''I Just Can't Stop It'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by British

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

band the Beat, released on 23 May 1980 by

Go-Feet Records Go-Feet Records was an English record label founded by, and predominantly used to release recordings by, the ska revival band the Beat (known as the English Beat in North America). The band had some chart success in the United Kingdom in the ...

in the United Kingdom. It was released the same year in the United States on

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer ...

under the band name "The English Beat". In Australia, it was released on Go-Feet under the band name "The British Beat". Well received from the start, publications such as ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' raved that the music was "wild and threatening, sexy and sharp."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

later said it "was a stunning achievement", which has not been diminished by time. The album was reissued on CD in 1990 by I.R.S. Records in the US, and in 2012 by Edsel Records in the UK and

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

in the US.

Artwork

The "Beat Girl" icon seen on the cover, and used on the band's merchandising, was designed by

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

-based cartoonist

Hunt Emerson Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

Critical reception

At the end of 1980, ''I Just Can't Stop It'' appeared in numerous lists of the best albums of the year: ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' ranked it 3rd, ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'' ranked it 13th, ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' ranked it 21st and ''

OOR ''OOR'' is the oldest currently published music magazine in the Netherlands. ''Oor'' is the Dutch word for ear. Until 1984 it was published as ''Muziekkrant Oor''. History The magazine was first published on 1 April 1971, being founded by Ba ...

'' ranked it 41st.Acclaimed Music - I Just Can't Stop It
/ref> In 1995, ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' ranked the album at No. 94 in their list of the top "100 Alternative Albums". ''Fast 'n' Bulbous'' ranked the album at number 283 in their list of "The 500 Best Albums Since 1965". A 2002 poll of

KCPR KCPR (91.3 FM) is a non-commercial radio station that is licensed to San Luis Obispo, California. Owned by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, the station is operated by students from its on-campus studio locat ...

DJs ranked it at No. 40 in their list of the "Top 100 Records of the 80s". ''

Les Inrockuptibles ''Les Inrockuptibles'' () is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly magazine in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. Now it is a monthly again, since 2021. In the beginning, rock music was the magazine's primary focus, though every issue in ...

'' included it in their list of "50 Years of Rock 'n' Roll." Music journalist

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music ...

lists it as one of the five most important albums of " 2-Tone and the

Ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

Resurrection" in his 2005 book '' Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984''. In 2016, '' Paste'' ranked ''I Just Can't Stop It'' at No. 48 on its list of the 50 best new wave albums. "

Mirror in the Bathroom "Mirror in the Bathroom" is a single by British ska band the Beat released as a single in 1980 from their debut album ''I Just Can't Stop It''. It reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart and consequently was their highest charting release in ...

" was ranked at No. 3 in the ''NME'' "Singles of the Year" list and at No. 24 in ''Sounds "Singles of the Year" list.Acclaimed Music - Mirror in the Bathroom
/ref> In 2003, '' Q'' ranked the song at No. 517 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". In 2002, Gary Mulholland included the song in his list ''This is Uncool: The 500 Best Singles Since Punk Rock''. In 2001, Michaelangelo Matos included it in his list of "The Top 100 Singles of the 80s." In 2006, 97x ranked it at No. 186 in their list of "The 500 Best Modern Rock Songs of All Time." In 1990,

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

ranked "Twist & Crawl" at No. 10 in his list of the best songs of the 1980s.

Track listing

The US LP release of the album on

added " Tears of a Clown" and "Ranking Full Stop", originally released as double A-sides of a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

2 Tone Records 2 Tone Records was an English independent record label that mostly released ska and reggae-influenced music with a punk rock and pop music overtone. It was founded by Jerry Dammers of the Specials and backed by Chrysalis Records. History ...

in 1979 (TT 6). These tracks remained on subsequent CD reissues of the album.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. The Beat *

Dave Wakeling David Wakeling (born 19 February 1956) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known for his work with the band the Beat (known in North America as the English Beat) and General Public. Career Wakeling began his professional career ...

–

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

;

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Ranking Roger Roger Charlery (21 February 1963 – 26 March 2019), known professionally as Ranking Roger,Strong, Martin C. (2002) ''The Great Rock Discography, 6th Edition'', Canongate, , p. 72Huey, Steve "Ranking Roger Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 17 Februa ...

– toasting; vocals *

Andy Cox Andrew Cox (born 25 January 1956) is a British guitarist, who along with Dave Wakeling, formed ska band the Beat in 1978. The Beat achieved eight Top 40 singles and three hit albums in the UK before announcing their break up in 1983. Some of t ...

–

guitar * David Steele – bass *

Everett Morton Everett may refer to: Places Canada * Everett, Ontario, a community in Adjala–Tosorontio, Simcoe County * Everett Mountains, a range on southern Baffin Island in Nunavut United States * Everett, Massachusetts, in Middlesex County, Massachu ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Saxa –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

Production and artwork *

Bob Sargeant Robert Sargeant (20 November 1947 – 13 July 2021) was a British musician and record producer. Life and career Born in North Shields, Sargeant played keyboards in various local bands before joining regional R&B band the Junco Partners in 1966 ...

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* Alvin Clark –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Mark Dearnley – engineering * Mike Dunne – engineering * Trevor Hallesy – engineering * Nick Rogers – engineering *

– artwork "Thanks to:

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

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), Terr ...

Selecter The Selecter are an English 2 tone ska revival band, formed in Coventry, England, in 1979. The Selecter featured a diverse line-up, both in terms of race and gender, initially consisting of Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson and Pauline Black on lead ...

, A/W Hunt Emerson"

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control The Beat (British band) albums 1980 debut albums Sire Records albums I.R.S. Records albums Albums produced by Bob Sargeant