Rickenbacker

Awesome awesome awesome.

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last.fm
rym
Talk About the Passion - R.E.M.'s Discography Reviewed

Bulldog

Great band. I got their debut, I Just Can't Stop It the other day - very interesting fusion of ska, reggae and dub there. It's a shame they didn't get as big as their 2-Tone labelmates like Madness and the Specials, because from what I've heard they were just as good.

Engine

It's really hard for me to compare the Beat with the other 2-Tone bands. Every so often I try to connect with the music but I just can't. Maybe it's just me but their music just sounds so Top-40-Pop compared to The Specials, Madness, and my absolute favorite 2-Tone band: The Selecter.

Now, The Beat may very well be the best musicians in the bunch but they seem to be lacking the punk element that makes the other bands so interesting. I dunno - I'm sure I'll keep trying..

Bulldog

Keep giving them a chance - it'll be worth it. To me they sound a little less accessible than Madness and the Specials (who, incidentally, are my two favourite 2-Tone bands), and they're coming from a very different place to the Selecter. That's judging by what I've heard anyway, which is only their debut.

Gavin B.

I think the Beat was the least commercial sounding of all of the 2 Tone Bands and has a more of a punk attitude than any of the bands. Maybe you've only heard W'happen or one of their later albums but that wasn't the original frontline of musicians that formed the first edition of the Beat. The Beat experimented with musical genres other than ska and reggae and was one of the earliest UK bands to incorporate dub into nearly all of their music. Selector was a great band and was largely ignored during the ska revival.

My personal feeling is that songs like Twist and Crawl and Mirror in the Bathroom were closer musically to punk rock than anything ever done by the Specials, Selector or Madness.

From a political view, the Beat's lyrics were less rude boy than the other 2 Tone bands, but closer to the punk perspective of the UK culture. Their first album I Just Can't Stop railed against the National Front, Margaret Thatcher and the injustices of the class system in the UK. The evidence is in the lyrics.

OR

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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt

Engine

Gotta heartily disagree with you on who is most commercial sounding. As for my experience with The Beat, I have only ever heard "I Just Can't Stop It" so thanks for the warning. I have two reasons for thinking that The Beat is the most commercial sounding of the 2 Tone bands: 1) I grew up hearing "Mirror In The Bathroom" alongside lots of unbearable Top 40 Pop crap like Rick Springfield and Air Supply. 2) The sax. I know, I know - Saxa is a real ska legend and all but when you put that much sax in 80s Pop - no matter how skillful it is, you end up with something that sounds at least a little bit like Foreigner.

I always have felt that punk's biggest connection to ska is in ska's fast skank guitar. That and the wild energy of the vocalist are what make The Selecter feel the 'most punk' to me. The Specials, Madness, and The Beat all seem about equally punk I guess.

Agreed.

EDIT: I posted this before I watched the video up in post #2: Punk debates aside - that's some good shit! Like I said, I probably should invest more time in The Beat...

Gavin B.

I'm not sure where you grew up but I never heard the Beat on any radio station, let alone a station that also played Rick Springfield and Air Supply.

I'm not even sure how Foreigner sounded, so I'll have to leave that call to your judgement, since you're familiar with the music of both bands. And please don't ask me to listen to Rick Springfield or Air Supply or Foreigner to verify your assessment because there isn't a lot of MOR pop that I can listen to without getting an urge to commit suicide within 2 minutes.

That being said, there's plenty of commerical sounding music that is worth listening to and I don't hold commercial success against any band.

But let's face it, none of the 2 Tone bands were not selling zillion units of musical product, be it the Beat, the Specials, Selector or Madness. I checked at the RIAA site none of the 2 Tone albums sold enough units to chart at 100,000 sales in the USA, even thirty years after their initial release.

Forward thinking bands rarely gain a mass audience, no matter how commerical they sound. Elvis Costello is probably the most enduring artist from that era and his music has the purest pop sound of any of the punk and post punk bands.

__________________
There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt

Engine

I grew up in the Washington DC area - it may not have been top 40 radio where I heard Mirror - it may have been MTV or older kids or something but the song was definitely out there with all of the New Wave/Pop stuff. In any case, although it may not be deserved, I lumped the band in with a bunch of other garbage-music.

My intent was not to go on a tirade about Pop Music in general, though.
In any case, I am happy to hear that you have not been subjected to Foreigner and don't worry, I would never ask anybody to listen to Rick Springfield or Air Supply.