Sunday, March 30, 2008

Retro Saturday: The Beat

Some ska is overdue on here, methinks. Back in 1979/1980 this was the hottest musical revival thanks to the likes of The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, Bad Manners....and the band I'm featuring tonight, The Beat, whom I particularly loved. I still have "I Just Can't Stop It" on vinyl, my copy of which always jumped when my favourite track "Mirror In The Bathroom" came on - probably from over-playing it! Find this brilliant, catchy hit song from 1980 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTNpaaPHENE

I remember they went over to break America and had to change their name to "The English Beat" which was quite funny. They didn't really have too many hits afterwards - although "Too Nice To Talk To" is still worth a mention and can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IarQsEd0mLg&feature=related

A couple of members of the band subsequently went on to form the Fine Young Cannibals, who had a few hits towards the end of the 80s and were also rather good too.

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