TASK 1 background

• Ghost town was created as ‘break up’ song for the specials
• it stayed in no1 spot for 3 weeks after release and top 40 for 10 weeks
•  released on 12 June 1981
• mix of ‘two tone’ and ‘reggae’ genres. Their label gave the name to the genre as they mixed ska,reggae and new wave
• cities
•  “Single of the Year” for 1981
• They were signed to the label 2 tone
• directed by Barney Bubbles

TASK 2 social,cultural,historical

• Adresses the themes of urban decay , deindustrialisation,unemployment and violence in inner
• In 1981 unemployment rates in the UK were at the high with almost 3 million unemployed
• the band travelled across the UK and they could witnessed the impact of recession on the country and everyday life.
• There were riots spreading across the UK and it boosted the songs popularity
• 1981 England riots. From April to July 1981, England suffered serious riots across many major cities. Perceived as race riots between communities, the main motives were related to racial tension and inner city deprivation. The riots were caused by a distrust of the police and authority

1. COLONIALISM = it is a policy that a country has over extending or retaining authority over other people or territories, which generally has an aim for economic dominance.
2. POST COLONIALISM = this is the academic study of the cultural legacy of colonialism and imperialism, which focuses on the human consequences of the control and exploitation of colonised people and land
3. DIASPORA = this is a scattered population where the origin lies in a separate geographic locale. In the past, diaspora was used to refer to the involuntary mass dispersion of a population from indigenous territories
4. BAME = BAME stands for Black, Asian and Minority ethnic people and derives from the “political blackness”, which was an idea that various ethic groups has united behind to fight discrimination back in the 1970s.
5. DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS (GILROY) = this is a term that is used to describe the internal conflict that was experienced by subordinated groups in an oppressive society.
6. CULTURAL ABSOLUTISM / RACIAL ESSENTIALISM = this is a philosophical position that declares a society’s culture to be a supreme ethical value.
7. CULTURAL SYNCRETISM = this is when there are aspect of two or more distinct cultures blend together in order to create a new custom, philosophy, idea or practice.
8. ORIENTALISM (SAID) = this is a book that was written by Edward W. Said where Said developed the idea of orientalism to define the West’s representations of the East, which are the people and societies that inhibit Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.
9. APPROPRIATION = this when you acquire different aspects from different cultures and then use them within a culture
10. CULTURAL HEGEMONY = according to Marxist philosophy, this is the domination of a culturally diverse society. This is by the ruling class that manipulates the culture of society
11. THE PUBLIC SPHERE (HABERMAS) = the public sphere was a term created by German philosopher Habermas, who defines the public sphere as being a “virtual or imaginary community which does not necessarily exist in any identifiable space”. Within the public sphere, individuals can come together freely to form public opinions and legitimisation of state and democracy.
12. THE ROLE OF PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING IN TERMS OF FAIR REPRESENTATION OF MINORITY GROUPS / INTERESTS = a key issue that is facing PSB (Public Service Broadcasting) is the representation of ethnic minorities as one of the functions of PSB is to reflect the reality of multi-ethnic and multicultural republics.

Explain how representations used in Music Videos communicate information about their cultural and political contexts.

Music videos can convey a lot more subtly and or powerful messages that other forms of communication can’t. The political point, The Specials were trying to get across was, the experiences they observed whilst touring around England and the event happening around England in the 1980’s. In the 1980’s England experienced a recession in the industrial workplace. As a result, in 1981 the recession had left the country suffering badly, and unemployment increased immensely with It being estimated that over 3 million were unemployed in the UK around this time.

The video itself constitutes “eerie” and from my research a great quote that links to the idea of the song and music video is  Mark Fisher’s work, “The Weird And The Eerie”, to understand it. He wrote how,

The sensation of the eerie occurs either when there is something present where there should be nothing, or there is nothing present when there should be something.

Here, in a major capital city, where the streets should be teeming, there is no-one but The Specials, a group of young black and white men, from a depressed and demoralised Midlands town. They are in charge. 

As if to further underline this, the camera was placed on the car bonnet so we see The Specials as if they are crashing into us. And when they all sing “yah, ya ya, ya, yaah, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya…”, they seem like an insane Greek chorus, before Lynval Golding, the band’s rhythm guitarist and vocalist, murmurs the last line “the people getting angry”. The song fades out in dub reggae tradition, inconclusive, echoing.

The summer of 1981 saw riots in over 35 locations around the UK. In response to the linking of the song to these events, singer Terry Hall said, “When we recorded ‘Ghost Town’, we were talking about 1980’s riots in Bristol and Brixton. The fact that it became popular when it did was just a weird coincidence.” The song created resentment in Coventry where residents angrily rejected the characterisation of the city as a town in decline.

England was hit by recession and away riots were breaking out across its urban areas. Deprived, forgotten, run down and angry, these were places where young people, black and white, erupted. In these neglected parts of London, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool the young, the unemployed, and the disaffected fought pitch battles with the police. 

“Ghost Town” was the mournful sound of these riots, a poetic protest. It articulates anger at a state structure, an economic system and an entrenched animosity towards the young, black, white and poor. It asks,

“Why must the youth fight against themselves.”

The streets that The Specials conjure up in “Ghost Town” are inhabited by ghosts; dancing is a memory, silence reigns. The sounds of life, community, creativity are no longer, “bands don’t play no more”. In the song’s short bridge section in the bright key of G major, Hall asks us to,

“remember the good old days/before the ghost town/ when we danced and sang, and the music played in de boom town”.

(TASK1) Background Information:

• A song by ‘The Specials’
• It was released on the 12th of June 1981
• When released, the song spent 3 weeks at No. 1 and 10 Weeks in total on the Uk Singles Chart’s Top 40.
• It was awarded the “Single of the Year” in 1981
• It won an NME award for being the ‘Best Single’
• The song was written just as the 3 band members (Neville Staples, Lynval Golding and Terry Hall) were leaving ‘The Specials’ to form a band called ‘Fun Boy Three’
• According to Dammers, the song was inspired by the band splitting up. He said in 2008: “‘Ghost Town’ was about the breakup of the Specials. It just appeared hopeless. But I just didn’t want to write about my state of mind so I tried to relate it to the country as a whole.”
• The band’s ‘2 Tone” record label gave its name to the genre that fused ska, reggae and new wave.
• Formed in 1977, the group had became the pioneers of a cross-cultural sound that fused the sounds of reggae music with the raw anger of punk.
• In a space of 2 years (1979-1981), the original “Specials” managed to embody the new decade’s violent emerges of violent energies, morals and conflicts.

(TASK 2) Cultural, Social and Historical Background

• The song was addressing the themes of urban decay, deindustrialisation, unemployment and violence in inner cities
• In 1981, industrial decline had left the city suffering badly and unemployment rates were at the highest level within the UK
• In 1981, unemployment was heading up to 3 million people
• The band’s ‘2 Tone’ record label inspired a crisply attired youth movement
  • However, as a consequence, ‘The Specials” gigs began to attract the hostile of presence groups, such as The National Front and the British Movement.
• Ghost Town is believed to be a prophecy that sounds like an aftermath as the Ghost Town it describes of is gutted by recession and appears to be the terrain before a riot.
• 1981 was the height of youth unemployment as the UK reacted to Margaret Thatcher’s cuts and riots were erupting all over the country
• The song consists of many different sounds, chords and unusual instruments to represent the chaos and confusion which was happening during 1981
• The origin of the song began back in 1980, after Dammers had witnessed the St Paul Riots in Bristol. For most of the 1970s, St Pauls, which was a predominantly black and white working class area, was a victim of deteriorating housing, poor education services and and increasingly strong Police presence.
• The band included both members with black and white skin, which was very rare back in the 80s, identifying the “Specials” are challenging the dominant ideology
• Drammers said to the Guardian in 2008 “For me, it was no good being anti-racist if you didn’t involve black people, so what the Specials tried to do was to create something that is more integrated”

(TASK 3) Ways in which this music video creates and communicates meaning using media language

• Some of the band members are in dark suits, whereas some are in bright clothing, which contradicts each other and could possibly signify the divide between different skin colours
• The lighting of this music video is very dark and not much is happening in the background, suggesting the idea of a Ghost Town.
• Cinematography is used through the merging of each scene of the music video, that switches from scene to scene using a sliding transition, which was common in music videos during the 80s
• At 1min 13seconds, the car is swerving out of control, possibly to signify how the unemployment situation in the UK is going out of control
• During the video, the band maintains eye contact, which could identify seriousness
• A creepy tone is used by wha sounds like an accordion, which follows Steven Neale’s Genre theory of sameness, since ‘Ghost Town” could link to the horror genre due to the word “Ghost”
• The panoramic shots of driving down the street identify that it is a ghost town and sets the tone for the song
• The binary opposition theory by Levi-Strauss can be linked to this song because there are 2 contrasting genres of music (ska and jazz)
• Todorov’s theory of narrative structure can be linked to this music video because their the video starts with equilibrium, then progress, then disruption, a resolution and then a new equilibrium is found.
• On the first verse “Too much fighting on the dance floor” it in referencing the riots that are happening on the streets
• The lines “can’t go on anymore, too many people angry” reference how the “Specials” gigs were attracting a hostile of presence groups, such as the National Front and the British Movements.
• Ghost Town EP included discordant horns, haunting chords and demonic vocal harmonies to emphasise how the Ghost Town was a scary place to be.

Ways music videos create and communicates meaning using media language

opening scene is low camera angle of passing buildings, and street lamps. The weather helps contribute to the doom and gloom of the music video as its grey and cloudy.

Then the shot changes to the band in a car with an effect of passing light over the windsheild. the band members are shown quite apathetic as they take there turns to sing a line from the song.

the next few camera shots have more energy and movement involved as the song leads up to the chorus. the shots go from a shot of their car driving through a tunnel then the shot changes quickly to the driver swerving the wheel as the group sings ‘Non-lexical vocables’. This leads to a couple of short sharp shots switching between perspectives of being in the car and another shot done inside a car in front of the bands.

There is a lot of movement involved in this part of the song to convey in my opinion chaos. I think the producers of the music video did this, since a ghost town gives off the feeling of the feel of an apocalypse scenario , no society or civilisation to be found and with that it would also give off a more creepy atmosphere with no rules or laws.

as the song goes into its next verse the shot changes to the shadow of the bands car telling the audience its now night. the next few changing shots are dark shots of the car as it passes by the camera and then again another shot of the drive with his face only light by blue lighting to again tell the audience the mood of doom and gloom and now creepier factor of a ghost town

As the band starts singing the lyrics again they do a shot with interesting lighting choices by lighting only under their faces to give off more of an eerie tone. then the camera switches to different shots of the street lamp lit roads that the car is driving along and as the song leads back into the non lexical vocables, the scenes start get shorter and snappier showing fast driving scenes and the vocalists beginning to maniacally laugh with short switches between them and their car driving recklessly on the road and even dodging a turn into a wall.

Then the camera switches to a bright light and starts spinning with the bright lights flashing on screen. then the camera slowly and smoothly fades the bright lights to the windscreen again directed at on of the singers with a very monotone facial expression. and to lead to the final scene the camera start to do its spinning light affect to then finish on the shot of the band out of the car by the river thames throwing rocks into it. the band have a brief moment were they acknowledge the camera and pause what they are doing which gives of a great feeling of creepiness to the scene and then they go back to throwing rocks but getting slower and slower with more head turns to the camera until it fades to black.

Notes, dates and cultural, social and historical

• ghost town by the specials was released in June 1981
• Spent 3 weeks at number 1 in the official charts
• In 1981 unemployment rates in the UK were at the high with almost 3 million unemployed. This caused riots and inspired the theme of a ‘Ghost town’
• The unusual diminished chords and weird sounds within the song, represent the strange times of the people.
• the music video conveys meaning as the band are the only people present so they are inside a ‘ghost town’
• In 2002 Jerry Dammers (a member of the band) told the guardian newspaper: “You travelled from town to town and what was happening was terrible. In Liverpool, all the shops were shuttered up, everything was closing down … We could actually see it by touring around. You could see that frustration and anger in the audience. In Glasgow, there were these little old ladies on the streets selling all their household goods, their cups and saucers. It was unbelievable. It was clear that something was very, very wrong.”
• The music video reflects the depressing scenes around the country that the band witnessed on tour.

Background Information

• It is by “The Specials“
• It came out in 1981
• It was number 1 for 3 weeks when it came out
• It was in the UK top 40 list for 10 weeks
• It was single of the year in 1981 and won the NME Best Single
• It was one of the last songs The Specials made before they broke up
• The song was also inspired by the band splitting up and tried to make it relatable to the general public
• The Specials were formed in 1977 and were known for their mix of reggae and punk sound

Cultural, Social and Historical

• The songs themes are urban decay and deindustrialisation, and how that lead to unemployment and violence in cities
• In 1981 unemployment rates in the UK were at the high with almost 3 million unemployed
• 1981 was the height of youth unemployment as the UK reacted to Margaret Thatcher’s cuts and riots were erupting all over the country
• Ghost Town is believed to be a prophecy that sounds like an aftermath as the Ghost Town it describes of is gutted by recession and appears to be the terrain before a riot.
• The song includes lots of unusual sounds to represent the chaos and confusion occurring happening during 1981

Ways music videos create and communicates meaning using media language

• The name of the song is Ghost Town and in the video they are the only people there. It was also shot at night to give it a horror genre look and how we associate bad things happening in the dark at night.
• During the 80s racism was still a big problem and the band members wore dark suits whereas others wore bright clothes; possibly to show this.
• Mid-way through the song the car spins out showing how the unemployment rate in the UK is out of control at the time.

• Ghost Town was released in 1981
• It was produced by John Collins
• Won an NME award for best single
• Stayed at number 1 in the UK charts for 3 weeks

Cultural, Social and Historical Background

• In 1981 the industrial workplace had left cities in poverty and unemployment rates were at the highest level within the UK.
• In 2002 Dammers told The Guardian, “You travelled from town to town and what was happening was terrible. In Liverpool, all the shops were shuttered up, everything was closing down … We could actually see it by touring around. You could see that frustration and anger in the audience. In Glasgow, there were these little old ladies on the streets selling all their household goods, their cups and saucers. It was unbelievable. It was clear that something was very, very wrong.”
• As the band travelled throughout the UK they could evidently see the impact of recession on the country and how it had affected everyday life.
• The song rose significantly in popularity during the time of extreme riots in the country.
• The video’s locations include driving through the Rotherhithe Tunnel and around semi-derelict areas of the East End before ending up in the financial district of the City of London in the early hours of daylight on Sunday morning, where the streets were deserted as it was the weekend. The shots of the band in the car were achieved by attaching a camera to the bonnet using a rubber sucker: Panter recalled that at one point the camera fell off (briefly seen in the finished video at 1:18) and scratched the car’s paintwork, to the displeasure of the car’s owner. The original Ghost Town car can be seen (and sat in) at The Coventry Music Museum.

Communicating Meaning

• The song included a variety of unique and unusual sounds and instruments which was used to reflect the unusual and abnormal times people were living in.
• The clothing used in the video is black suits and brighter clothing, this could be to show the divide between rich and poor at the time in how the lower class workers lived in uncomfortable and worse areas whereas the rich continued their life as normal.