đŸŽ” How Good Are They Really đŸŽ” The Specials

Hgatr? It’s all a load of bollocks.

The Beach Boys go in under the 4 mark

Artist Rating
Aretha Franklin 4.64
Neil Young 4.48
Talking Heads 4.39
R.E.M. 4.38
Beastie Boys 4.36
Otis Redding 4.34
David Bowie 4.31
The Beatles 4.31
Pixies 4.30
Leonard Cohen 4.30
The Cure 4.28
Björk 4.27
Marvin Gaye 4.21
Aphex Twin 4.18
Stevie Wonder 4.17
PJ Harvey 4.17
Nirvana 4.15
Joy Division 4.15
Radiohead 4.13
The Supremes 4.13
Prince 4.11
Wu-Tang Clan 4.11
Public Enemy 4.08
Pulp 4.08
Kate Bush 4.07
OutKast 4.07
Portishead 4.03
Kendrick Lamar 3.97
Bob Dylan 3.97
Jimi Hendrix 3.93
The Beach Boys 3.93
LCD Soundsystem 3.92
Joni Mitchell 3.89
Massive Attack 3.89
Bruce Springsteen 3.84
The Clash 3.77
Blondie 3.73
Rage Against The Machine 3.71
The Ramones 3.67
ABBA 3.66
Kanye West 3.65
Arcade Fire 3.64
Blur 3.61
The Smiths 3.57
Beyoncé 3.54
Bob Marley & The Wailers 3.48
Jeff Buckley 3.47
Idlewild 3.42
Madonna 3.40
Manic Street Preachers 3.39
Fleetwood Mac 3.39
Toots & The Maytals 3.35
The White Stripes 3.34
Supergrass 3.32
The Smashing Pumpkins 3.30
Suede 3.30
Elton John 3.28
Kylie Minogue 3.27
Sugababes 3.22
Rihanna 3.19
The Prodigy 3.18
Led Zeppelin 3.16
Pink Floyd 3.15
Jay-Z 3.14
Taylor Swift 3.14
Interpol 3.12
The Rolling Stones 3.09
Destiny’s Child 3.05
The Strokes 3.03
Elvis Presley 3.02
Weezer 3.00
Girls Aloud 2.93
Britney Spears 2.85
Belle And Sebastian 2.85
Metallica 2.81
Green Day 2.81
Madness 2.80
Basement Jaxx 2.75
The Jam 2.75
Oasis 2.71
Whitney Houston 2.69
Lady Gaga 2.61
Queen 2.60
Billy Joel 2.57
Bloc Party 2.41
Eminem 2.38
Mariah Carey 2.32
Blink-182 2.21
Adele 2.05
Red Hot Chili Peppers 1.90
The Spice Girls 1.81

So let’s move swiftly on, to The Specials

500x500

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
0 voters
  • The Specials
  • More Specials
  • In The Studio
  • Today’s Specials
  • Guilty Til Proved Innocent!
  • Skinhead Girl
  • Conquering Ruler
  • Encore

0 voters

  • Gangsters
  • A Message To You, Rudy
  • Nite Klub
  • Too Much Too Young
  • Rat Race
  • Rude Boys Outa Jail
  • Stereotype
  • International Jet Set
  • Do Nothing
  • Maggie’s Farm
  • Ghost Town
  • The Boiler
  • Jungle Music
  • War Crimes
  • Racist Friend
  • Bright Lights
  • Free Nelson Mandela
  • What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend
  • Coz I Love You
  • Hypocrite
  • Pressure Drop
  • A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
  • It’s You
  • Bonediggin
  • Vote For Me

0 voters

Never listened to then. Where would be a good start?

Abstain/5

Know a few singles but never listened to an album. Message to you Rudy, Pressure Drop, Free Nelson Mandela and Ghost Town are bloody great though

1 Like

Any best of comp. or playlist is a good start, they were a brilliant singles band. Add Pearl’s Cafe and Little Bitch to it and you’re away.

2 Likes

Not for me, Clive

Ghost Town is a great song. Generally not a fan of that 2 tone sound though and somewhere between don’t care about and dislike the other big singles.

Obviously better than madness though. 2?

Abstain crew. Dunno anything really beyond the big singles. Quite like Too Much Too Young and that’s about it.

Bet they werre thrilling at the time, I am not into ska or two tone at all though so not for me either

The Boiler is still one of the most disturbing songs I have ever heard so 3 for that alone.

Love them, and have done for years. I picked Ghost Town even though it’s very different to their staple sound as it’s just such a brilliant record. My favourite of theirs by a long way though is “Live at the Moonlight Club” which I picked up on a second hand tape about 20 years ago. It’s a full gig recorded on the night of the 1979 election and it shows the band at their best.

@anon19035908 - is there any way you can add Live at the Moonlight Club as an album we can choose?

Not without losing all the votes so far.

Here

  • Live At The Moonlight Club

0 voters

3 Likes

Thanks :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Was obsessed with them very briefly when I was a student, mainly just because of the greatness of “Ghost Town”. Seem to be popular with the 50-something “Sunday Brunch” type geezers which puts me off a bit, but not really the bands fault

Those first two albums are absolute gold. A band packed full of life and culture and in conversation with the time and the circumstances they are made. Discovering them in the late 90’s was like flicking a switch in my head, and they opened up a whole new world of sound to me. ‘Ghost Town’ is one of the best number 1 singles ever.

Weirdly, never really bothered with anything they’ve done since then. Will rectify that in about 10 years when I’ve got through all that 90’s music.

4/5

Same

Voted 3 but really it’s 3.01; better than Weezer but not as good as Elvis.

I’ve gone with a 4. I imagine they were an absolute revelation at the time and have lead me to discover some of my favourite artists. Their early run of singles is brilliant and they’re the absolute pinnacle of what they did in terms of style, genre etc. Saw them a couple of years ago and the crowd was a bit like @RoverHendrix described upthread but the band were fantastic. 4.

3 Likes

Don’t really know them.