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History of 2Tone

gavreid

gavreid

Pretty Words...
This deserves a thread - 40 years after Ghost Town. What are your memories?

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https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...drenaline-the-astonishing-history-of-two-tone

The 40th anniversary half-speed master of Ghost Town is released on 4 June.
 
"The Specials" was released in NZ at the start of my second year at university. At least once a week we would cram as many as would fit into a bedroom put the record on, drink beer and dance, if the turntable was knocked and it skipped, it was started at the beginning again....this would keep us amused for hours (and hours).
 
Annoyingly I never got to see any of it live, though I have the expected albums etc (Specials, Beat etc). Two Tone really left a mark/mindset that can be found in a lot of modern musical forms IMO. Quality stuff.
 
I reckon the Ghost Town was one of the all time great tracks. I loved all of the 2 tone stuff; Selector were another fave band, but sadly, like Tony, I never got to see any of it live. The music lives on though, on all of those wonderful records

I love Kode 9 + the Spaceape's version of Ghost Town too!


The original, makes me tingle every time I hear it even after all these years!

 
!979, Apollo Manchester, I was on the balcony and the place went mad, the balcony was moving up and down about 6 inches or more with the dancing (even though seated). Scary, wild. Madness, Specials.(not quite as wild as Dr Feelgood at the Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford).

It was different it was excellent and it was ours.

See you all at Skamouth?
 
I saw The Specials in 1979, on a Thursday night in a sweaty Welly Club, Hull after we’d watched them on TOTP. Energy levels were insane.
Then again at the Anti Nazi League Carnival in Potternewton Park, Leeds at what was then to be their last gig.
Amazing band.
 
Tintinabulum said:
Bad Manners? Anyone remember Supercharge?
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Brilliant - especially Special Brew and Lip Up Fatty. I remember kidding my wife that we'd call our first daughter Lorraine, with a load of middle names, all being Lorraine of course, she believed me for a while and went ape ;) They were never actually on the label, a bit like Madness I suppose.
 
I was 12, 2 Tone was the first Musical 'Movement' I bought into in a big way. I was just too young to be allowed to go to gigs, we lived in Rochdale so Manchester was close, but I may as well have been in the Klondike. At the time I loved Madness and The Specials, as I've got older I listen to The Beat more than I did at the time, I think they were underrated.

There weren't that many kids at school that were into 2 Tone and those of us that were dressed in Mod revivalist gear rather than a Skinhead/Suedehead style.

I went to see the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra about 5 years ago, it was one of the most fun gigs I've ever been to.

Cheers BB
 
Seeker_UK said:
Buying a copy of 'The Prince' by Madness on 2-Tone.

The tassels on my loafers falling off.

The two bands, who's albums I bought, Madness & Bad Manners were not on 2-Tone.

A couple of favourites:

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Just bought the clear vinyl 'Too Much Pressure' (40th anniversary repress) but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet....
 
Slightly OT but if you were a Cambridge gig-goer in the 90s, you had Col Hathi's Dawn Patrol if you had a need to revisit your love of 2-Tone:


A sweaty night guaranteed.
 
Seeker_UK said:
Slightly OT but if you were a Cambridge gig-goer in the 90s, you had Col Hathi's Dawn Patrol if you had a need to revisit your love of 2-Tone:
Click to expand...

Amy Winehouse used to do a few Specials covers, Hey Little Rich Girl. I think she did Monkey Man too but that's an old Toots song.
 
Gangsters was one the the first records I ever bought, and at such an age (10) the TwoTone thing quickly became something I wanted to get further into, for the look as well as the music. The multi-racial, anti-establishment part of it drew me further in.

I remember having a half black, half white T shirt and lusting after a pair of black and white spats. And trying to draw the Madness M logo on my school books. I still have my TwoTone man and Specials tie pins, that I wore at school.
 
Too Much Too Young was the first 7" I ever bought, as a ten year old. You never know how much these moments mean in themselves and how much is just about the age you were, but it still feels like it was a special time.

As an adult I gravitated to/became obsessed with original ska and slightly lost the taste for two tone musically. I never actually listen to it now. But what it stood for and what it felt like is still a big thing.
 
“What are your memories ?” , sitting on the 79 bus with a four foot cardboard two-tone girl I rescued when WH Smith were dismantling the display in the record department.
 
Lost in the mists of time but saw Specials, Selector, Madness whenever they played in Bristol in the late 70's/ early 80's. May even have been the DJ at a couple of shows at Trinity Hall but I really can't remember :eek:. Good times:)
 
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