Two-tone, or 2 tone, also known as ska-rock and ska revival, is a genre of British popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s that fused traditional

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

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 w ...

rocksteady Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish ...

, and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

music with elements of

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

and new wave music. Its name derives from

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 J ...

, a record label founded in 1979 by

Jerry Dammers Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers GCOT (born 22 May 1955) is a British musician who was a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry-based ska band the Specials (also known as the Special A.K.A.) and later the Spatial AKA Orch ...

the Specials The Specials, also known as the Special AKA, were 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, J ...

, and references a desire to transcend and defuse racial tensions in Thatcher-era Britain: many two-tone groups, such as

the Selecter The Selecter is 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 ...

and the Beat, featured a mix of

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, and

multiracial people The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races (human categorization), races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicity, ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used ...

. Originating in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

in the West Midlands of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the late 1970s, it was part of the second wave of ska music. It followed on from the first ska music that developed in Jamaica in the 1950s and 1960s, infused with

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and new wave textures. Although two-tone's mainstream commercial appeal was largely limited to the UK, it influenced the

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially Horn (instrument), horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones ...

movement that developed in the US in the late 1980s and 1990s.

History

The two-tone sound originated among young musicians in

in the West Midlands of England, who grew up listening to 1960s

Jamaican music The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles. Reggae is especially popular through the fame of Bob Marley. Jamaican mus ...

. They combined influences from

and

with elements of

and new wave. Bands considered part of the genre include

, Madness, the Beat,

Bad Manners Bad Manners are an English Two-tone (music genre), two-tone and ska Musical ensemble, band led by frontman Buster Bloodvessel. Early appearances included ''Top of the Pops'' and the live film documentary ''Dance Craze'' (1981). They were at ...

, the Bodysnatchers and

Akrylykz Akrylykz (originally Akrylyk(z) Vyktymz) were a British ska band, formed by members of Hull School of Art in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that featured Roland Gift (later of Fine Young Cannibals) originally as a ten ...

. The Specials' keyboard player

coined the term "two-tone". Dammers, with the assistance of

Horace Panter Stephen Graham "Horace" Panter, (born 30 August 1953) also known professionally as Sir Horace Gentleman, is the bassist for the British 2 Tone ska band The Specials. Early life Panter was born in Croydon, Surrey and spent most of his formativ ...

and graphic designer John "Teflon" Sims, developed the iconic ''Walt Jabsco'' logo (a man in a black suit, white shirt, black tie,

pork pie hat A pork pie hat is one of several different styles of hat that have been worn since the mid-19th century. The pork pie hat gained further popularity in the 20th century, being worn by famous actors and musicians. This style of hat features a flat ...

, white socks and black loafers) to represent the two-tone genre. The logo, based on an early album-cover photo of

Peter Tosh Winston Hubert McIntosh (19 October 1944 – 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band Bob Marley and the Wa ...

, included an added black-and-white check pattern. Most of the bands considered to be part of the two-tone genre were signed to

(operative 1979–1985) at some point. Other record labels associated with the two-tone sound were

Stiff Records Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London by Dave Robinson (music executive), Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007. Established at the outset of the p ...

and

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 ...

. The music was especially popular among

skinhead A skinhead or skin is a member of a subculture that originated among working-class youth in London, England, in the 1960s. It soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working-class skinhead movement emerging worldwide i ...

rudies Rude boy is a subculture that originated from 1960s Jamaican street culture. In the late 1970s, there was a revival in England of the terms ''rude boy'' and ''rude girl'', among other variations like ''rudeboy'' and ''rudebwoy'', being used t ...

and

mod revival The mod revival is a subculture that started in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and later spread to other countries (to a lesser degree). The Mod Revival started with disillusionment with the punk scene when commercialism set in. It was f ...

ists.

Museum

On 1 October 2010, the 2-Tone Central museum, cafe and venue opened in the Coventry University Students' Union building, and by August 2011 it had moved to the 2-Tone Village in Stoke, Coventry. It includes exhibition space and the Coventry Music Wall of Fame.

References

External links

2 Tone Information
– 2 Tone Records, collectors information {{Pop rock 20th-century music genres Rock music genres English styles of music Fusion music genres New wave music Punk rock genres Reggae genres Ska genres Skinhead

History

Museum

References

Further reading

External links