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Fact #63499

When:

Short story:

The Specials release a new single, Ghost Town, on 2 Tone Records in the UK.

Full article:

Barney Bubbles (video director) : A good video can sell a record which might not do so well. The record companies know that.

Lynval Golding (The Specials) : Ghost Town was inspired by a trip me and Neville took to Jamaica... Kingston is a real ghost town. The place is a complete wreck and that was what gave us the idea. It was the first time I'd been to Jamaica in 20 years and it was frightening! You go downtown and you get people begging you for a dollar, begging you for the shoes on your feet. `Ghost town' was inspired by Jamaica, but it's about Britain too. We're going through a similar thing over here. Coventry is supposed to be an industrial town, but now that all the industry is closing down, it's becoming like a ghost town.

Terry Hall (vocals, The Specials) : Making Ghost Town seemed to take months. I think it took so long because the band were rowing so much. We didn’t even want to be in the same room together. In fact, I recorded part of the vocals from my living room because I couldn’t stand to be in the same room as the others.

A lot of people see it as a song which encapsulates the riots and the general discontent of Britain at that time, but we didn’t intend for it to reflect the frustrated state of the nation.

I had mixed feelings when it go to No1. For us, the celebration of having a No1 was pretty confusing, as we always wanted to avoid the world of corporate rock. Looking back, I think it is a good record. It really sums up the period from ’77 to ’78.