Artist
The Specials
The Specials appears 3 times in our Two-Tone list, placing as high as No. 1. Hand-curated, with a reason for every pick.
- Ranked entries
- 3
- Appears on
- Two-Tone
- Years
- 1979–1981
- Highest placing
- No. 1 in Two-Tone
- Updated
- 2026-08-31
Appears on
Ghost Town
1981 · 2 Tone
Ranked No. 1 in Two-Tone
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.
A Message to You, Rudy
1979 · 2 Tone
Ranked No. 3 in Two-Tone
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.
Too Much Too Young
1980 · 2 Tone
Ranked No. 7 in Two-Tone
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.