The Specials’ single “Ghost Town” is 30 years old. Released this week in 1981, it reached No1 in the charts the following month and was a high calibre record musically and thematically. The Smiths’ album “The Queen is Dead” has also reached the milestone of it’s Silver Anniversary, having been released in this week in 1986. In a decade of dearth musically, The Specials and The Smiths were beacons of light in terms of their insightful social commentary in the 1980s.

The Special’s “Ghost Town” begins with a siren followed by the haunting woodwind, reminiscent of the ghostly soundtrack to be found in Hanna-Barbera’ cult 1970s cartoon “Scooby Doo”.  Over a reggae bass line, a West Indian vocal announces warnings of urban decay, unemployment and violence.  Few songs evoke their era like The Specials’ classic “Ghost Town”, a depiction of social breakdown that provided the soundtrack to an explosion of civil unrest.  The record was released on 20th June 1981 against a backdrop of rising unemployment, civil unrest, unease and menace which became a portent and harbinger of doom when Britain’s streets erupted into rioting almost three weeks later, ironically the day before “Ghost Town” reached No1 in the charts. The song’s memorable video, in which the band, crammed into a Vauxhall Cresta, drive around deserted streets seemed emblematic of a society devoid of hope!!

The record and video perfectly encapsulated the mood of the early days of Thatcher’s Britain. The Specials ability to articulate the mood of the era was motivated by their home city of Coventry. The car industry in Coventry had attracted migrants from across the UK and the Commonwealth, meaning The Specials band members grew up in the 1960s listening to a mixture of British and American pop and Jamaican ska music.  By 1981 industrial decline had left the city suffering badly – ironically the industrial decline was more damaging and toxic than the Luftwaffe’s mass bombing of the city in November 1940!!

The Specials represented Coventry and the UK’s diverse multiculturalism, with a cultural cocktail of black and white band members. The group’s Two Tone record label gave its name to a genre which fused ska, reggae and new wave. As “Ghost Town” ascended the charts, it echoed precisely what was going on in the UK, as Britain’s streets erupted in desperation and violence. Between the 3rd and 11th July, serious rioting broke out across the country at Handsworth in Birmingham, Toxteth in Liverpool, Southall in London, and Moss Side in Manchester, while Bedford, Bristol, Edinburgh, Gloucester, Halifax, Leeds, Leicester, Southampton and Wolverhampton all witnessed unrest.  Nonetheless, while it may describe a very specific moment in British history, Ghost Town’s popularity has never receded. A re-formed Specials, with frontman Terry Hall but minus Jerry Dammers, are due to tour later in 2011, with “Ghost Town” no doubt their encore song.

Of course The Specials racked up a considerable number of hits with a social message, not least their other No1 hit  “Too Much Too Young” about teenage single motherhood and the equally as challenging “Ratrace”, “Stereotype” and “Do Nothing”. However they will be best remembered for “Ghost Town”, because it perfectly captured the mood of the moment in the Summer of 1981!!

Equally The Smiths captured the mood of the 1980s decade, with Morrisey’s witty, satirical sideswipe lyrics and the sublime guitar work of the incomparable Johnny Marr. Johnny Marr wrote several songs that appeared on “The Queen Is Dead” album. “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side” was, according to Johnny Marr, “an effortless piece of music”, and was written on tour in the spring of 1985. The song’s lyrics refer allegorically and satirically to the band’s experience of the music industry that failed to appreciate it. In 2003, Morrissey named this as his favourite Smiths song.

“The Queen Is Dead” was released 25 years ago this week in June 1986, prefaced by the single release of “Bigmouth Strikes Again” the previous month. Many encouraged the band to release “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” as a single, but Johnny Marr is said to have wanted an explosive single, along the lines of The Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, to announce that The Smiths were back. It did not fare as well as expected, peaking at only No26 on the British charts.

The album is widely regarded as The Smiths’ best album. Its mix of music hall, rockabilly and punk rock quickly became a British institution and established The Smiths as one of the most influential bands of their era. Both Morrissey and Marr disagree, however, citing its 1987 successor (and unexpectedly final Smiths LP), “Strangeways, Here We Come”, as the zenith of their Smiths career. Personally my preference was for their earlier work and in particular their debut single “This Charming Man” and the follow up “What difference does it make” although I also have a soft spot for “Heaven knows I’m miserable now” and “How soon is now?”

In a decade devoid of an excess of real musical talent, The Specials and The Smiths were spiritual neighbours in as much as they produced inventive, original music of an extremely high calibre, in conjunction with witty, scything lyrics that were a social commentary and satire of the society and world they lived in. So raise your glasses and join me in a toast to the talent of Terry Hall, Jerry Dammers, Morrissey and Johnny Marr on the occasion of these two landmark anniversaries!!

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