The 2 Tone Story: A Checkered Past (Part 3)

The 2 Tone Story: A Checkered Past (Part 3)

Part 3 of 3

Soon after the mass defection Roddy Radiation left to pursue his more rock ‘n’ roll-oriented muse with The Tearjerker. The remaining Specials and some newly hired hands reverted to The Special A.K.A. name for legal reasons, backed singer Rhoda Dakar of the disbanded all-female Bodysnatchers (another case of too-much-too-soon) and recorded “The Boiler” – “designed,” Dammers noted, “so that you only need to hear it once.” The also accompanied Rico on a single.

But these were holding actions – and The Special A.K.A. then virtually disappeared for two years. Where was Dammers, 2 Tone’s auteur? Running up an enormous debt to Chrysalis while recording the wryly titled “In The Studio” album. About every eight months a single would dribble out. “War Crimes (The Crime Remains the Same)” dealt with Israeli army massacres of Palestinians in Beirut refugee camps. Not too surprisingly, it was the first Specials record to miss the charts completely. Dammers was unfazed; “I’m more proud of ‘War Crimes’ than almost anything else I’ve done,” he declared.

But that was before “Nelson Mandela.” The Special A.K.A.’s last British Top 10 single didn’t stint on its anti-apartheid message and still sold over 150,000 copies in the U.K. Artistically, it was also a triumph, recorded in four days a group rather than the protracted piecework that characterized the rest of “In The Studio.” The band never played live.

While Dammers termed “In The Studio” a “Great Mistake,” non-Special 2 Tone releases helped neither the labels finances nor reputation. The watery funk of The Apollinaires and The Higsons came closer to background music than Dammers’ own self-proclaimed “Muzak.” The jazzy Friday Club was more distinctive but hardly seemed worthy of the once-mighty 2 Tone logo. The Swinging Cats’ one loopy 2 Tone single, on the other hand, might have been too distinctive for mass consumption.

In any event, the last charting 2 Tone single not by The Specials had been The Bodysnatchers’ charming “Easy Life” back in 1980. Five years later, 2 Tone’s existence was as shadowy as that of The Special A.K.A. The label’s last release (barring reissues) came from J.B.’s Allstars – with poetic justice, a group led by Dammers’ loyal subordinate, drummer John Bradbury.

With seven years 2 Tone released 29 singles and eight albums. A Chrysalis imprint rather than an autonomous record company, 2 Tone was always a bit of a conceptual art project – which is perhaps why its legacy continues to inspire. Dammers subsequently espoused his philosophy – “You might as well write about something that’s important rather than something that’s not important” – with a benefit single for Ethiopian famine victims and an anti-apartheid rap track. But 2 Tone practiced is at least as vital as what it preached.

“There’s more to music than commerciality,” Dammers said. Then again he also commented, “To me, 2 Tone was just a record label, no more or less.” You be the judge.

Note: This story about the 2 Tone music movement was reproduced from the Liner Notes (written by Scott Isler) that was included in the 2 disc compilation released in 1993 by Chrysalis Records, The 2 Tone Collection: A Checkered Past. In our opinion, this is the best written history of the 2 Tone scene in existence.