{ "slug": "two-tone", "name": "Two-Tone", "aliases": [ "2 tone", "ska revival", "coventry sound" ], "description": "Coventry, 1979: Jamaican ska played at punk speed by deliberately mixed-race bands on a label with a black-and-white chequerboard logo, at a moment when the National Front was recruiting outside British venues.", "origin": { "place": "Coventry, England", "year": 1979 }, "lineage": [ { "genre": "ska", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/ska/", "inherited": "The rhythm, the repertoire and the point. These bands covered Prince Buster and the Skatalites outright, and the offbeat guitar chop is unchanged — only the tempo and the anger are new." }, { "genre": "punk", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/punk/", "inherited": "The speed and the infrastructure. Two-Tone runs on punk's independent labels, punk's touring circuit and punk's assumption that a band should be able to start on Tuesday and play on Friday." } ], "bpm": { "min": 140, "max": 180 }, "updated": "2026-08-31", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/two-tone/", "trackCount": 7, "curatedBy": [], "playlists": {}, "tracks": [ { "rank": 1, "trackKey": "the-specials--ghost-town", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-specials--ghost-town/", "title": "Ghost Town", "artist": "The Specials", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-specials/", "year": 1981, "label": "2 Tone", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Number one while English cities were actually burning, and the band split the week it topped the chart. A haunted-house organ, a wailing horn, and the most precisely timed record in British pop.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Specials%20Ghost%20Town", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2oXzrnti4", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 2, "trackKey": "the-special-aka--gangsters", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-special-aka--gangsters/", "title": "Gangsters", "artist": "The Special AKA", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-special-aka/", "year": 1979, "label": "2 Tone", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A rewrite of Prince Buster's Al Capone, self-released, and the first record on the label. The whole movement is announced in the opening skid.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Special%20AKA%20Gangsters", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lgCZN1rU5co", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 3, "trackKey": "the-specials--a-message-to-you-rudy", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-specials--a-message-to-you-rudy/", "title": "A Message to You, Rudy", "artist": "The Specials", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-specials/", "year": 1979, "label": "2 Tone", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Dandy Livingstone's rocksteady original, with Rico Rodriguez — who had played on the Jamaican sessions of the sixties — brought in on trombone. Continuity made audible.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Specials%20A%20Message%20to%20You%2C%20Rudy", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cntvEDbagAw", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 4, "trackKey": "the-selecter--on-my-radio", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-selecter--on-my-radio/", "title": "On My Radio", "artist": "The Selecter", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-selecter/", "year": 1979, "label": "2 Tone", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Pauline Black fronting the scene's sharpest band, complaining that everything sounds the same. Two minutes fifty, no fat on it anywhere.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Selecter%20On%20My%20Radio", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-50eodYlQW0", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 5, "trackKey": "madness--one-step-beyond", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/madness--one-step-beyond/", "title": "One Step Beyond", "artist": "Madness", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/madness/", "year": 1979, "label": "Stiff", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Another Prince Buster reworking, and the one that made the nutty sound a national pastime. Madness were the funny end and much cleverer than they let on.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Madness%20One%20Step%20Beyond", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SOJSM46nWwo", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 6, "trackKey": "the-beat--mirror-in-the-bathroom", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-beat--mirror-in-the-bathroom/", "title": "Mirror in the Bathroom", "artist": "The Beat", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beat/", "year": 1980, "label": "Go-Feet", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Saxa's saxophone against a bassline that will not sit still. Birmingham's contribution, and the most nervous-sounding record the movement made.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beat%20Mirror%20in%20the%20Bathroom", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YKDDN58TzGU", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 7, "trackKey": "the-specials--too-much-too-young", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-specials--too-much-too-young/", "title": "Too Much Too Young", "artist": "The Specials", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-specials/", "year": 1980, "label": "2 Tone", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A live EP about teenage pregnancy that went to number one, and got banned in places for a lyric about contraception. Very funny and not remotely kind.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Specials%20Too%20Much%20Too%20Young", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PD9NvKKY7W0", "exact": true } } } ] }