Labelled with Love (eBook)

2 TONE RECORDS

IF STAX WAS THE soundtrack to the civil rights movement in the USA, 2 Tone was the urban, working-class sound of the UK in political turmoil. Backdrop and context are crucial. Leading up to May 1979, when Margaret Thatcher became prime minister, the preceding years saw race relations at crisis levels, the National Front was gaining traction, and immigrants were being attacked. After comments made by Eric Clapton, in 1976, along the lines that Enoch Powell was right, Britain had too many foreigners, a grassroots campaign led to the formation of Rock Against Racism.

RAR teamed up with the Anti-Nazi League and embraced the energy and spirit of punk. On 30 April 1978, they gathered from each corner of the UK, marching from Trafalgar Square to Victoria Park in London’s East End, culminating in an open-air gig headlined by Steel Pulse, Tom Robinson and The Clash. It was a triumph for multiculturalism over the far-right and a pivotal moment for 2 Tone.

Thatcher’s arrival in 1979, bringing along her belief that there was no such concept as society, ushered in a divisive period that presided over racial tension, riots in Brixton and Toxteth, the Falklands War, the Miners’ Strike, Murdoch taking on Fleet Street, a culture of ‘greed is good’, and privatisation.

When ska and blue beat aficionado Jerry Dammers, of The Specials, formed the label in 1979, the band had been subject to an intense bidding war. The clincher in their contract with Chrysalis Records was the guarantee of their own label. Chrysalis signed The Specials to a five-album deal with a promise to release ten singles per year on their new 2 Tone label. This opportunity helped Dammers achieve a long-held ambition: to create his version of Motown – in the West Midlands. Coventry, like Detroit, had been suffocated economically and was suffering mass unemployment through the decimation of its car industry.

Musically, the sound was perfect. The timing was better. 2 Tone arrived as punk became jaded, losing its edge, softening and evolving into a more commercial product for mainstream consumption. The music was an amphetamine rush, merging the second wave of ska, marrying the Jamaican influence of reggae with a hard-edged sound, particularly in live shows. Again, it embraced aspects of punk – the anger, energy and frustration – and channelled it to an audience craving something new.

When a region or country struggles economically, the prevalence of the Far Right spreads amongst the disenfranchised. The talk becomes racist, and populist and clichéd rhetoric is used to stoke the political malaise and influence the youth. As a white kid, you’re an easy target for these groups. Some refuse, they listen to records with their Black or white pal and form a band. Black and white, unite and fight.

They ignored punk’s nihilism and will to destroy; 2 Tone wanted to fight for positivity, coming together and dancing. The central message was about unity. Even the artwork, the black and white, was a political statement, one of intent – bold and simple and cleverly executed.

The bands brought great English pop and political lyricism; the music was post-punk with a clever, new wave sound and twist. Jerry Dammers wanted the label to be socially aware, but it was also about fun: ‘I just wanted 2 Tone to be like a little club and if you liked the music you became part of it.’

For two years, from 1979, the 2 Tone label engulfed the charts. Its first release was a double A-side of The Special AKA’s ‘Gangsters’ and The Selecter’s ‘Selecter’. The first 5,000 singles were placed inside white sleeves and individually stamped with ‘THE SPECIAL A.K.A. GANGSTERS VS. THE SELECTER’. The record stayed on the charts for twelve weeks, peaking at number 6. In September 1979, Madness doffed their pork pie hats to their hero, Jamaican singer Prince Buster, with ‘The Prince’. The songwriter was a major influence on reggae, soul and Madness. (They later signed to Stiff Records and would go on to have a lengthy pop career.)

1980 dawned with The Special AKA live EP, which gave 2 Tone another anthem for doomed youth. ‘Too Much Too Young’ reached number 1. By November of the same year, The Specials, The Selecter and Madness appeared on the same edition of Top of the Pops. The Specials would split after their number 1 hit, the frenzied, unsettling, evocative ‘Ghost Town’. Released in June 1981, for many it was the soundtrack to a summer of riots. ‘Ghost Town’ spent ten weeks in the charts, three of them at number 1. It was a brilliant, distinctive-sounding song, at times jazz, underpinned with a powerful reggae bass, a haunted-house Hammond and a weird Middle Eastern feel.

We may be wrong-footed by the quirkiness of the song and the pop sound, yet the message accurately conveys the feeling of having Thatcher’s jackboot standing on your throat. It was more than a record on the radio. It mirrored what was happening across inner-city Britain and to society in general. It’s difficult to convey the level of confusion, mistrust and anger around at the time. If you were 13, the next few years were uncertain, bleak and worrying. ‘Ghost Town’ became a portent of what would unfold over the following three or four years. Dammers wrote ‘Ghost Town’ after playing in Glasgow. He told The Guardian:

Lack of diversification meant that the demise of the mining and steel industries ripped communities to shreds. It was a horrendous time and working-class towns and cities were hit hardest. In this scarred, embittered landscape, 2 Tone shone through. You lost yourself, escaping in songs like The Selecter’s ‘On My Radio’, The Beat’s ‘Tears of a Clown’ and The Specials’ ‘A Message to You, Rudy’.

In parallel with the strong, evocative music, the label’s branding and design were equally distinctive, giving 2 Tone a unique identity. Jerry Dammers, a former art school student, was obsessive about detail. He wanted an indie look: black and white, simple and striking. The chequered, two-tone black and white symbolised racial harmony. It was bold and stands the test of time.

The famous dancing rude boy image (named Walt Jabsco) was derived from a photo Jerry Dammers had of Peter Tosh from the cover of The Wailers’ debut 1965 album, The Wailing Wailers. The image was created by Dammers, Horace Panter and sleeve designers David Storey and John ‘Teflon’ Sims, who oversaw most of the label’s artwork.

Along with its energetic music, political message and multiculturalism, 2 Tone should also be applauded for its approach to gender equality, witnessed in Rhoda Dakar and Pauline Black. The label practised feminism when it seemed unfashionable. A strong, talented woman, Dakar led a seven-piece all-female ska band, The Bodysnatchers. The wonderful Pauline Black was singer with The Selecter and also an actress and writer.

The egalitarianism at Rough Trade was also evident at 2 Tone and, arguably, held both labels back. The Selecter and The Specials had fourteen members between them. Everyone had a vote and therefore a say on the label’s output and direction. Despite the best intentions and a sustained musical assault on the charts, it’s difficult for a business to function as a cooperative. In 2 Tone’s case, pressure from touring the USA caused the most collateral damage. The Specials appeared on Saturday Night Live, performing a no-nonsense, particularly fraught version of ‘Gangsters’. The pressure of touring was getting to them, as Jerry Dammers would later explain: ‘It was a laugh to start off with, it was great. But it ended in chaos, total chaos.’

With bands splintering off to do their own projects, in 1984, 2 Tone had a hit with the anti-apartheid anthem ‘Nelson Mandela’, written by Dammers, produced by Elvis Costello and performed by The Special AKA. Soon, 1980s pop culture would be seduced and consumed by Stock, Aitken and Waterman. The label stopped operating in 1986.

It’s testament to 2 Tone’s peak period (1979–81) that the movement the label created still has a resonance today. Original label pressings are coveted; the fashion, sound and ethos continue to be popular, inspiring bands such as No Doubt, Rancid, Bombskare and Young Fathers. The death of Terry Hall of The Specials was announced...