Real UK English fan here and a London one and a South London one and a South East London one and this was filmed 3 miles from where I used to live in The Rotherhithe Tunnel in S E London in The 1980s though the band are from Coventry in County of Warwickshire in The West Midlands in the heart of England. Unbelievably (from this video) the street scenes you saw originally (well the Lady saw after introducing us, proudly, to her nails (haha ) ) , were filmed in, possibly, the richest square mile in The World: !!! that is The City Of London but they closed it for this video @ 5am before the Commuters arrived in THe Financial Centre like your "Wall Street" lol
Brit Ska! This has nothing to do with ghosts and everything to do with economic recession in 80's Britain and the loss of clubs and the music scene in their home city of Coventry.
@@s.fernandes7560 it was much tougher in the 80s. Especially in England. You have no idea. Its easier today. The 80s was the most deprived and most violent decade of the 20th century for the UK. Fact, look it up. God bless you and keep you. ♥️ 🙏
@@f-wingkingunclejohn6199 I know what you mean because all my friends that weren't training to be nurses were unemployed! Not one of my non-nurse friends had a job and for a while, it seemed like none of them ever would but from the mid-80s on that changed and they all found work and started doing OK! As the mother of a young adult now I'm worried sick for him and for all young people and children! If the shite we're being put through now keeps going, what future will they have? Owning nothing and having no privacy in Klaus Shwab and the W.E.F.s "4th Industrial Revolution" world doesn't sound like a recipe for happiness to me anyway! Hopefully, it won't happen and things will drastically improve for them!
Two Tone or Brit Ska from the 70's/80's was just brilliant. We were in the middle of a recession there were riots in London and Liverpool shops were closing down and there was no place to go like the song says the people were getting angry so this song fitted the atmosphere of the whole country. So band's like the Specials, The Beat (USA called them the English Beat), The Selector and even Madness were what we needed at that time to get us through.
@@erict956 yeah even that seems to dying. Maybe I'm just getting old or becoming more and more cynical. Always loved guitar music, reggae, soul and R&B,I have an eclectic taste in music but music today is rubbish remakes and remixes.
@@erict956 best way to be,don't be a sheep find out for yourself. Dont believe all you see or all you hear keep an open mind and live your life how you see fit.
I'm in my late 50s now I remember going to see the Specials live half a dozen times especially the late 70s/early 80s and fighting with the NF who would turn up at their gigs. The Specials were one of the most important British social commentary bands, this song and then Special AKA with the song Free Nelson Mandela are two of the most iconic tunes ever released in the UK. On a footnote in the early 90s I lived with my wife in Lambert road Brixton and jerry Dammers was our next door neighbour and when my wife went into labour(he heard her screaming through the walls) he's the one who called for the ambulance and then called me at work to let me know so I could shoot straight up to the hospital and see my son being born
YES YOUNG PEOPLE. Black and white people sang and danced and talked and laughed together and hung and CRIED together. Do not listen to other people that tell you how to feel.
You do realise this band, specifically gerry dammers started the 2 tone record label, and the second wave of ska music. Plus the madness song the prince came out on 2 tone.
Diana Ankudinova is a young performer who shocks us with her pleasant voice and takes us into the abyss of events!!! Diana Ankudinova is unique and inimitable, goosebumps from her voice!=)))) Diana sings as if she lives in the song! The soul freezes or opens with Diana's voice.=))))))) I am a musician who has been with music for years, and believe me, I have not heard such a tone in all these past years.
I watched this music video on MTV back in latte-1981. I really could identify with the lyrics in the song, as it reminded me of the ghost towns of Youngstown, Ohio and nearby Warren, Ohio, when the steel mills closed in 1977. The music in the song and music video was also great. unlike anything else on the radio in the US at that time.
@@Hartlor_Tayley here in the UK they were just known as The Beat the had to add the English part for the US as there was already a band called The Beat over the pond. Oh and personally I loved myself a bit of The Selector - On My Radio, Train to Skaville and others.
Specials led the harder edge of the UK Ska revival back in the day- written about the devastation in their home town of the 1980s economic crash. Brilliant
This was about Britain, particularly the Midlands and Coventry .. Living at this time... The Midlands and The North suffered and many peop0le had to move South to work... I was one of those that did
Originally the ``Coventry Automatics` from my home town Coventry. I remember when they worked in the Virgin record store. I knew Horace the bass player years back. The song is about Coventry, a car building `boom town` that had mass unemployment in the late `70s. Turned into a `Ghost town` Going to town on a saturday night for fight was what a lot of bored kids did. It happened in Detroit in the US too. Race relations were terrible at the time. The Specials did a lot to unite people., Formed in 1977 ( i was sixteen).Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Lynval Golding and Roddy Radiation on guitars, Horace Panter on bass, Jerry Dammers on keyboards, John Bradbury on drums, and Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez on horns. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude". Lyrically, they present a "more focused and informed political and social stance" The Selecter are another Coventry 2tone band. `On my radio` is on youtube. And the old city is doing ok again now.
Three of these guys split off to form The Fun Boy Three and helped to introduce Bananarama to the world lol. Really Saying Something It Aint What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It) The Lunatics
Bananarama were already known artists by the time they made a record with 'the fun boy 3'. Bananarama started in 1980 and made a few records with TFB3 in 1982.
@@baylessnow it's not a particularly fascinating debate to have BUT Bananarama had only released one single before their colab with FB3 which charted around 90 in the UK charts so they weren't very well known tbh
This song wonderfully sums up the despair of the young in the summer of 1981. This was number one when the royal wedding occurred (Prince Charles & Lady Diana) at the same time there was a recession and riots going on in most towns and cities particularly Toxteth (Liverpool) and Brixton (London).
Real UK English fan here and a London one and a South London one and a South East London one and this was filmed 3 miles from where I used to live in The Rotherhithe Tunnel in S E London in The 1980s though the band are from Coventry in County of Warwickshire in The West Midlands in the heart of England. Unbelievably (from this video) the street scenes you saw originally (well the Lady saw after introducing us, proudly, to her nails (haha ) ) , were filmed in, possibly, the richest square mile in The World: !!! that is The City Of London but they closed it for this video @ 5am before the Commuters arrived in THe Financial Centre like your "Wall Street" lol
Literally what London was no jobs but luckily I’m became a cab driver, I lived in Battersea, Wandsworth in London, and we was the borough that had the worse economy, it was a shithole in battersea where I lived
It was great up to around 1983 when I moved just 10 miles to the edge to THe S E London/Kent Suburbs where our street is full of London Cabbies :) By 1983 I saw " a' change a 'coming" and that prompted the move though my heart will always be there as I lived over a busy market and had The Walworth Road on top of me and THe Old Kent Road at the other end. When I walked from Clapham Junction to Battersea High Street 4 years ago I was within a whisker of being mugged by 3 boys on bikes but turned around just in time on the pavement and I heard the nearest one kiss his teeth...
This is the epitome of Thatcher's britain. Massive job losses and urban decline. The Specials were one of the leading political groups at the time. One of the best songs of the 80s.
UK Specials fan here.The 2 tone/ska scene in the late 70s/early 80s was a great time and place for music.You've checked out The Specials and Madness,you need to hear Mirror in the bathroom by The Beat or Lip up fatty by Bad Manners now.
Hi! Thank you for the video!Please pay attention to the young singer Diana Ankudinova.Make a reaction to the songs Wicked game, Human 🌞 🌞 🌞 DIANA ANKUDINOVA is a talented young singer. I would like to know your opinion. I think you'll be surprised. Diana has a very unusual voice for her age and an artistic presentation. 🌹 🌹 🌹 Thank you in advance
Britain in the early 1980’s was in areal mess and this song summed up how the youth felt about state of play, it’s a real shame to say that Britain in 2023 is in the same mess and this song is as relevant now as air was then !!
So proud of my countries diversity so much talent we wouldn't have it any other way🙏 blessing from the UK 🙏 this was about the loss of employment in the 80s when our towns lost everything...
Is this channel turning into a British music channel... Everything you do seems to be British!! 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 Not that I'm complaining, I'm from England 🏴🏴🏴🏴
Most of The Specials' songs were sung by the white vocalist (Terry Hall). If you like the vocals on this one, which was sung by Neville Staple, check out their song "Do nothing".
Hello, I would like to see your reaction to the performances of Diana Ankudinova. Her amazing voice surprises everyone, she performed covers of the famous songs "Wicked Game", "Human", "Havana","Take on Me". She also has her own songs "Into the sky" (В небо), "Your Voice" (Голосом твоим), "Happiness" (Счастье).
The rock steady reggae and ska music scene in the UK back in 70s and 80 was big. The Clash were heavily influenced also. Rudy, a message to you is the original title of this tune first recorded back in 1967 and sung by Dandy Livingston. It would be awesome if you went into some original Jamaican reggae of the late 60s and 70s. The rock-steady style of Jamaican reggae and Ska has influenced all music scenes on a global scale and it is only fair someone would pay homage to this great musical genre.
Now we're talking. The Brits lived in closer quarters to West Indian immigrants than we did, and so were quicker to mix calypso/ska/reggae/dub into the popular culture. The culture was racist as fuck, but the younger generations didn't have time for that. In the 60's they were deep into Motown, followed soul and funk, and were into reggae long before Americans were. By the late 70's many English bands combined reggae and rock, most famously the Police. The Specials went back 10 years earlier than reggae to mine the ska/rude boy Jamaican styles of the 1960's. This one, though...this song was a little different. This wasn't a sharp-dressed skank. These guys have seen their city, their life history, their country sink into economic gloom, and the party is way over. Despair, drugs, dub and dreams, with some weird carnival shit for nightmare/British effect. And it must have captured something a lot of people recognized, because it was a hit: number one in England for several weeks, and making quite an impact. But if you're interested, there's quite a slew of rather great bands from England during this time whose roll was equally reggae/dub and rock. The Police have their merits, but they weren't the best, and you can tell just by listening to this that here was some deeper shit going on in England then. Cheers!
Less than one month after this tune reached Number 1 in the UK there were riots in the Black communities of Moss Side, Manchester and Toxteth, Liverpool. It was more than a coincidence. I was 6 at the time and lived about 8 miles from Moss Side. I learned over years that was so much more than a chart song. It identified a problem and clearly resonated amongst the Black youth that were fighting against the odds. It still has a place in modern day society. I teach my kids to respect everyone, treat all people as you wish to be treated. If someone shows you disrespect, don't associate it with colour/religion, just accept there are people in every walk of life who need educating. Stand up to negative racial/religious comments, especially if it comes from someone from the same Colour/Religion as yourself. If you respect good people and be positive, life is generally good and you will be treated the same. Enjoyed your reaction.
Not quite true. It was written and recorded before the ‘81 riots. It references the 1980s riots as well as the supposedly urban decay the group witnessed on their 1980 tour.
@@normandavidtidiman9918 It is neither! This song was written in Coventry by a Coventry group about Coventry. The deterioration from a boom town in the 60's to the Thatcher era!
“Britain was falling apart,” said Dammers. “The car industry was closing down in Coventry. We were touring, so we saw a lot of it. Glasgow were particularly bad.” In Liverpool he saw shops closing down, more beggars on the streets, little old ladies selling their cups and saucers on tables outside their homes and he started to see the frustration and anger in the young faces of those who came out to see his band. He felt that there was something very, very wrong affecting the country. “The overall sense I wanted to convey was impending doom. There were weird, diminished chords: certain members of the band resented the song and wanted the simple chords they were used to playing on the first album, It’s hard to explain how powerful it sounded. We had almost been written off and then ‘Ghost Town’ came out of the blue.” The genesis of the song started back in 1980, after Dammers had witnessed the St Pauls riots in Bristol. For most of the 1970s, St Pauls - a predominantly black and white working-class area - had been the victim of deteriorating housing, poor education services and an increasingly strong police presence. Racial tension was high, as the Afro-Caribbean community felt victimised. Although the exact cause remains unclear, in early April, a riot erupted, involving nearly 2,000 people. It was this event that started Dammers thinking of “Ghost Town”, a song that would go on to define him, his band, and two-tone in general. from a GQ magazine article.
Hey, if you like the voice of that "white boy", here's a hot tip for you: Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed. The same guy with a couple of his mates from the Specials.
ska music, which i really enjoyed, even though i was well into the underground rockabilly scene. the skinhead scene was really big back then black and white skinheads no racism involved, despite idiots trying to stir up racial tension which did happen a little in some places. You should watch "this is England" boxset for better understanding of the scene.
My home town and was really depressing back then and all the Night Clubs in the city centre were actually closed down due to violence. Open now but still a violent place. But when you live there it's ok I guess you get used to it. They actually captured the feeling of the town which is like a mini Detroit.
You might like to try 'The Beat' - known in the US as 'The English Beat' - 'Mirror in the Bathroom, Ranking Full Stop, Tears of a Clown, Hands Off...She's Mine
The two older man in group where started Reggie and on this they play Ed ska music they were on two tune records bad manners and English beat and maddness
I recommend that people listen to "The Boiler" by Rhoda Dakar & The Specials. It's about a woman who knows she's not much to look at, she calls herself an old Boiler several times during the song. Rhoda describes how a man chats her up, buys her new clothes and takes her to a Nightclub. He insists that she stay the night at his place, she resists, then gives in to his demands, he then drags her along at a brutal pace up a lane way. It's then that Rhoda Dakar gives one of the more convincing vocal performances in music history. If there was an award category, then she would win it. She paints a picture that I don't want to visualise.
God this takes me back, great song, my fave from the specials. In the UK there are 4 countries that make up the UK, so we aren't all English tho guys. There's Northern Ireland, Scotland, England & Wales. 😎👌🎵❤️
Context: early 80s Britain; economically devastated; racism at every corner; the UK ska revival was also part of a multi-ethnic reaction TO that racism, to the cynicism that was blighting this beleaguered nation of ours. Darkness and light. Repression and freedom. Masterpiece. And it was a MASSIVE hit. R.I.P. Terry Hall.
This was filmed on a Sunday in the " City of London " the financial district of London. At the weekend the place is practically empty, whereas during the week is packed with office workers.
Great review..I've been to see the specials..they were great..sadly the singer terry Hall (white lad)..passed away..two tone was a black/white kids movement..ska/punk in the late 70s early 80s..and the specials were the best..thanks for the UA-cam video really enjoyed your reaction ❤
Ghost Town by The Specials it had to do with the recession, riots, unemployment and violence in inner city areas that what the song means. Troubled times in the UK in 1981
WHERE ARE THE REAL UK FANS COMMENT BELOW THIS COMMENT NOW IF YOU LOVE THE SPECIALS!!
Monkey Man! I mean the song you know. Or English Beat Stand Down Margaret/Jackpot.
THE SPECIALS "PRESSURE DROP",, "NELSON MANDELA" & "MONKEY MAN"
THE ENGLISH BEAT "SAVE IT FOR LATER"...GENERAL PUBLIC "TENDERNESS"
DESMOND DEKKER & THE ACES "ISRAELITES" & 007 (SHANTY TOWN)
Real UK English fan here and a London one and a South London one and a South East London one and this was filmed 3 miles from where I used to live in The Rotherhithe Tunnel in S E London in The 1980s though the band are from Coventry in County of Warwickshire in The West Midlands in the heart of England.
Unbelievably (from this video) the street scenes you saw originally (well the Lady saw after introducing us, proudly, to her nails (haha ) ) , were filmed in, possibly, the richest square mile in The World: !!! that is The City Of London but they closed it for this video @ 5am before the Commuters arrived in THe Financial Centre like your "Wall Street" lol
Brit Ska! This has nothing to do with ghosts and everything to do with economic recession in 80's Britain and the loss of clubs and the music scene in their home city of Coventry.
Just like now you mean
Well said Rudeboy.
@@s.fernandes7560 it was much tougher in the 80s. Especially in England. You have no idea. Its easier today. The 80s was the most deprived and most violent decade of the 20th century for the UK. Fact, look it up. God bless you and keep you. ♥️ 🙏
@@f-wingkingunclejohn6199 I know what you mean because all my friends that weren't training to be nurses were unemployed! Not one of my non-nurse friends had a job and for a while, it seemed like none of them ever would but from the mid-80s on that changed and they all found work and started doing OK!
As the mother of a young adult now I'm worried sick for him and for all young people and children! If the shite we're being put through now keeps going, what future will they have? Owning nothing and having no privacy in Klaus Shwab and the W.E.F.s "4th Industrial Revolution" world doesn't sound like a recipe for happiness to me anyway! Hopefully, it won't happen and things will drastically improve for them!
Funny how history repeats itself. They should have re released it for the covid lockdown, lol
I’ve always loved the Specials, as I’m from the UK, it’s actually about economic recession, hence the title Ghost Town.
And Thatcherism
also a lot to do with the Riots of 81 creating Ghost towns.
it's about the split of the band too.
Two Tone or Brit Ska from the 70's/80's was just brilliant. We were in the middle of a recession there were riots in London and Liverpool shops were closing down and there was no place to go like the song says the people were getting angry so this song fitted the atmosphere of the whole country. So band's like the Specials, The Beat (USA called them the English Beat), The Selector and even Madness were what we needed at that time to get us through.
Not much has changed really.
@@lifelongred7056 sadly just the music
@@erict956 yeah even that seems to dying. Maybe I'm just getting old or becoming more and more cynical. Always loved guitar music, reggae, soul and R&B,I have an eclectic taste in music but music today is rubbish remakes and remixes.
@@lifelongred7056 I've always been cynical so I've no excuse lol
@@erict956 best way to be,don't be a sheep find out for yourself. Dont believe all you see or all you hear keep an open mind and live your life how you see fit.
I'm in my late 50s now I remember going to see the Specials live half a dozen times especially the late 70s/early 80s and fighting with the NF who would turn up at their gigs. The Specials were one of the most important British social commentary bands, this song and then Special AKA with the song Free Nelson Mandela are two of the most iconic tunes ever released in the UK. On a footnote in the early 90s I lived with my wife in Lambert road Brixton and jerry Dammers was our next door neighbour and when my wife went into labour(he heard her screaming through the walls) he's the one who called for the ambulance and then called me at work to let me know so I could shoot straight up to the hospital and see my son being born
The Specials are from Coventry in England UK, formed in 1977.
Two tone music my favourite from the early eighties.
Hi from London! My dad loved them when he was younger
Two tone at its greatest!!! Pure masterpiece! 🇬🇧 🇬🇧 🇬🇧
YES YOUNG PEOPLE. Black and white people sang and danced and talked and laughed together and hung and CRIED together. Do not listen to other people that tell you how to feel.
You do realise this band, specifically gerry dammers started the 2 tone record label, and the second wave of ska music.
Plus the madness song the prince came out on 2 tone.
My dudes THE SPECIALS who need to be in the ROCK n ROLL HALL OF FAME !!!
Why?.....the place is a joke!
Yo, I'm proud of yall for diggin deep into this old school stuff. 🔥🔥🔥💯💯💯keep it up
The specials, are very special. Sums up late 70's early 80's in some towns in the UK. I think you guys need to look up what a 'ghost town' is!
This just reminds me of going to youth club, drinking cider, and smoking weed for the first time. 80's London.
The video was filmed in London. The early 1980s was tough in the UK. RIP Rico Rodriguez ( played the trombone) and Terry Hall😢
Diana Ankudinova is a young performer who shocks us with her pleasant voice and takes us into the abyss of events!!! Diana Ankudinova is unique and inimitable, goosebumps from her voice!=)))) Diana sings as if she lives in the song! The soul freezes or opens with Diana's voice.=))))))) I am a musician who has been with music for years, and believe me, I have not heard such a tone in all these past years.
Diana is gorgeous!!! )))
I’ve seen a few reactions to this but this one is my favourite. U too would fit right in at a uk dance. Big up!
I watched this music video on MTV back in latte-1981. I really could identify with the lyrics in the song, as it reminded me of the ghost towns of Youngstown, Ohio and nearby Warren, Ohio, when the steel mills closed in 1977. The music in the song and music video was also great. unlike anything else on the radio in the US at that time.
If these two heard "Mirror in the Bathroom" by The Beat... 😎
I totally agree!😉
That’s the one.
@@adamweston4152 the English Beat. Mirror in the Bathroom.
Just the best.
@@Hartlor_Tayley the best of all the two tone bands in my book.
@@Hartlor_Tayley here in the UK they were just known as The Beat the had to add the English part for the US as there was already a band called The Beat over the pond. Oh and personally I loved myself a bit of The Selector - On My Radio, Train to Skaville and others.
Hey from the UK guys 🇬🇧
This song can be heard in Shaun of the dead zombie movie BTW....
Love love love Shaun of the Dead!!!
Better yet, in the movie SNATCH
Specials led the harder edge of the UK Ska revival back in the day- written about the devastation in their home town of the 1980s economic crash. Brilliant
The Specials are awesome. Feel free to listen to more!
This was about Britain, particularly the Midlands and Coventry .. Living at this time... The Midlands and The North suffered and many peop0le had to move South to work... I was one of those that did
Originally the ``Coventry Automatics` from my home town Coventry. I remember when they worked in the Virgin record store. I knew Horace the bass player years back. The song is about Coventry, a car building `boom town` that had mass unemployment in the late `70s. Turned into a `Ghost town` Going to town on a saturday night for fight was what a lot of bored kids did. It happened in Detroit in the US too. Race relations were terrible at the time. The Specials did a lot to unite people., Formed in 1977 ( i was sixteen).Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Lynval Golding and Roddy Radiation on guitars, Horace Panter on bass, Jerry Dammers on keyboards, John Bradbury on drums, and Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez on horns. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude". Lyrically, they present a "more focused and informed political and social stance"
The Selecter are another Coventry 2tone band. `On my radio` is on youtube.
And the old city is doing ok again now.
What a gentleman, Horace, at least on the bass!
@@TimoVERSION Horace,lovely bloke I saw him play with the Mosquitos a couple of times after the Specials
The accent is a mix of Jamaican and English. There was a large influx of Jamaicans in the 1950s called the windrush generation.
RIP the great Terry Hall
❤
Big up two tone ska an Coventry an all of the midlands, big tune
Economic ressession was what this was about during the 1970s into the 1980s ,A Classic from 1981 the SKA gen aka The Specials 🤣🤟🎸🎚️🥁
The Specials were special back in the 80s when I was a Two-tone skinhead Rudeboy. Times were tough then but the music and culture got us through it.
I love that you both love the SKA Music! You both get proper into the music, representing the UK Scene how it’s supposed to be! 👏🏻👏🏻❤️🥓🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Three of these guys split off to form The Fun Boy Three and helped to introduce Bananarama to the world lol.
Really Saying Something
It Aint What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)
The Lunatics
I did not know the Fun Boy 3 connection, Richard !
Bananarama were already known artists by the time they made a record with 'the fun boy 3'. Bananarama started in 1980 and made a few records with TFB3 in 1982.
@@baylessnow it's not a particularly fascinating debate to have BUT Bananarama had only released one single before their colab with FB3 which charted around 90 in the UK charts so they weren't very well known tbh
Welcome To The World Of "Ska" Music.
This song wonderfully sums up the despair of the young in the summer of 1981. This was number one when the royal wedding occurred (Prince Charles & Lady Diana) at the same time there was a recession and riots going on in most towns and cities particularly Toxteth (Liverpool) and Brixton (London).
Real UK English fan here and a London one and a South London one and a South East London one and this was filmed 3 miles from where I used to live in The Rotherhithe Tunnel in S E London in The 1980s though the band are from Coventry in County of Warwickshire in The West Midlands in the heart of England.
Unbelievably (from this video) the street scenes you saw originally (well the Lady saw after introducing us, proudly, to her nails (haha ) ) , were filmed in, possibly, the richest square mile in The World: !!! that is The City Of London but they closed it for this video @ 5am before the Commuters arrived in THe Financial Centre like your "Wall Street" lol
Literally what London was no jobs but luckily I’m became a cab driver, I lived in Battersea, Wandsworth in London, and we was the borough that had the worse economy, it was a shithole in battersea where I lived
It was great up to around 1983 when I moved just 10 miles to the edge to THe S E London/Kent Suburbs where our street is full of London Cabbies :)
By 1983 I saw " a' change a 'coming" and that prompted the move though my heart will always be there as I lived over a busy market and had The Walworth Road on top of me and THe Old Kent Road at the other end. When I walked from Clapham Junction to Battersea High Street 4 years ago I was within a whisker of being mugged by 3 boys on bikes but turned around just in time on the pavement and I heard the nearest one kiss his teeth...
@@Isleofskye yeah there’s a local gang in Battersea now called 37/OJB, there located on the Winstanley Estate that’s just in front of Clapham Junction
My old stomping ground
Thanks, M8 Lovely :(
To think I could walk home around 1972 from nearby Brixton/Peckham@ 4am on my own without a care :)
Madness the happy Mondays similar Vibe
Wow!! I haven't heard this in years! Awesome!
Rest in peace Terry
R.I.P. Terry Hall
This tune is about the city I'm from, Coventry!
This is the epitome of Thatcher's britain. Massive job losses and urban decline. The Specials were one of the leading political groups at the time. One of the best songs of the 80s.
1st single I ever bought. You need to listen to Too Much Too Young (live) next.
Snap got madness 7 on lp with it
UK Specials fan here.The 2 tone/ska scene in the late 70s/early 80s was a great time and place for music.You've checked out The Specials and Madness,you need to hear Mirror in the bathroom by The Beat or Lip up fatty by Bad Manners now.
Hi! Thank you for the video!Please pay attention to the young singer Diana Ankudinova.Make a reaction to the songs Wicked game, Human 🌞 🌞 🌞 DIANA ANKUDINOVA is a talented young singer. I would like to know your opinion. I think you'll be surprised. Diana has a very unusual voice for her age and an artistic presentation. 🌹 🌹 🌹 Thank you in advance
Diana Ankudinova 😊👍👍🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💥💥💥🎉💫💯
1000000%!!!🔥🔥🔥🎤🎤🎤🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶.......Diana-beauty in every minute!!!💖💕💖💕💖💕💖👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Diana Ankudinova is an amazing singer,her voice fascinates!
Eh?
Diana is awesome!
Thàtcher the milk snatcher brought britain to its knees when this song came out
I have the vinyl sleeve of Ghost Town signed by 3 original members of The Specials!
2 black guys in the band - Neville Staple and Lynval Golding.
2 tone legends reached number one 1981 40 years later still relevant today
Britain in the early 1980’s was in areal mess and this song summed up how the youth felt about state of play, it’s a real shame to say that Britain in 2023 is in the same mess and this song is as relevant now as air was then !!
It was a bad time for working class kids like us but we were united in music.
So proud of my countries diversity so much talent we wouldn't have it any other way🙏 blessing from the UK 🙏 this was about the loss of employment in the 80s when our towns lost everything...
This song sums up Britain on the 80s all we did was fight with each other
@neilsumner4575 🙏🙏
Hello from London 🖐️... love the channel ❤️
Is this channel turning into a British music channel... Everything you do seems to be British!! 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Not that I'm complaining, I'm from England 🏴🏴🏴🏴
Most of The Specials' songs were sung by the white vocalist (Terry Hall). If you like the vocals on this one, which was sung by Neville Staple, check out their song "Do nothing".
The Specials live with Amy Winehouse is classic
Some of the accents on that song are Caribbean (Jamaican).
Saw them live a couple years ago, still got that rock-steady groove.
Hello, I would like to see your reaction to the performances of Diana Ankudinova. Her amazing voice surprises everyone, she performed covers of the famous songs "Wicked Game", "Human", "Havana","Take on Me". She also has her own songs "Into the sky" (В небо), "Your Voice" (Голосом твоим), "Happiness" (Счастье).
Diana is incredible! )))
1000000%!!!🔥🔥🔥🎤🎤🎤🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶.......Diana-beauty in every minute!!!💖💕💖💕💖💕💖👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Coventry UK 1979, the whole economy had collapsed . . . The centre of the city was empty after 6pm . . . A ghost town.
Great reaction. Still rocking the two tone sound. Much love from the U.K..
a flute as lead, we are cool
The rock steady reggae and ska music scene in the UK back in 70s and 80 was big. The Clash were heavily influenced also.
Rudy, a message to you is the original title of this tune first recorded back in 1967 and sung by Dandy Livingston.
It would be awesome if you went into some original Jamaican reggae of the late 60s and 70s. The rock-steady style of Jamaican reggae and Ska has influenced all music scenes on a global scale and it is only fair someone would pay homage to this great musical genre.
Now we're talking. The Brits lived in closer quarters to West Indian immigrants than we did, and so were quicker to mix calypso/ska/reggae/dub into the popular culture. The culture was racist as fuck, but the younger generations didn't have time for that. In the 60's they were deep into Motown, followed soul and funk, and were into reggae long before Americans were. By the late 70's many English bands combined reggae and rock, most famously the Police. The Specials went back 10 years earlier than reggae to mine the ska/rude boy Jamaican styles of the 1960's.
This one, though...this song was a little different. This wasn't a sharp-dressed skank. These guys have seen their city, their life history, their country sink into economic gloom, and the party is way over. Despair, drugs, dub and dreams, with some weird carnival shit for nightmare/British effect. And it must have captured something a lot of people recognized, because it was a hit: number one in England for several weeks, and making quite an impact.
But if you're interested, there's quite a slew of rather great bands from England during this time whose roll was equally reggae/dub and rock. The Police have their merits, but they weren't the best, and you can tell just by listening to this that here was some deeper shit going on in England then.
Cheers!
Great post
the truth right here
Too much too young, gangsters, all great tunes
Don’t mind me, just rockin’ out to you guys and a little Temptations - The Way you do the things you do.
Less than one month after this tune reached Number 1 in the UK there were riots in the Black communities of Moss Side, Manchester and Toxteth, Liverpool. It was more than a coincidence. I was 6 at the time and lived about 8 miles from Moss Side. I learned over years that was so much more than a chart song. It identified a problem and clearly resonated amongst the Black youth that were fighting against the odds. It still has a place in modern day society. I teach my kids to respect everyone, treat all people as you wish to be treated. If someone shows you disrespect, don't associate it with colour/religion, just accept there are people in every walk of life who need educating. Stand up to negative racial/religious comments, especially if it comes from someone from the same Colour/Religion as yourself. If you respect good people and be positive, life is generally good and you will be treated the same. Enjoyed your reaction.
Please, make a reaction to the songs of the singer Diana Ankudinova.
Diana is amazing!!!
1000000%!!!🔥🔥🔥🎤🎤🎤🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶.......Diana-beauty in every minute!!!💖💕💖💕💖💕💖👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Yes, 2nd wave ska!!
The song refers to the riots that happened in Liverpool, Brixton and Bristol in the UK in 1981
Not quite true. It was written and recorded before the ‘81 riots. It references the 1980s riots as well as the supposedly urban decay the group witnessed on their 1980 tour.
@@normandavidtidiman9918 It is neither! This song was written in Coventry by a Coventry group about Coventry. The deterioration from a boom town in the 60's to the Thatcher era!
@@kingquinn3897 Not so.
Fight Fight Fight Fight
“Britain was falling apart,” said Dammers. “The car industry was closing down in Coventry. We were touring, so we saw a lot of it. Glasgow were particularly bad.” In Liverpool he saw shops closing down, more beggars on the streets, little old ladies selling their cups and saucers on tables outside their homes and he started to see the frustration and anger in the young faces of those who came out to see his band. He felt that there was something very, very wrong affecting the country. “The overall sense I wanted to convey was impending doom. There were weird, diminished chords: certain members of the band resented the song and wanted the simple chords they were used to playing on the first album, It’s hard to explain how powerful it sounded. We had almost been written off and then ‘Ghost Town’ came out of the blue.”
The genesis of the song started back in 1980, after Dammers had witnessed the St Pauls riots in Bristol. For most of the 1970s, St Pauls - a predominantly black and white working-class area - had been the victim of deteriorating housing, poor education services and an increasingly strong police presence. Racial tension was high, as the Afro-Caribbean community felt victimised. Although the exact cause remains unclear, in early April, a riot erupted, involving nearly 2,000 people. It was this event that started Dammers thinking of “Ghost Town”, a song that would go on to define him, his band, and two-tone in general.
from a GQ magazine article.
one of the koolest 80s songs! ♥
Hey, if you like the voice of that "white boy", here's a hot tip for you: Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed. The same guy with a couple of his mates from the Specials.
This tune, along with The Beat's Drowning, Selectors Missing Words and Madness' Embarrassment are the top 2 Tone era tunes. They will never age.
ska music, which i really enjoyed, even though i was well into the underground rockabilly scene. the skinhead scene was really big back then black and white skinheads no racism involved, despite idiots trying to stir up racial tension which did happen a little in some places. You should watch "this is England" boxset for better understanding of the scene.
So random! I love that you guys are discovering all this British 2Tone Ska!!
First time I’ve ever posted a st George. Just cos, the specials 🤘
3:05 when you're like WTF but everybody else is vibing out so you pretend like you still vibing out. 😂🤣
My home town and was really depressing back then and all the Night Clubs in the city centre were actually closed down due to violence. Open now but still a violent place. But when you live there it's ok I guess you get used to it. They actually captured the feeling of the town which is like a mini Detroit.
You might like to try 'The Beat' - known in the US as 'The English Beat' - 'Mirror in the Bathroom, Ranking Full Stop, Tears of a Clown, Hands Off...She's Mine
Yes, they were brilliant too! R.I.P. Rankin' Roger!
Love your reaction guys love the track Ghost Town
The two older man in group where started Reggie and on this they play Ed ska music they were on two tune records bad manners and English beat and maddness
I got to see the Specials a while ago & it was such a fun vibe with lots of dancing. Ska is a great genre to explore
Basically described what was going on in every industrial town in the U.K. at the time . All the factories been closed bad times produce great music.
I recommend that people listen to "The Boiler" by Rhoda Dakar & The Specials.
It's about a woman who knows she's not much to look at, she calls herself an old Boiler several times during the song.
Rhoda describes how a man chats her up, buys her new clothes and takes her to a Nightclub.
He insists that she stay the night at his place, she resists, then gives in to his demands, he then drags her along at a brutal pace up a lane way.
It's then that Rhoda Dakar gives one of the more convincing vocal performances in music history.
If there was an award category, then she would win it.
She paints a picture that I don't want to visualise.
It makes me so happy to see kids enjoying the same music we enjoyed in that magic era (77-84)
The Specials are legends. Also is that shirt a Shaun (the UA-cam channel) shirt? Haha
Great. Now I want to watch Snatch. Thx for the reaction.
HELL YEAH!!!! 😎😎😎😎
Love this song - I worked almost exactly where 2.10 - 2.16 was filmed (the back of the Bank of England).
Band from Coventry video filmed in London.....great tune 👍
God this takes me back, great song, my fave from the specials. In the UK there are 4 countries that make up the UK, so we aren't all English tho guys. There's Northern Ireland, Scotland, England & Wales. 😎👌🎵❤️
I am getting it signed by Jerry Dammers, he founded The Specials!
Loving the reactions hopefully you'll get to my suggestion
WHAT IS IT
@@DeanBros just a few to name Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney say say say,boney m ma baker and eddy grant electric avenue
@@DeanBros Great group. Some Bowie too?
I love watching American kids discovering music I grew up with here in Europe. Especially when they move and rock with it!
Context: early 80s Britain; economically devastated; racism at every corner; the UK ska revival was also part of a multi-ethnic reaction TO that racism, to the cynicism that was blighting this beleaguered nation of ours.
Darkness and light. Repression and freedom. Masterpiece. And it was a MASSIVE hit.
R.I.P. Terry Hall.
This was filmed on a Sunday in the " City of London " the financial district of London. At the weekend the place is practically empty, whereas during the week is packed with office workers.
This is really cool, never heard of them...
Y’all need to watch the movies “Snatch” and then “Lock, Stock, and 2 Smoking Barrels” if y’all like this. Epic movies...
Getting that proper music now! 😉 Question, is the PO Box the same if sending from the UK?
Great review..I've been to see the specials..they were great..sadly the singer terry Hall (white lad)..passed away..two tone was a black/white kids movement..ska/punk in the late 70s early 80s..and the specials were the best..thanks for the UA-cam video really enjoyed your reaction ❤
Ghost Town by The Specials it had to do with the recession, riots, unemployment and violence in inner city areas that what the song means. Troubled times in the UK in 1981