Larkin, Colin (2011). "Specials". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th conciseed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8. Two-Tone Records (or 2 Tone Records ) was created in Coventry, UK in 1978 by Jerry Dammers who apart from being the songwriter and music director for bands ‘The Specials’ and ‘The Special A.K.A’ was also the Chief Executive of the label and responsible for signing artists such as Madness, The Selecter, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers. Top Selling Albums of 1980 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recorded Music New Zealand . Retrieved 29 January 2022. The summer of 1981 saw riots in over 35 locations around the UK. [4] In response to the linking of the song to these events, singer Terry Hall said, "When we recorded 'Ghost Town', we were talking about [1980]'s riots in Bristol and Brixton. The fact that it became popular when it did was just a weird coincidence." [21] The song created resentment in Coventry where residents angrily rejected the characterisation of the city as a town in decline. [3]

Dammers grew up in The Midlands area of The UK during the late 1960s/early 70s and became influenced with the sounds of Jamaican Ska Music that was now being heard in the UK mainly as a direct result of the Government policy at that time which saw big cultural changes in the area as a whole due to the influx of immigration in cities such as Birmingham and Coventry. Virtually all the 2 Tone artists were from the area; the one exception being ‘Madness’ who are from North London. Petridis, Alexis (January 2002). "Please Look After This Band". Mojo. No.98. London, England: EMAP. pp.72–82. Barton, Laura (5 May 2009). "Barton's Britain: Coventry". The Guardian G2 Magazine. London, England. p.11 . Retrieved 5 September 2013.

Ghost Town" is a song by the British two-tone band the Specials, released on 12 June 1981. [2] The song spent three weeks at number one and 11 weeks in total in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. a b c d Petridis, Alexis (8 March 2002). "Ska for the madding crowd". The Guardian. London, England . Retrieved 5 September 2013.

Trombonist Rico Rodriguez, who performed on many '50s and '60s Jamaican recordings before moving to London in 1962, played on the band's version of "A Message to You, Rudy", as he had on the original recording 15 years previously. Rodriguez's appearance on the album considerably added to the album's credentials.

On The Go

In a retrospective review, AllMusic described the record as "a perfect moment in time captured on vinyl forever... It was an utter revelation—except for anyone who had seen the band on-stage, for the album was at its core a studio recording of their live set, and at times even masquerades as a gig". It felt the album captured the feeling of "Britain in late 1979, an unhappy island about to explode", and that "The Specials managed to distill all the anger, disenchantment, and bitterness of the day straight into their music". [3] In 2008, BBC Music agreed that the economic and political conditions of the day had heightened the record's impact, saying, "To understand the impact of this spearhead of the ska revival on early Thatcherite Britain you have to imagine something so left field and yet so apt occurring today. It was as if depression-era dustbowl ballads suddenly became hip again in this era of global economic meltdown. Hardly anyone would have predicted that a musical form so tied to its Afro-Caribbean heritage (as well as its less cool skinhead connections) could, almost overnight, become the trendiest thing across the nation". It concluded that The Specials "was a classic example of a band making an almost perfect first album, acting as both a mission statement (the rise of right wing groups opposed by the message of Two Tone equality) and as an alternative way to have fun without having to pogo or spit... The Specials remains a snapshot of a bleaker time, and a wrily comical antidote to political and cultural indifference anywhere". [16] However, Mojo 's David Hutcheon, reviewing the reissue, felt that " Specials doesn't feel quite as exciting as it did 23 years ago". [17] Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, New South Wales, Australia: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 978-0-646-11917-5. I don't know what could've possibly happened to this band in just one year but the difference between their fantastic first, timeless self-titled album, and this massive waste of vinyl (which sounds like an '80s Las Vegas airport lounge act doing their most earnest Specials imitation) is so vast they really could've been recorded by two different groups. Matrix / Runout (Side A, stamped / etched, variant 2): CHR TT 5003 A // 3 ▽ E C R S TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN 1 1 5 CHR-TT 5003A3 √ANOS Linehan, Graham; Mathews, Arthur. Father Ted DVD Commentaries (Podcast). United Kingdom: Channel 4 . Retrieved 30 December 2013.

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. [3]Ghost Town/Why?/Friday Night Saturday Morning". "Billboard". 8 August 1981. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012 . Retrieved 14 August 2011. The early label signings such as Madness and The Beat released just one record on 2 Tone before signing for Stiff Records and Go Feet respectively, however The Specials released a successful self-titled LP in 1979 and became the figureheads for 2 Tone Records and the UK Ska scene. The follow up ‘More Specials' was, at the time, considered disappointing but in truth had a hard task following up the first album and was possibly released too late - after the success of 2 Tone was beginning to recede. Matrix / Runout (Side A, stamped / etched, variant 3): CHR TT 5003 A // 1 ▽ E C R S TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN 1 1 5 CHR-TT 5003A1 √ANOS The label started things off with the classic ‘Gangsters’ shortly followed by Madness’ ‘The Prince’ (a tribute to Prince Buster and the Jamaican Ska scene in general) and The Selecters’ ‘On My Radio’ Other classics which followed included ‘Too Much Too Young’ and The most famous 2 Tone release of them all; ‘Ghost Town’. Despite popular belief the single Ghost Town was not criticism of Racial tension on a national scale; mainly a broadside at the thuggery that existed within Coventry. Infact many of the Specials songs were about life in Coventry. 'Concrete Jungle', 'Dawning Of A New Era', 'Stereotypes' etc. Christgau, Robert (1990). "The Specials: The Specials". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X . Retrieved 1 April 2015.