My Ten Defining Songs/Singles - No1

I have not posted much about my music recently so I drew up a list of ten defining songs/singles in my life and I thought why not tie it in with their first appearance on the iconic music show, Top of the Pops.

Unsurprisingly first I am going to kick off with the Specials anyone who knows me in the slightest it was always on the cards. There first single ‘Gangsters’ was a top 10 hit and featured on Top of the Pops on 30 August 1979.

With the National Front on the march just about everywhere, British youth needed something of their own to combat this threat. Back in the early seventies Lovers Rock became the dominant British reggae sound over the conscious sounds of Rastafarian from mainly Jamaica at the time and bring some limited chart success.

I belonged to no tribe growing up I like what I found interesting to listen to which like today is a wide mix. Today’s music in the whole leaves me cold boybands, girl bands, and manufactured band/singers off some crap TV show.

In the late seventies growing out of Coventry, a new sound was emerging under the banner of a new record label, Two Tone. After the madness of ‘Punk’, which I did not reject, I just never liked it the new tribe was emerging. Two Tone was a breath of fresh air as it fused traditional ska music with punk rock attitude and energy. It also gave a new base for music fans who were not feeling the music of Rock against Racism movement.

Although I had been a fan of reggae, I found myself draw more into Dancehall, Lovers Rock, and now Ska thanks mainly to Two Tone at the time. The music and the bands were quickly at the edge of anti-racism with their concerts targeted by NF looking and finding trouble.

The Specials had black and white members and spoke out defiantly against the NF and its racism. The name of their label, 2-Tone, and its chequered design (still associated with ska) is an assertion of black and white unity. It is crude, yes but a powerful symbol. Also a statement was the way they dressed wearing mod/rude boy/skinhead-style two-tone tonic suits and fans soon noticed the style and embraced it themselves.

On 30 August 1979, it was the Special’s first appearance on Top of the Pops presented by David Jensen.

The Special Aka – Gangsters

Rest of the playlist:

The Bellamy Brothers – If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It against Me

Secret Affair – Time for Action

Dollar – Love’s Gotta Hold On Me

Nick Lowe – Cruel To Be Kind

Sister Sledge – Lost In Music danced to by Legs & Co

The Gibson Brothers – Ooh! What a Life

Gary Numan – Cars

B.A. Robertson – Bang Bang

The Commodores – Sail On

Johnny Mathis – Gone Gone Gone with Gill from Legs & Co

The Stranglers – Duchess

Cliff Richard – We Don’t Talk Anymore

Boney M – Gotta Go Home