Coventry heroes escaping the Ghost Town
In 1981 – Coventry really was the Ghost Town but local heroes like Neville Staple and Errol Christie were trying to make a difference – as Tony McMahon reports
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Irish skinheads, rude boys and punks
1980 was a the high point for the whole late 1970s revival of skinheads and there were Irish boot boys and girls around too
WH Smith goes ska in 1980
1979 and 1980 were the glory years of the so-called “second wave” of ska music – first wave in Jamaica twenty plus years before and now the 2Tone wave came crashing out of Coventry. The Specials seized the charts by the scruff of the neck with a string of hits. And even WH Smith felt…
Ranking Roger in the Record Mirror
Ranking Roger in the Record Mirror – lead vocalist in The Beat or The English Beat as the band is called in the United States
The front cover for ‘Original Rude Boy’ that didn’t make it…
A proposed front cover for the biography of Neville Staple – Original Rude Boy – published by Aurum Press
Ska and 2Tone – the sound of Coventry
Walk down Oxford Street today and it’s impossible to avoid glimpsing the ever present influence of 2Tone whether it’s the black and white check patterns, porkpie hats, tonic suits, etc, etc. The style pioneered by The Specials, The Selecter and The Beat has proved to be timeless. Don’t believe me – look at these images…
Special Beat – when The Specials met The Beat
Special Beat – when The Specials met The Beat
Backstage passes for gigs by The Specials
Backstage passes for gigs by The Specials from 1979 to 1981
2Tone bands and the 1981 Coventry riot
1981 saw a riot in Coventry after the murder of Asian teenager Satnam Singh Gill that led to The Specials putting on a unity gig in the city