{"id":2189,"count":2,"description":"Two-Tone Records (or <strong>2 Tone Records <\/strong>) was created in Coventry, UK in 1978 by Jerry Dammers who apart from being the songwriter and music director for bands \u2018The Specials\u2019 and \u2018The Special A.K.A\u2019 was also the Chief Executive of the label and responsible for signing artists such as Madness, The Selecter, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers.\r\n\r\nDammers grew up in The Midlands area of The UK during the late 1960s\/early 70s and became influenced with the sounds of Jamaican Ska Music that was now being heard in the UK mainly as a direct result of the Government policy at that time which saw big cultural changes in the area as a whole due to the influx of immigration in cities such as Birmingham and Coventry. Virtually all the 2 Tone artists were from the area; the one exception being \u2018Madness\u2019 who are from North London.\r\n\r\nThe label started things off with the classic \u2018Gangsters\u2019 shortly followed by Madness\u2019 \u2018The Prince\u2019 (a tribute to Prince Buster and the Jamaican Ska scene in general) and The Selecters\u2019 \u2018On My Radio\u2019 Other classics which followed included \u2018Too Much Too Young\u2019 and The most famous 2 Tone release of them all; \u2018Ghost Town\u2019. Despite popular belief the single Ghost Town was not criticism of Racial tension on a national scale; mainly a broadside at the thuggery that existed within Coventry. Infact many of the Specials songs were about life in Coventry. 'Concrete Jungle', 'Dawning Of A New Era', 'Stereotypes' etc.\r\n\r\nThe early label signings such as Madness and The Beat released just one record on 2 Tone before signing for Stiff Records and Go Feet respectively, however The Specials released a successful self-titled LP in 1979 and became the figureheads for 2 Tone Records and the UK Ska scene. The follow up \u2018More Specials' was, at the time, considered disappointing but in truth had a hard task following up the first album and was possibly released too late - after the success of 2 Tone was beginning to recede.\r\n\r\nCultural changes within the music industry and British society not least helped by in house squabbling from artists signed to 2 Tone led to the collapse of the label in 1982. A revised version of The Special A.K.A enjoyed a brief comeback in 1984 with the single \u2018Free Nelson Mandela\u2019 plus one or two other recordings. \r\n\r\nAlthough it has been revived several times since then for \"best of\" releases and a singles box-set, The label is now defunct.","link":"https:\/\/egiarecords.com\/eu\/sello\/two-tone-records\/","name":"Two-Tone Records","slug":"two-tone-records","taxonomy":"sello","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egiarecords.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sello\/2189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egiarecords.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sello"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egiarecords.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taxonomies\/sello"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"https:\/\/egiarecords.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?sello=2189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}