Specials - The Specials

There can't be many cooler bands than The Specials. Certainly the coolest band to come out of Coventry, although some might argue that The Selecter and The Primitives might have something to say about that.

Certainly the people who I knew in school who were 2 Tone fans had a certain coolness to them. But it's a thin line. Any attempt to imitate a 2 Tone style had to be absolutely nailed on or you ran the risk of looking like a total fool. Take the 2 Tone dance for example. It's perhaps one of the most stylish dances ever committed to ..... well the dance-floor. But hitting the off-beats that 2 Tone music demands is counter-intuitive. It is a risky dance to try and pull off. I know because I have tried many times. Even through the alcohol haze of a night on the beer I suspect I looked more like a person who had sore feet and couldn't bear to have them on the pressing on the floor, rather than a cool 2 Tone aficionado. So poorly timed were my movements. The thing I never understood though was how on earth were you supposed to learn such dance moves? This was the time before the internet and YouTube - even VCRs had yet to be in widespread use. If there were clandestine dance lessons behind the bike sheds then I was not privy to them.

Looking foolish or not it's, hard even now, to resist the urge to hit the dance floor when a 2 Tone track is played, especially if it's one by The Specials. I suppose this should be no surprise as it's great, timeless music; the upbeat music often making it easy to overlook the poignant and often politicised lyrics. Cool indeed.

But despite my abject failure to master the dance, the next time you see me at a party and a Specials track is played you're sure to see me on the dance floor within seconds. But please don't worry - my feet are fine I'm just uncoordinated.