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Ghost Town (The Specials Song)
"Ghost Town" is a song by the British two-tone band the Specials, released on 12 June 1981. The song spent three weeks at number one and 10 weeks in total in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. Evoking themes of urban decay, deindustrialisation, unemployment and violence in inner cities, the song is remembered for being a hit at the same time as riots were occurring in British cities. Internal tensions within the band were also coming to a head when the single was being recorded, resulting in the song being the last single recorded by the original seven members of the group before splitting up. However, the song was hailed by the contemporary UK music press as a major piece of popular social commentary, and all three of the major UK music magazines of the time awarded "Ghost Town" the accolade of "Single of the Year" for 1981. It was the 12th-best-selling single in the UK in 1981. Background The tour for the group's '' More Specials'' album in autumn 1980 had been a fraught e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Specials
The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English 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 and Neville Staple on vocals, Lynval Golding and Roddy Radiation on guitars, Horace Panter on bass, Jerry Dammers on keyboards, John Bradbury on drums, and Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez on horn. Their music combines the danceable rhythms of ska and rocksteady with the energy and attitude of punk. Lyrically, they present a "more focused and informed political and social stance". The band wore 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!'' EP, reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1981, the recession-themed single "Ghost Town" also hit No. 1 in the UK. After seven consecutive UK top 10 singles between 1979 and 1981, main lea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Decay
Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban decay which is why it can be hard to encapsulate its magnitude. Urban decay can include the following aspects: * Deindustrialization * Depopulation * Counterurbanization * Economic Restructuring * Abandoned buildings or infrastructure * High local unemployment * Increased poverty * Fragmented families * Low overall living standards or quality of life * Political disenfranchisement * Crime * Elevated levels of pollution * Desolate cityscape known as greyfield land or urban prairie Since the 1970s and 1980s, urban decay has been a phenomenon associated with some Western cities, especially in North America and parts of Europe. Cities have experienced population flights to the suburbs and exurb commuter towns; often in the form of white ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elevator Music
Elevator music (also known as Muzak, piped music, or lift music) is a type of background music played in rooms where many people come together (that is, with no intention whatsoever to listen to music), and during telephone calls when placed on hold. There is a specific sound associated with elevator music, but it usually involves simple instrumental themes from "soft" popular music, or "light" classical music being performed by slow strings. This type of music was produced, for instance, by the Mantovani Orchestra, and conductors such as Franck Pourcel and James Last, peaking in popularity around the 1970s. More recent types of elevator music may be computer-generated, with the actual score being composed entirely algorithmically. Other uses The term can also be used for kinds of easy listening, piano solo, jazz or middle of the road music, or what are known as "beautiful music" radio stations. This style of music is sometimes used to comedic effect in mass media such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sounds (magazine)
''Sounds'' was a UK weekly pop/rock music newspaper, published from 10 October 1970 to 6 April 1991. It was known for giving away posters in the centre of the paper (initially black and white, then colour from late 1971) and later for covering heavy metal (especially the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM)) and punk and Oi! music in its late 1970s–early 1980s heyday. History It was produced by Spotlight Publications (part of Morgan Grampian), which was set up by John Thompson and Jo Saul with Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left ''Melody Maker'' to start their own company. ''Sounds'' was their first project, a weekly paper devoted to progressive rock and described by Hutton, to those he was attempting to recruit from his former publication, as "a leftwing ''Melody Maker''". ''Sounds'' was intended to be a weekly rival to titles such as ''Melody Maker'' and ''New Musical Express'' (''NME''). ''Sounds'' was one of the first music papers to cover punk. Mick Middl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IPC Media
TI Media (formerly International Publishing Company, IPC Magazines Ltd, IPC Media and Time Inc. UK) was a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of its titles now belong to Future plc. History Origins The British magazine publishing industry in the mid-1950s was dominated by a handful of companies, principally the Associated Newspapers (founded by Lord Harmsworth in 1890), Odhams Press Ltd, Newnes/ Pearson, and the Hulton Press, which fought each other for market share in a highly competitive marketplace. Fleetway In 1958 Cecil Harmsworth King, chairman of the newspaper group, The Daily Mirror Newspapers Limited which included the ''Daily Mirror'' and the ''Sunday Pictorial'' (now the ''Sunday Mirror''), together with provincial chain West of England Newspapers, made an offer for Amalgamated Press. The offer was accepted, and in January 1959 he was appointed its chairman. Withi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born composer, publisher Lawrence Wright; the first editor was Edgar Jackson. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publication) '' New Musical Express''. 1950s–1960s Originally the ''Melody Maker'' (''MM'') concentrated on jazz, and had Max Jones, one of the leading British proselytizers for that music, on its staff for many years. It was slow to cover rock and roll and lost ground to the ''New Musical Express'' (''NME''), which had begun in 1952. ''MM'' launched its own weekly singles chart (a top 20) on 7 April 1956, and an LPs charts in November 1958, two years after the ''Record Mirror'' had published the first UK Albums Chart. From 1964, the paper led its rival publications in terms of appro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited, Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition. The newspaper was controlled by Tony O'Reilly's Irish Independent News & Media from 1997 until it was sold to the Russian oligarch and former KGB Officer Alexander Lebedev in 2010. In 2017, Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel bought a 30% stake in it. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. The website and mobile app had a combined monthly reach of 19,826,000 in 2021. History 1986 to 1990 Launched in 1986, the first issue of ''The Independent'' was published on 7 October in broadsheet format.Dennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p. 330 It was pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Commentary
Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace about a given problem and appealing to people's sense of justice. Social commentary can be practiced through all forms of communication, from printed form, to conversations to computerized communication. Two examples of strong and bitter social commentary are the writings of Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift and German priest Martin Luther. Swift decried the appalling conditions faced by Irish Catholics under the rule of the Protestant Ascendancy in '' A Modest Proposal'', while Martin Luther decried corruption in the Catholic Church in his ''Ninety-five Theses. Examples of social commentators from the lower social strata are Charles Dickens and Will Rogers. Forms This list is far from exhaustive. Examples of social commentary may be foun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1981 England Riots
In April and July 1981, there were riots in several cities and towns in England. The riots mainly involved black English youth clashing with police. They were caused by tension between black people and the police, especially perceived racist discrimination against black people through increased use of stop-and-search,J. A. Cloake & M. R. Tudor. ''Multicultural Britain''. Oxford University Press, 2001. pp.60-64 and were also fuelled by inner city deprivation. The most serious riots were the April Brixton riots in London, followed in July by the Toxteth riots in Liverpool, the Handsworth riots in Birmingham, the Chapeltown riots in Leeds, and the Moss Side riots in Manchester. There were also a series of less serious riots in other towns and cities. As a result of the riots, the government commissioned the Scarman Report. Context Racial tensions In all the four main cases, these areas had large ethnic minority communities, who had largely immigrated from the Commonwealth i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inner Cities
The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists sometimes turn the euphemism into a formal designation by applying the term ''inner city'' to such residential areas, rather than to more geographically central commercial districts. The word "downtown" is also used to describe the inner city or city centre – primarily in North America – by English-speakers to refer to a city's commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart, and is often contiguous with its central business district. In British English, the term "city centre" is most often used, "''centre-ville''" in French, ''centro storico'' in Italian, ''Stadtzentrum'' in German or ''shìzhōngxīn'' (市中心) in Chinese. The two terms are used interchangeably in Canada. A few US cities, such as Philadelp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
