Ghost town the 1981 single released by the specials was number 1 for 3 weeks – this used to be an important and difficult thing to accomplish however now it isn’t because of social media. It was played on top of the pops and MTV which was huge for the genre of music it was and the inclusivity within the band and music video at the time which now no one would bat an eyelid towards but at the time there was still a lot of ‘racial tension’ and even in January of 1981 months before the song was released there was a house fire were ‘13 young Black people died’ this was on ‘New Cross Road in Deptford’ and widely assumed and known to be a ‘racist attack’. Ghost town did a lot of good when it came to being an inclusive music video and representing that the problem wasn’t the people but in fact the government as this was a time when Margret Thatcher was in charge and stripping working class workers from their jobs such as mining.

The band consisted of both black and white musicians which was a rarity at the time when they started in 1977, their music was heavily inspired by Jamaican Ska from the 60s and the UK Punk scene from the 70s.

The band released their first single under their own record label called two-tones which was inspired by their multicultural and multi-genre synergy, heavily insuring that they kept to the positive representations of different cultures being able to come together and that their biggest problem wasn’t one another it was the government which is represented in Ghost Towns music video through the heavily illustrated themes of urban decay, deindustrialisation and unemployment and violence within the city. Margret Thatcher’s time in power was a life changing one for all of society there was a lot of unrest and a lot of people out of working causing more poverty and Ghost Town the music video encapsulates this with its eery sound and videography.

Rose Dulson 3374800

Bibilography

https://wearencs.com/blog/uk-black-history-decade-1980s