# The 7 Best Two-Tone Tracks of All Time

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:** Coventry, England, 1979
- **Tempo:** 140–180 BPM
- **Also known as:** 2 tone, ska revival, coventry sound
- **Tracks:** 7
- **Updated:** 2026-08-31
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/two-tone/

## The list

### 1. [The Specials](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-specials/) — [Ghost Town](https://waxonia.com/track/the-specials--ghost-town/)

*1981 · 2 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.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Specials%20Ghost%20Town) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2oXzrnti4)

### 2. [The Special AKA](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-special-aka/) — [Gangsters](https://waxonia.com/track/the-special-aka--gangsters/)

*1979 · 2 Tone*

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.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Special%20AKA%20Gangsters) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lgCZN1rU5co)

### 3. [The Specials](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-specials/) — [A Message to You, Rudy](https://waxonia.com/track/the-specials--a-message-to-you-rudy/)

*1979 · 2 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.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Specials%20A%20Message%20to%20You%2C%20Rudy) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cntvEDbagAw)

### 4. [The Selecter](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-selecter/) — [On My Radio](https://waxonia.com/track/the-selecter--on-my-radio/)

*1979 · 2 Tone*

Pauline Black fronting the scene's sharpest band, complaining that everything sounds the same. Two minutes fifty, no fat on it anywhere.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Selecter%20On%20My%20Radio) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-50eodYlQW0)

### 5. [Madness](https://waxonia.com/artist/madness/) — [One Step Beyond](https://waxonia.com/track/madness--one-step-beyond/)

*1979 · Stiff*

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.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Madness%20One%20Step%20Beyond) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SOJSM46nWwo)

### 6. [The Beat](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-beat/) — [Mirror in the Bathroom](https://waxonia.com/track/the-beat--mirror-in-the-bathroom/)

*1980 · Go-Feet*

Saxa's saxophone against a bassline that will not sit still. Birmingham's contribution, and the most nervous-sounding record the movement made.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Beat%20Mirror%20in%20the%20Bathroom) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YKDDN58TzGU)

### 7. [The Specials](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-specials/) — [Too Much Too Young](https://waxonia.com/track/the-specials--too-much-too-young/)

*1980 · 2 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.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Specials%20Too%20Much%20Too%20Young) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PD9NvKKY7W0)

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