing up in the 1980's.
the bside of the single, is great as well, why? and saturday night, sunday morning
If this song didn't exactly explain 2020 with the lyrics...I don't know what does.
All stand for the national anthem.
filmed in london
Good stuff. Love ska and reggae and soul. Check out enjoy yourself by prince buster.
Actually ghost town had a meaning in England. It’s nothing like music nowadays
it is a social staetment.All of thier songs were.
This was souch a political era in British music.
Racially integrated groups against the backdrop of far right activity, taking influences from the Windrush generation.
Punk and reggea fans fusing together because they were both marginalised and sharing the same. Club spaces and building genuine self respect. If you want to check out some mad shit, check out Bad Brains.
Please react to Linkin Park-She Couldn't. It was a demo song 20 years ago. This is Linkin Park 20th Anniversary and they just released this song official for UA-cam. Their lead singer passed away three years ago.
Request: Heavy D - Now that we found love.
Just Me it’s on the list.
@@BootlegReviews Thanks!
Coventry in the 80 s
This is a ska Reggie on two tone records lot’s of good band
React to Tony Toni Toné - Let's Get Down
Kevin Stone it’s on the list
What the hell ! Talking all over the music !
I would like to request "The Look" by Roxette for the show
Shigeru Miyamoto it’s on the list.
Can you react to the song suffer the children by tears for fears
Khalid Campbell it’s on the list.
I like this lady: she's inteligent and articulate. I wish she would tell the toad in red to go and do the dishes while she does the reactions alone.
Thanks for watching
How rude!
u know that ure culture is a a break of of uero culture yours are a mix so is ours the dif is u are 250 years old we are from a country median atleast 1000 years and btw amarican is a dialect of english
no more youth culthure exqauls a ghost town
Unemployment in the u. K.
irish and black
Do you not have Ska in the US? This is Birmingham or Coventry in the UK. It is 1980. They are talking about the destruction that our Conservative government was putting on the working class. Dope track??
peter gabriel biko
?
@@BootlegReviews a song called biko by peter gabriel
@@cheyennebritbrat Its on the list. Please give us some time.
@@BootlegReviews k ta
Chipping commentary rather than considered reaction
Its called ska music dig deeper deer devotees.