"Ghost Town" by The Specials: The Sound of Impending Doom | New British Canon
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- Опубліковано 30 лип 2024
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The UK Singles Chart used to mean something. Now, not so much. But before the age of streaming, a number one single was an achievement to be proud of. Especially when the artist wasn't your stereotypical pop act. Many influential acts never even touched the chart's apex, not even close. But yet Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" The Clash, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" by Arctic Monkeys and "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" by Manic Street Preachers have taken the top spot, and as rock's opposition to the status quo there's a sense of accomplishment in the face of impossible odds. But rarely if ever has a number one single captured a moment in history as concisely as The Specials did in 1981. While tracks like "One Step Beyond" by Madness, "On My Radio" by The Selecter and even "Gangsters" or "Too Much Too Young" existed within the two tone genre, "Ghost Town" remains the most important. The band's legacy is audible in artists as diverse as Massive Attack, The Streets, Operation Ivy and Lily Allen, but with their second number one single the Specials managed to capture the malaise of the British public, the strain of unemployment and the tensions of cultural unrest. This is New British Canon and this is the Story of “Ghost Town”.
#TheSpecials #Ska #Documentary
Soundtrack:
Luar - Anchor ( / luarbeats )
sleepy fish - Through Walls (chillhop.bandcamp.com/album/m...)
Bellhop - Patricia Taxxon (patriciataxxon.bandcamp.com/)
Funeral - Patricia Taxxon (patriciataxxon.bandcamp.com/)
sleepy fish - Procrastinating (chillhop.bandcamp.com/album/m...)
B-Side - Pen Anubis ( / b-side-production )
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Trash Theory you should do Gorillaz: big fan of the videos, always learn something new.
Maybe something about the Manics' "Holy Bible"?
Absolutely loving this series - I’d be thrilled to see an episode on Kate Bush
The Streets
@@user-wl2xl5hm7k American band though, doesn't quite fit New British Cannon
The song once again has an eerie relevance to the current world situation.
Yeah I threw it on my Facebook page in March when everything was shutting down, it was just so eerie
This statement is still true one year later.
It’s still true 2 years later, nothing ever change - another excellent Specials song Do Nothing
More and more relevant by the day
Just a week ago, I found a never opened, still sealed original copy of their first album in a thrift shop in Turkey. I couldn't still figure out how an LP released in 1979 in UK came up in Turkey in mint condition after 40 years.
Oh wow
Lifes great like that sometimes. Enjoy it.
Reminds me of how I scored Toots first Lp (the green one with short haired lads in suits. Ska classic) _and _ Elvis 1st Lp (the one Clash London calling cover based on) (worth zillions) both in original thick cardboard and cellophane, absolutely mint MINT! Sold the Elvis for 75 bucks when I was into drugs and Toots & Maytals for like a fiver. Shit... Oh, in New Zealand from a tiny thrift shop. I could buy a house with "Elvis Presley" now, but miss that Toots more.
Finds like that are a rare and wonderfully serendipitous thing. I picked up a mint copy of The KLFs It's Grim Up North at a car boot fair in 1994 for £1. I've recently added my collection to discogs and it blew my mind when I saw that its going for £200
my guess is the original owner died and his family had no idea what they had on their hands
Was part-way through this video when I heard of Terry's unfortunate passing today. Sad to hear it, RIP to a critical voice in an oppressive time 😞
Yes, the liberals had run things into the ground.
I grew up in SE London during Thatcher's time in office.
Police SUS laws were used to stop anyone who didn't fit the Tories mould, racism ran rampant, and good luck trying to find a job if you were under 21!
The Specials, in particular, called all of this out, loudly, often, and to great applause by those of us were completely disenfranchised.
Massive respect to The Specials, and rest easy Terry Hall, you've earned it mate.
The first time I heard 'Ghost Town' was in the early 2010s, and the song felt chillingly accurate as to what was happening in my home town at the time. Shops were closing down, jobs were disappearing, and the youth were getting stuck on the shelf. It felt like the Specials had predicted the future from 1981, and the song still sends shivers down my spine everytime I hear it.
What Awesome luck, and Now it's safe.. what a story that record has on it's own for so long.. cheers from Southern California Ska, Rock Steady, Raggae and Two Tone.. Head Shaved and Boots Stomping.. Stay Rude Stay Roots..
Nah, no future prediction, it's just that some parts of the UK haven't changed (for the better anyway) for nearly 40 years.
@@jimofthenorth8090 Spot on, Jim.
@@jimofthenorth8090 Agreed. The parallels weren't lost on my teenage self.
@modern studies Actually, it's a Lid-Dem and Conservative area. Do some research, mate; The Labour Party were created by working people to reduce deprivation (who do you think started up the NHS?).
You can really hear how much Damon Albarn loves The Specials, especially with the first Gorillaz album. I love this song. I love reggae, i love punk and i love how they were brought together, influencing SO MUCH of my favorite music.
ska...
It was ska fringed with punk reggae's faster ancestor ska...
@@andyclark1337 what??? lol
@@andyclark1337 Yeah it's just that this song has a slower, more of a reggae tempo. But the band was mainly ska for sure.
Gorillaz has a song with Terry Hall & D12 called 911.
RIP Terry Hall
I was part of the twotone movement and this song was spot on in capturing what was going on at the time. It is also one of the most prophetic songs ever produced as it has caught the imagination of a new generation through three decades and described very accurately what has occurred and what is going on today. When i first heard this track back in the 80s it sent shivvers down my spine and brought tears to my eyes as i knew change was coming.
Thank you, for posting your comment. I remember to. I will never, ever forget. It was good to see a non crass, lack of understanding comment, if what WE lived through. Thank you. Be well.
I've never been a huge ska fan, but this is legit one of the finest songs of the 1980s. really spooky and dark. if ska was goth, this would be it
Listen to the Specials song 'Man at C and A' then. I think you'd like it. Apocalyptic ska!
@@dpandcrspandvn great song
@@dpandcrspandvn I go one step further and say try the whole second album, "More Specials"
@@dpandcrspandvn Warning warning nuclear attack!!!
@@Vpmatt Top shout
Jerry Dammers, what a genius and what a terrific band The Specials were - when music mattered
Coventry people are still mad proud of The Specials, all these years later. Pointless fact: The Locarno nightclub mentioned in this video is now Coventry Central Library. Oddly enough they started hosting occasional gigs there a few years back.
I live on the American South. I feel really fortunate to discover this channel. Over the years, it's really grown and expanded upon what I know and love about music. Thank you!
In 2008 I heard this song. I was living in a small Southern California town, barely out of high school and unemployed. Businesses were closing down fast, houses were left abandoned by bankruptcies, and roads were left in disrepair. This song will forever be linked to those times for me.
I think in that case the song has legitimacy that has lasted decades, it expresses the breakdown of working class society
I love this series so much
You resemble a young Robert Smith of The Cure, assuming that is your face represented in your thumbnail. Very nice I deed.
@@karenbrown4524 yep it is actually. I love them a lot
11:37 Anorak trivia: my ding a ling by Chuck Berry was recorded live at the Locarno in Coventry
More relevant to this video - None of the street scenes were filmed in Coventry (indeed, there isn't even any reference to 'Coventry' in the lyrics)
The street scenes were filmed mainly in London's east end - Some closer to east (central) where Canary wharf financial district would be developed.
@@apathyintheuk265 think the only Coventry scene, apart from the locarno still, was the shot of Dammer's/the band's office/digs in Earlsdon Street.
Who cares about a song recorded by a multiple sex offender?
His music should be buried deeper than his filthy, perverted body is.
Ghost Town is also the sound of the priest disco in Father Ted.
All rise for the Irish national anthem!
Ground control to The Spinmaster
I was 16 years old in 1981 in Los Angeles. In the midst of the transition of Punk and New Wave, and when my friends and I heard Ghostown it changed how we looked at the Specials. We knew the earlier songs and loved them for their ska punk sound, but being that we ourselves were living a much darker life and being in a large city where much of the same stuff was going on in the streets and clubs it was the perfect song.
To this day 40 years later, it's still one of my favorite songs of all time
*Lest we forget, the "suss laws" employed by the police in thatchers' Britain were barbaric, heartless and cruel... The Brixton riot was caused when a teenage boy who had been stabbed was arrested by cops. He subsequently bled out and died in the back of the police car while they sought other suspects to arrest instead of securing medical attention for him... It was a terrible moment in London history...*
sounds eerily similar to the riots in exarcheia, athens in 2008.
Were the 1980s riots any worse than the 2011 London riots? Seems like a certain section of the population are prone to violence and rioting.
I hate to ask this....how old are you? I lived through it. Bloody surprised I did.
@@brickmissing8295 fuck off u racist fuck
Jack Chapman BLM - Burn, Loot, Murder.
Grew up in Coventry in the 70s/80s and still listen to 2tone ska,my dad and mum both worked at the Locarno
Oh my, Ghost Town is one of my ultimate favourite songs, ever. The long version, I mean. This is great.
Yup, still own the original 12" single. 😎
The instrumental towards the end is brilliant.
@@nostro1001 wow, brilliant
@@jackattack7940 it is. It's só good!
@@jackattack7940 Rico !
At the beginning of the shutdown (around here, a couple weeks ago), this was the song that kept going through my head.
my dad and i were driving to get some stuff and no one was on the streets at all, my dad popped Ghost Town in the player and i rolled the windows down.
That was a weird time, seeing empty streets in the middle of the day only a couple of essential workers walking to work.
@@FakeSchrodingersCat I haven't been downtown since, except for a demonstration against ICE that was on a Saturday when it's always empty. So I have no idea what downtown San Francisco looks like on a weekday anymore.
@@dwc1964 It was empty you would see maybe one car waiting at a light where normally there were 20 with no traffic from the side streets. All the shops and restaurants were closed with next to no foot traffic and the few people walking with purpose to wherever they were going. It was a really eerie feeling.
@@FakeSchrodingersCat Is it still like that now, or are you still talking about right after the shelter-in-place order?
"I now ask you to stand...for our national anthem"
:
ua-cam.com/video/cr6a0ojiw7A/v-deo.html
Came for this comment, glad not to be disappointed.....
These essays are just amazing. Thank you for this content!
m8! I was so pumped when I saw this in my feed today. Two Tone has so much weight and tone today and we should learn from those lessons. Keep making awesome content !
Great job covering a wonderful song. I bought the 12" when it first came out and still spin it regularly. Keep up the good work!
"Do you remember the good old days before the Ghost Town...?"
It was 40 years ago now that The Specials asked that question. Sadly many people (myself included) can't remember; we were born in a ghost town. Plenty of ghosts drifting around, thinking "This is fine. It's always been like this."
"Dischordant horns, Haunted chords, Demonic vocal harmonies" well said.
This was always that opening song in Shaun of the Dead to me. I had no idea it meant so much more
What a well thought out and put together video. Cheers and congrats!!!
Getting into ska at the beginning of quarantine and finding this song was a trip
Ghost Town was such a memorable song but it was sombre in more ways than one as The Specials were in the middle of splitting up when it went to the top after an acrimonious American tour that was the beginning of the end. The rift between Terry Hall and Jerry Dammers will never heal.
It never did..
I have heard this song several times through the years as background in movies, and also heard about The Specials. But I never knew Ghost Town or The Specials until now. Thanks a lot for this one, I was already a subscriber but you have so much more to show me yet :)
About time people talked about the specials!!! I feel like they don’t get enough love
I salute you for the effort that goes into your videos and the seriousness with which you treat your subjects. Quality viewing. Amazed you didn't reference the astonishing video.
Really enjoying your documentaries, and i am in love with this song, even as not a big ska/2 tone fan, it has something deep what you explained greatly. Unique track.
Another good essay! Well Done. Makes me much more curious now about the individual members of the Specials
I grew up in Coventry in the 70s and begged my mum to go to their gigs. She didn't think it was very suitable. I've always loved them and finally got to see them last year in California where I now live. Right down the front in the pit at the age of 47! They did not disappoint!
Big up the Coventry and Nuneaton ✌️🙌
Fun Boy Three is NOT just a pop group !
It is a most underrated creative collective with meaningful songs about the decline of civilization and humanity.
Both albums should be bought on sight when spotted, with the 2nd, Waiting, being produced by David Byrne, a true masterpiece !
Good work here. Solid history. Thank you. It’s a song, and a band, worth the time and effort.
I loved the b-side "Friday Night, Saturday Morning".
I always tought Ghost Town was the first Trip Hop tune of them all.
I can’t stand the rain, Ann Peebles takes it for me
This single was a perfect summary of the Summer of 1981. Rampant Unemployment & street clashes were breaking out regularly in the 🇬🇧. Thatcher was clearly out of touch with the youth of the nation. Additionally , The Specials themselves were dissolving internally. This masterpiece resulted.
To be fair ... and it goes to show how muddy our glasses become. Thatcher came to power in June 1979 and Ghost town was number 1 in June 1981 .. barely 2 years into the tenancy. She took hold as a consequence of a disaster of a labour government (it is why she won the election). So the notion that this song was created by MT government is not really appropriate. The rot had set in for several years before the Conservative tenancy. I come from South Yorkshire ... a place cut to ribbons by the death of mining and steel ... so I am not unaware.
@@stevel9914 Its the case that the economy was in dire straits before Thatcher, but the speed at which she let industries go the wall, in favour of capital, meant a significant felt impact in just 2-3 after taking office. The early eighties were possibly the worse period for the working class since immediately post war.
I come from S Yorkshire .. so I know at least as well as others. The point I am making is that the rot was set in many years before 1981 .. so laying the blame purely at MT's door is a fallacy. Truth is that all of the 80's issues can be laid at the EU's (with the support of the govt policies) door. Closing our plants whilst increasing output in Germany in steel and coal and automotive (to name but 3) is an example of our industry being terminated. Fortunately at the time we had the 80's electronic industry growth that took up some of the slack but now that has left our shores as well.
@@stevel9914 I agree, simply pointing out that Thatcher greatly accelerated it. UK industry was the sick man of Europe before Thatcher came in. Thatcher simply put it out of its misery, rather than choose CPR. The effect was total, and dramatic.
I'm not so sure it was as sick as the media made it. Ford still produced Cortina and Escort during the 70's, Talbot produced in Coventry, Vauxhall produced Cavalier (a massive success in the 70's and 80's). Everyone focused on things like BL and their work force issues... whereas work force issues in other manufacturers were not as disagreeable. My suspicions are that this was not a coincidence ... once you realise that all these manufacturers moved vast portions of their production to Europe whilst BL kept drowning ... couldn't export (as they were predicted to do) because production could only deal with local UK sales. It is fair to say that the MT govt were not going to be blackmailed for electricity by the coal industry (as had happened in the 70's on more than one occasion). Thus coal was going to be a dead man walking before long and it has to be said that whilst socially .. S Yorkshire became a dead place.... air quality improved dramatically once steel had taken a huge hit. The main critique I would lay at the door of the MT years is that they made no allowance for new business opportunities.... and now it is a shopping paradise for credit cards.. with low level wages from warehousing and call centres.
RIP Terry Hall. True genius.
A song called ‘ Bring your daughter to the slaughter ‘ reached number one in the singles chart?? I never knew that. I remember the song coming out in the early 90’s because that title always made me laugh!!
Top work, Trash Theory! Watched this multiple times 🎶
a well thought out video...enjoyed it, nuff respect.
This was awesome. Really enjoying this series.
There's a brilliant sound on sound article about the recording of Ghost Town. With the article was a great photo of Jerry Dammers leaning over the mixing desk writing out the cheque that paid for the session.
Didn't live through the time this was released, but it transports you there, and indeed resonates again and again through time. One of my favorites due to everything that comes together to create this perfectly timeless song. Also, it even sounds great when my 3yo sings it haha. Thanks for the profile of The Specials and Ghost Town. Truly classic! 💗
I remember hearing Ghost town for the first time at my mates flat one night , he had been out and bought the album , absolutely brilliant was hooked immediately ,before this we were listening to UB40 signing off ,good times that is hard to believe it was 40 years ago
Rip Gary L ....
First 12" I ever bought when it came out. Still sounds fresh today 39 years later, an absolute masterpiece! Really enjoyed this, thanks. Stay safe everyone x
I was born in 71 uk, but I've never heard of The Specials, yet watching this I recognise the songs, though I recognise a lot of the sounds they used were copied into others tracks, like UB40 and Madness, great video, really enjoyed it, it was interesting right through.
Thank you so much for your visual essays. They are so informative and pull together two of the greatest loves of my life, music and history, with an academic level of facts and rhetoric and great visuals accompanying them. I just want to say keep up the great work!!!
I don't have any suggestions of note. I love synth pop and I especially loved your piece on Robyn. I would really like for you to do an essay on why and how New Wave/New Romance was a much more palatable music style for the British public at large than Punk OR specifically about the ascension of New Wave in the 1980s out of the shadows of Punk. Anyhow Peace out.....and have a lovely Christmas
Such a great song, and great episode!
Cheers!
every episode is a genuine treasure well deserved to be broadcast on major music channels like mtv rock or vh1 covering the bigger audience
Amazing song - sends chills down my spine every time. I'm old enough to remember seeing Terry Hall on TOTP and thinking he was the coolest bloke alive. Awesome. Good documentary video - thanks!
They split up in the dressing room after the totp performance mentioned in the vid
...was as stunning to see that video and hear this for the first time in 1981 as it had been to see Rudy the year before. What talent.
Hey, man. Is there any chance you could do a video on the Manic Street Preachers? Most Americans haven't heard of them, and I think they deserve more attention
The Holy Bible!
@@kurtduvel4345 Hell yes. Their magnum opus. RIP Richey Edwards
Guy Ritchie’s Snatch got me into this song. That OST is one of my favourite btw.
I subscribed.
PHRASING
Your channel is amazing. Love it.
This is such a good video and series. Hall was so great, and not just in the Specials. The Colourfield albums are so underated
I first heard "Ghost Town" in 1995 on a compilation called "Loaded.' It also epitomized a point in my own life where I was feeling very beat down and crapped on by society. It's great to hear some of the history that was going on at the time that made this song a classic when it was released!
I always loved this song, but never realized how deep it went. Thanks for this
I lived in Hollywood, CA in 1980 and Ghost Town was my favorite song - played on the radio when I was lucky. Also, just sayin, Squarespace is a really userfriendly website builder.
Heard Ghost Town on US college radio in the early 1980's, probably shortly after it was released. Somehow you just knew the back story from the lyrics and sparse mournful arrangement. Like the song said it all, no explanation needed.
I had never heard this song before (American), but after watching this video, I downloaded it and it's now one of my favorites.
I did the same thing- a year later.
I never heard such a nice song. Your creation is an excellent. I liked your video.
SUBSCRIBED to your Channel.
Bravo. Ghost Town is a wonder and rare Specials video. Loved the backstory
This video is a fantastic analysis and very well made. Ghost Town was indeed a song both brilliant musically and as a cultural and historical artifact. It will endure.
yet again, great work!
À propos of very little: 'My Ding-A-Ling' (11:30) was recorded at the Locarno Ballroom (5:51), with an audience containing Noddy Holder (0:08) (who claims he can be heard during the singalong). Also, it held Slade's 'Gudbuy T'Jane' off the top of the chart.
Some say God Save the Queen actually got to Number One, that it was fixed, as the Establishment couldn't have a critical number one headlining during the Silver Jubilee celebrations! The NME Chart of the day put them at Number One in their chart. The BBC refused to play it. From Wikipedia: "In March 2001, the BBC published an article that stated ‘"God Save the Queen" reached number one in the UK in 1977 despite being banned by the BBC, and marked a defining moment in the punk revolution." WH Smith put up a record chart where the song was left out to show it wasn't countenanced. A fitting tribute to the Blank Generation.
I would cry to this song as a kid. It really freaked me out.
Nice work on the doco. Well done.
I'm American and spent several weeks, as a sixteen year old, in the summer of 1981 in York, England. "Ghost Town" was ubiquitous that summer. And, as the video says, it perfectly captured what was going on in England at that moment. I'll always associate it with that time and place.
This is great. Thank you for posting.
Absolutely briliant analysis. Someone put to words what I knew in 1981-1982.
Superb summary of a great song & amazing (underrated) band, bravo!
I remember the song and the time very well - I was 18-19 at the time and had just started going out to bars and clubs.
I think the main reason for the song's success is that it captured the mood and what was happening all across Britain at the time. Most of us could relate to it.
I remember, very soon after, the Friday and Saturday night riots in the towns in my area (Halifax and Bradford) started. When people that age feel they've been left on the garbage pile, they do get very angry.
Though never a violent person myself, I felt the anger and actually enjoyed the thrill of the riots. I remember, it felt like justice.
So 'justice' came in the form of looting and destroying peoples property and business? Business that some people had taken years to establish from scratch. Property that people owned from working long hours in almost certain dead end employment.
You have a very strange take on what quantifies 'justice'.
07:45 And I thought Victor Romero Evans was only famous for being the quiet one in 80s sitcom, No Problem.
Very interesting! Good job!!
Your videos are so so good !!!
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the specials on there last tour in coventry they performed in the cathedral that was blown up in ww2 it was an amazing night!! Also the original taxi that’s in the music video is in the coventry music museum that’s in the two tone village Neville staples often goes there so keep an eye out if you visit
Love the series, please consider Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire as pioneers of industrial music, and also Raymond Watts (PIG), and Pop Will Eat Itself. Thanx!!!!
Ghost Town just a relevant then as it was when this video came out in October 2019 and then Covid19 came along and Ghost Towns are even more reverent than we imagined in 2019.
The Friday I left school ,, this was # 1,,in UK,,, that same Friday nights Liverpool was ablaze,
RIOT
" tomorrow your homeless
tonight it's a blast."( Dead Kennedys) !!!!!!
Brilliant tune,,,Bitter times !!!
your channel is gold. Greetings from Berlin.
I’m so glad someone has talked about this song. I first heard it in Skate 2 and have been in love with it ever since.
wipsy cripsy what you mean?
Ideal sound for 2020. Everything old is new again. Great music is evergreen & never goes out of style.
I once did a cover version of this song, it took ages to work out and get sounding right.
I had even more respect for Jerry Dammers as a composer once it was finished.
I gave Jerry a copy of the tunes at one of his dj sets but he didn't seem at all interested, little did i know he was getting shafted out of the reunion behind closed doors and the last thing he wanted to hear was some fanboy gushing about the specials.
His SunRah band is tight and he's a legend.
ua-cam.com/video/muEOjk74HhQ/v-deo.html said cover of ghost town
Fun Fact: "My Ding A ling" was recorded in Coventry (Lanchester Polytechnic arts festival)
Yes! I was just going to write that.
What a song to go out on. Always made me think of Salad Days by Minor Threat. Also argueably their best song, and also their last EP, before they split up.
I love The Specials so much. Definitely one of my favourite band.
I’d love if you made a video about Interpol and other darker music during the post-punk revival
Could you do next how Psychedelic Rock became Heavy Metal?
Was kinda explained, to a certain extent, mind you, in this documentary;
ua-cam.com/video/zmceqLZqvPY/v-deo.html
In a micro sense, of course, since the British music scene doesn't represent the whole world's (like duh...)...Tho, they kinda forgot about the psychedelic/prog/occult rock scene that bridged between the two, in my honest opinion.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occult_rock
No. Metal sucks.
@@SeymoreSparda Still though, I want to see it
@@thevfxmancolorizationvfxex4051 We share the same sentiment, then. I'm just glad that you even bothered to watch the doc (in its entirety, hopefully)
When Lemmy left Hawkwind?
It marked a generation because its finger was so tight on the pulse it was the sound track of the later events of that summer. It always takes me right back.
Really enjoyed watching the video, now I'm going to really enjoy reading the comments!
They play this song all the time on the pa where I work and I have had a bunch of customers ask me what it is lol! this is probably one of my favorite songs of all time, so unique as a pop hit
still one of my fav songs of all time and is still just as relevant today - some 41 years later - as it was back then and that's really sad when you think about it...