The Specials
Ghost Town (1981)
The Specials’ Jerry Dammers claims that he was inspired to write “Ghost Town” as much by terminal tension within the band as by the bleak mood on the streets, but a fluke of timing — it reached No 1 in the same week riots swept Britain — made it aural shorthand for the era of mass unemployment and police harassment. Forget the history for a moment and the song is still an extraordinary achievement: it unfolds like a horror movie, with disparate voices emerging from the fog with dire warnings and barely suppressed violence. The mood is the message
(1981 Top of the Pops performance here)
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