The Specials were at the forefront of the ska revival in England during the late 70’s. As punk was cutting a swathe through the establishment in Britain fuelled by the anger of the country’s disaffected youth the ska movement broke out with a more articulate politicised view. Their solution wasn’t anarchy, their anger was subdued by a need to get up and dance but to do it with a clear message that reflected the oppression of the working class and the youth of Britain at that time.
In an ocean awash with ripped T’s, combat boots and safety pins The Specials stood out by embracing the mod style of pork pie hats, retro suits and loafers. The band broke through with Gangsters and then followed up with hits like A Message To You Rudy and Ghost Town, a song that eerily captured the mood of industrial and social decay under Margaret Thatcher’s austerity measures.
Original Rude Boy Neville Staple began his career with The Specials as a roadie, but with his street smarts he soon found himself on stage as a vocalist with the band. With Specials founder Jerry Dammers left to continue on with the band Neville and fellow Specials band mates Terry Hall and Lynval Golding broke away to form Fun Boy Three, who scored further success with songs like The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum and It Ain’t What You Do It’s The Way That You Do It (with Bananarama). A move to the U.S. years later saw the creation of Special Beat with Ranking Roger from The Beat just as an interest in ska began to take off there with bands like Rancid and No Doubt. More recently Neville has been fronting his own band, strangely enough called the Neville Staple Band, along with taking part in numerous Specials reunion tours and releasing his biography.
The days of those Specials reunions are over for Neville as he candidly discusses his ill health, or er… being kicked out by his former band mates… or was it his decision to leave the band? Believe what you will but as always Neville Staple calls it as he sees it and often with the wink of an eye, though if there’s one person he can’t con it’s his wife Christine – listen to what happens around the half way mark when she interjects as Neville claims that being a Rude Boy wasn’t about bad behaviour. Right Neville, sure it wasn’t.
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