Ska
The Selecter’s Pauline Black: ‘When we get on stage, something alchemical happens’
As the ska band release a new album, their formidable frontwoman talks candidly about the heyday of 2 Tone, doing battle with men and microaggressions, and finding her birth mother at 42
Miranda Sawyer
09, Apr, 2023 @10:00 AM
Junior English obituary
Other lives: Reggae singer who released more than 60 singles over a long career as ‘the king of lovers’ rock’
Michael Shrouder
06, Apr, 2023 @4:48 PM
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
Stop smearing anti-racist skinheads, please | Letter
Letter: Some of them are just as warm, kind, sympathetic and thoughtful as Shane Meadows’ Woody and co, writes Dr Sean Purchase
01, Feb, 2023 @6:39 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: 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
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep! Why singalong 70s pop was edgier than you think
A new book, In Perfect Harmony, explores the pop hits of the 70s, long derided as mainstream and meaningless. But there was more to it, argues its author
Will Hodgkinson
20, Sep, 2022 @7:00 AM
An up-to-date picture of single-parent life | Letter
Letter: Despite the difficulties, it’s time we changed some of the outdated narrative of total despondency, says Lucy Smith
Letters
11, Aug, 2022 @5:03 PM
Another brick in the wall for bees | Brief letters
Brief letters: The buzz about soft clay | Reviving Arturo Ui | Sober evaluation | Chanelling Frida Kahlo
23, Jan, 2022 @5:00 PM
Michael Smiley’s teenage obsessions: ‘I heard the Beat and came back to Belfast a rude boy’
The comedian and actor on dancing with his mother to Ray Charles, the power of Seamus Heaney’s poetry and how Richard Pryor showed him his future
As told to Tom Seymour
19, Aug, 2021 @1:09 PM
The return of Jimmy Cliff: ‘Rebel spirit is still in the Jamaican people’
As he releases new music at the age of 77, one of reggae’s foundational figures charts his astonishing life in music, via swinging London, Brazilian samba and the chaotic bravado of The Harder They Come
Lloyd Bradley
06, Aug, 2021 @5:00 AM
David Arquette: ‘Marlon Brando thought I was going to give him a cold’
The actor recalls how he got into graffiti, his love of punk and sitting in the back of his teenage idol’s car
As told to Rich Pelley
24, Jun, 2021 @3:00 PM
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