Terry Hall

[Slim]

I was very sad to hear of the death of Terry Hall, last night. I was never a fan of The Specials although I do maintain a certain nostalgic affection for Too Much Too Young and Ghost Town. I liked Fun Boy Three. But I thought The Colourfield were brilliant, especially the first album which I played to death back in 1985.

I saw him briefly once, browsing records at Our Price in Covent Garden in the late '90s. But I didn't say hello.

[The Picnic Wasp]

At the time it just wasn't my type of music. I didn't get ska at all but I have grown to like it and a lot of his music is superb. One of the later later news programmes (CH5 I think) paid him a great tribute featuring a surprising number of clips of his hits. Another heartbreaking story though, of a life blighted by abuse at a young age. Echoes of Tony Slattery turning to substances to try to take the edge off the misery. Those who perpetrate such acts should be forced to provide lifelong financial compensation to their victims. If that means re-routing benefits, so be it. A finite sentence is not enough to dissipate the black cloud which hangs over the abused forever.

[Matt2112]

When I was primary school age and The Specials were in their pomp, I was part of the group that self-identified, as it were, as "rockers" as opposed to (usually friendly) rivals who were "mods", and it seemed that those musical tastes back then were mutually exclusive, and never the twain would meet. Same with the "New Romantic" bands of the time.

Of course, as I grew up I gradually realised that all those big-selling singles of the genres I once felt duty-bound to despise were actually wonderful, and some of the characters that performed them unforgettable, becoming iconic of that time, and representing memories that I'll always cherish.

Terry Hall undoubtedly falls into that category, so I genuinely had to take a minute to process the announcement of his sad death when I heard it, which is not usually the case for me when a well-known musician passes away.

Thanks for the music and the memories.

 

[The Picnic Wasp]

Just listening to the track kindly posted by James above. These days the engineers would be all over it with pitch correction software. I'm glad it escaped that treatment as it really adds something to the charm of his voice. A bit like Marc Almond.

I do wish I'd been a bit more open minded and receptive to other genres in my teens and twenties though. It stifled my knowledge quite a bit. I hated bands like The Cure back then. I think it had something to do with the school I attended. It was all male. Everyone walked about with the Listen record store bag with their latest purchase. It had to fit a fairly narrow bandwidth of acceptability. Led Zep, Deep Purple, The Who, Pink Floyd, the Stones or similar.

I don't remember Rush getting a mention and I probably didn't flaunt my love of Queen too much. Maybe it was a Glasgow thing back then. Young guys have dramatically different taste nowadays although it seems mostly bad. Probably just because I'm old.

[David L]

We had a similar partisan approach in my last years at school. You were either a 'rocker' or you were into 2 Tone/ska.
For me it was a no-brainer, the exhilerating noise of VH, Lizzy, UFO....and Rush or the gritty and downright miserable realism of bands like The Specials

[captainkurtz]

When I was primary school age and The Specials were in their pomp, I was part of the group that self-identified, as it were, as "rockers" as opposed to (usually friendly) rivals who were "mods", and it seemed that those musical tastes back then were mutually exclusive, and never the twain would meet. Same with the "New Romantic" bands of the time.

Of course, as I grew up I gradually realised that all those big-selling singles of the genres I once felt duty-bound to despise were actually wonderful, and some of the characters that performed them unforgettable, becoming iconic of that time, and representing memories that I'll always cherish.

Terry Hall undoubtedly falls into that category, so I genuinely had to take a minute to process the announcement of his sad death when I heard it, which is not usually the case for me when a well-known musician passes away.

Thanks for the music and the memories.

 

You've basically just said exactly what I was thinking.

Wasn't a fan by any means but I am sad he's no longer with us.  He was an inspiring bloke in many ways.  Cancer is a bastard.

[pxr5]

My schooldays were just before the ska/2-tone music revival, so it was still rockers and punks for me. But with this there was some overlap at least - so I did listen to The Sex Pistols etc. My 2 closest friends were punks, but we shared our music to an extent. I'm glad I broadened my horizons as I grew older and I started listening to The Cure, The Smiths, The Mission and the like. 2-tone was there, just not much interest to me, though some of the songs did appeal from The Specials, Madness, Selector etc.

RIP Terry.

[Thenop]

I don't believe the ska wave hit my country in full. We had some hits in the top 40 et al, but I don't think we ever got passed Much Too Young & Ghost Town. Madness were far more popular even if much more pop of course. I do recall the Ghost Town video, I liked it a bit dark and brooding. Not really my kind of music but it was better then most radio music. I was the odd one out anyway, already at age 9 playing my Kiss records and at 11 getting into Maiden. My peers did not understand that at all.
Anyway, always sad to see a talent go, 63 is far too young of course.