The Specials

Dance Craze review – thrilling documentary captures the explosive energy of 2 Tone

Joe Massot’s vivid 1981 film about the British ska scene brims with life, sweat and the faces of ecstatic fans

Peter Bradshaw

22, Mar, 2023 @1:00 PM

How 2 Tone music empowered us as teenagers during apartheid | Letter

Letter: In South Africa, through music like The Specials, my friend and I discovered that our black and white friendship was normal, says Cornelia Köhler

27, Dec, 2022 @6:23 PM

Terry Hall: Specials frontman died of pancreatic cancer, says bandmate

Specials bassist Horace Panter recounted Hall’s final months – and their plans to record a new album – in an emotional note shared on Facebook

Laura Snapes

21, Dec, 2022 @12:17 PM

Terry Hall united black and white just as Stormzy does now. Music needs their ‘better vision’ | Pauline Black

We are still fighting the same fight for equality he championed back then, says Pauline Black, author and lead singer of the 2-Tone band The Selector

Pauline Black

20, Dec, 2022 @7:00 PM

Terry Hall: his 10 greatest recordings with the Specials and beyond

The singer’s musical free spirit scored him hits with everyone from the Specials and Fun Boy Three to collaborations with the Go-Go’s and Bananarama

Dave Simpson

20, Dec, 2022 @5:25 PM

Terry Hall obituary

Singer with the Specials whose chart-topping Ghost Town evoked the sense of social collapse gripping Britain at the turn of the 80s

Adam Sweeting

20, Dec, 2022 @7:00 AM

Terry Hall was the self-assured eye of the Specials storm

As the pioneering 2 Tone band’s lead singer, Hall’s impassive style made him a star – and helped him weather the vicissitudes of fame, the changing charts and British decline

Alexis Petridis

19, Dec, 2022 @10:42 PM

Terry Hall: lead singer of the Specials dies aged 63

Having survived a tough childhood in Coventry, Hall became one of pop’s defining voices at the turn of the 80s, chronicling British decline and disfranchised youth with the 2 Tone band

Laura Snapes

19, Dec, 2022 @10:41 PM

‘If there are death threats, don’t tell me’ – how Rock Against Racism fought fascism

In the 1970s, the National Front were on the march. So Britain’s music fans and artists united. As a new show celebrates RAR’s achievements, we examine its impact, its legacy – and its thrilling, shambolic climactic concert

Tim Jonze

23, Aug, 2022 @4:22 PM