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More Specials
''More Specials'' is the second album by English ska band the Specials, released by 2 Tone Records in September 1980. After the success of the band's self-titled debut, band member Jerry Dammers assumed the role as the band's leader and stirred them into expanding their 2 Tone sound into other genres of music, most prominently a lounge music and easy listening style inspired by Muzak. Several band members disagreed with Dammers' vision and brought their own influences to the album, including from northern soul and rockabilly, contributing to an eclectic sound palette. The relations between band members continued to sour into the album's accompanying tour and most of the band departed in 1981. The album features collaborations with the Go-Go's members Belinda Carlisle, Charlotte Caffey, and Jane Wiedlin; Rhoda Dakar from the Bodysnatchers; and Lee Thompson from Madness. The lyrics on the album, as with the band's debut album, are often intensely political. Upon its release, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Specials
The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English Two-tone (music genre), 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall (singer), Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Lynval Golding and Roddy Radiation on guitars, Horace Panter on bass, Jerry Dammers on keyboards, John Bradbury (drummer), John Bradbury on drums, and Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez (musician), Rico Rodriguez on horn. Their music combines the danceable rhythms of ska and rocksteady with the energy and attitude of punk rock, punk. Lyrically, they present a "more focused and informed political and social stance". The band wore mod (subculture), mod-style "1960s period rude boy outfits (pork pie hats, tonic and mohair suits and loafers)". In 1980, the song "Too Much Too Young", the lead track on their ''The Special AKA Live!'' Extended play, EP, reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1981, the recessi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muzak
Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments. The name has been in use since 1934, and has been owned by a division or subsidiary of one or another company ever since. In 1981, Westinghouse bought the company and ran it until selling it to the Fields Company of Chicago, publishers of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', on September 8, 1986. Formerly owned by Muzak Holdings, the brand was purchased in 2011 by Mood Media in a deal worth US$345 million. Muzak was based in various Seattle, Washington locations from 1986 to 1999, after which it moved its headquarters to South Carolina in 2000. The word ''Muzak'' has been a registered trademark since December 21, 1954, of Muzak LLC. In the United States, due in part to the company’s market dominance, ''Muzak'' has come to be used to refer to most forms of background music, regardless of source. It may also be referred to as "elevator music" or "lift music". Though Muzak Holdings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trip Hop
Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound, often incorporating elements of jazz, soul music, soul, funk, reggae, dub music, dub, Contemporary R&B, R&B, and other forms of electronic dance music, electronic music, as well as sample (music), sampling from movie soundtracks and other eclectic sources. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental variant of breakbeat from the Bristol sound scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s, incorporating influences from jazz, soul, funk, dub, and hip hop music, rap music. It was pioneered by acts like Massive Attack, Tricky (musician), Tricky, and Portishead (band), Portishead. The term was first coined in a 1994 ''Mixmag'' piece about American producer DJ Shadow. Trip ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Often, a recording act will be remembered by its " number ones", those of their albums that outperformed all others during at least one week. The chart grew from a weekly top 10 list in 1956 to become a top 200 list in May 1967, and acquired its current name in March 1992. Its previous names include the ''Billboard'' Top LPs (1961–1972), ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape (1972–1984), ''Billboard'' Top 200 Albums (1984–1985) and ''Billboard'' Top Pop Albums (1985–1992). The chart is based mostly on sales – both at retail and digital – of albums in the United States. The weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but since July 2015, tracking week begins on Friday (to coinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-selling Single (music), singles in the United Kingdom, based upon physical sales, paid-for downloads and music streaming, streaming. The Official Chart, broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and MTV (Official UK Top 40), is the UK music industry's recognised official measure of singles and albums popularity because it is the most comprehensive research panel of its kind, today surveying over 15,000 retailers and digital services daily, capturing 99.9% of all singles consumed in Britain across the week, and over 98% of albums. To be eligible for the chart, a Single (music), single is currently defined by the Official Charts Company (OCC) as either a 'single bundle' having no more than four tracks and not lasting longer than 25 minutes or one digital audio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on Fridays (previously Sundays). It is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 (top 5) and found on the OCC website as a Top 100 or on UKChartsPlus as a Top 200, with positions continuing until all sales have been tracked in data only available to industry insiders. However, even though number 100 was classed as a hit album (as in the case of The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums) in the 1980s until January 1989, since the compilations were removed this definition was changed to Top 75 with follow-up books such as The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums book only including this data. As of 2021, the OCC still only tracks how many UK Top 75s album hits and how many weeks in Top 75 albums chart each artist has achieved. To qualify for the Offi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madness (band)
Madness are an English ska and pop band from Camden Town, North London, who formed in 1976. One of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s two-tone ska revival, they continue to perform with six of the seven members of their original line-up.Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Retrieved on 19 June 2007. Madness's most successful period was from 1980 to 1986, when the band's songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart. (UB40 shared the same number of weeks, the largest for any British group in the decade, but over a longer period.), IMDb.com, Retrieved on 10 June 2007. Madness have had 15 singles reach the UK top ten, including "One Step Beyond", "Baggy Trousers" and " It Must Be Love", one UK number-one single "House of Fun" and two number ones in Ireland, "House of Fun" and " Wings of a Dove". " Our House" was their biggest US hit, reaching number 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In 2000, the band received the Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Thompson (saxophonist)
Lee Jay Thompson (born 5 October 1957), nicknamed Kix or El Thommo, is an English multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and composer. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Thompson came to prominence in the late 1970s as a founder and saxophonist for the English ska band Madness. Early years Prior to forming Madness, Thompson and future Madness keyboardist Mike Barson gained some notoriety as graffiti artists in the mid-1970s. After reading about the emerging New York graffiti scene, they spray-painted their nicknames ("Kix" and "Mr B") along with two friends' names "Cat" and "Columbo" around North London. They managed to spray their nicknames on George Melly's garage door, prompting Melly to write a newspaper article declaring: "If I ever catch that Mr B, Kix and Columbo, I'm going to kick their arses". Music career Thompson founded Madness with Mike Barson and Chris Foreman in 1976, and wrote the group's debut single, "The Prince". Among the other songs, he wrote or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bodysnatchers (band)
The Bodysnatchers were a seven-piece all-female band involved in the British 2 Tone ska revival of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Career Formed in London by Nicky Summers in 1979, in the aftermath of the punk rock scene, The Bodysnatchers released two ska/ rocksteady singles on 2 Tone Records. Their first concert was in November 1979 at the Windsor Castle pub in west London, where they supported Shane MacGowan's band The Nips. For their third gig, they were invited by Chrysalis Records to play at Debbie Harry's birthday party in late 1979. After signing to 2 Tone Records, the band released the single " Let's Do Rock Steady" (UK No. 22) and made an appearance on ''Top of the Pops'' in March 1980. They undertook a tour supporting The Selecter in spring 1980, and during that summer toured with The Specials and The Go-Go's. They also released the double A side single "Easy Life"/"Too Experienced" which was produced by Jerry Dammers. The Bodysnatchers also played London's Hammer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhoda Dakar
Rhoda Dakar (born 1959) is a British singer and musician, best known as the lead singer of The Bodysnatchers, who were signed to the 2 Tone record label. She also worked with The Specials and Special AKA, also 2-Tone artists. Career Dakar, born in Hampstead, London, joined The Bodysnatchers in 1979. Their first single was a double A-side " Let's Do Rock Steady" backed with "Ruder Than You". It reached # 22 in the UK Singles Chart. The band were invited to appear on ''Top of the Pops'', to tour with The Selecter and to record a session for BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel. Their second single "Easy Life" coupled with their version of Bob Andy's "Too Experienced" reached number 50. Several members of the Bodysnatchers then left to form The Belle Stars. Dakar also collaborated with The Specials. Her duet with Terry Hall, "I Can't Stand It", appeared on the album ''More Specials''. After The Specials announced their break up in 1981, Jerry Dammers formed The Special AKA, along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jane Wiedlin
Jane Marie Genevieve Wiedlin (born May 20, 1958) is an American musician and singer, best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist of the new wave music, new wave band The The Go-Go's, Go-Go's. She has also had a successful solo career. The Go-Go's went on to become one of the most successful American bands of the 1980s, helping popularize new wave music with hits such as "We Got the Beat", "Our Lips Are Sealed", and "Vacation (The Go-Go's song), Vacation". As a solo artist, Wiedlin had her biggest hit with the song "Rush Hour (Jane Wiedlin song), Rush Hour", which peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100. As an actress, she had roles as the singing telegram girl in ''Clue (film), Clue'' (1985) and as Joan of Arc in ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' (1989). As a member of The Go-Go's, Wiedlin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She and the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. Early life W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlotte Caffey
Charlotte Irene Caffey (born October 21, 1953) is an American guitarist, best known for her work in the rock band the Go-Go's in the 1980s, including writing "We Got the Beat". Career Caffey began her musical career playing bass guitar in the early Los Angeles punk band The Eyes before joining the Go-Go's in 1978 and switching to guitar. She remained friends with fellow band member Belinda Carlisle after the initial breakup of the Go-Go's and wrote songs for Carlisle's solo albums. From 1988 until 1992, she led her own band, The Graces, with Meredith Brooks and Gia Ciambotti, who released the album ''Perfect View'' in 1989. Caffey also co-wrote the theme song to the television series ''Clueless'' with Anna Waronker, and played piano on the album version of "Foolish Games" by Jewel, as well as co-writing the No. 1 U.S. country hit " But for the Grace of God" with Keith Urban. Caffey wrote the book, music, and lyrics for '' Lovelace: A Rock Musical'' with Anna Waronker. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
