Special Beat

• Genre: Ska Revival

About

At the height of the British Ska revival that injected New Wave into an already old style of music, the Specials and the Beat were among the rude boy-worshipping bands that waved the checkerboard flag highest in the air. The movement was known as 2-Tone, not only for the record label to which all the bands belonged, but for their multiracial lineups and their choice of fashion. Britain had been the only country outside of Jamaica to show an interest in Ska during the 1960s, which might explain why its flame was so easily rekindled there nearly twenty years later. Either way, the fad took over the charts and the clubs for a few years before it dwindled out and all the rudies and mods moved on. Special Beat -- the combined efforts of the English Beat's Ranking Roger and the Specials' Neville Staples -- formed in the wake of 2-Tone's demise. They still play on both sides of the Atlantic to those who wonder about Ska's short-lived second wave.

- Kali Holloway