“The bottom line is, respect each other, and love each other. It’s a bit idealistic, but it’s all that there is.”

Remembering Terence Edward Hall, who was born today 19th March 1959, today would have been his 67th birthday

#terryhall #music #photography

📸 Gered Mankowitz

In memory of the great and unforgettable Terry Hall 💔

March 19, 1959 – December 18, 2022

The Specials – Too Much Too Young

#punkrock #ska #skalegends #skabands #skamusic #terryhall #thespecials #2tone #history #punkrockhistory #otd

Remembering Terence Edward Hall, English musician and lead singer of The Specials, born on this day in 1959, Coventry, England.

Photo by Eugene Adebari

#punkrock #ska #skalegend #thespecials #2tone #terryhall #history #skahistory #otd

#AlternateFridayMusic
Jan 2 2026
We start the year with #Hope

The Specials, “We Sell Hope” from “Encore” (2019)

The Specials were the cornerstone of UK second-wave ska, with mastermind Jerry Dammers founding 2Tone Records.
They came together in the late 70s and splintered in the early 80s, coming back together in a variety of permutations with members of their 2Tone label mates and others, but came closest to a true reunion after reuniting for a 30th Anniversary tour in 2009, with Terry Hall back on vocals, albeit sans Dammers.

The Specials always had a social conscience, being vocally anti-racist. My sense was they looked around in the late twenty-teens and saw they were needed, delivering their message via their first studio album of new material in many years (depending on how you define "they"). With Terry’s passing in 2022, it became their last.

The title of this track shows their sardonic wit had not dimmed, underlining the chorus giving a litany of Orwellian doublespeak. The down-stepping melody of the verses feels ominous, but by taking the tone of a warning, suggests hope to me; only where there’s hope would a warning matter, and indeed the verses turn sincere, using decidedly sweet vocals to give prescriptive measures for arresting our slide into dark times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8KYo8CY8Uw

#TheSpecials #Specials #ska #TwoTone #2Tone #JerryDammers #TerryHall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8oqKyVW978

#TerryHall #SineadOConnor