Ghost town was performed by The Specials, written by Jerry Dammers, produced by John Collins.

The song spent three weeks at number one and 10 weeks in total in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. Song released in 1981

Key Concepts:
● Cultural resistance
● Cultural hegemony- Antonio Gramsci, framing the ideologies of the dominant social group as the only legitimate ideology.
● Subcultural theory- The Birmingham School (1970s), looked at working class cultures like the teddy-boys, mods, skinheads, and punks – subcultures. Unified by shared tastes in fashion, music and ideology. They argued argued that the formation of subcultures offered young working class people a solution
to the problems they were collectively experiencing in society

Context:
● Race Relations
● Thatcher’s Britain- British Nationality Act of 1981: introduced a
series of increasingly tough immigration
procedures and excluded Asian people from
entering Britain.
● Rock Against Racism- RAR’s fusion of youth culture and politics has been widely celebrated for making politics fun. This fusion of politics and culture engaged disaffected white youth in the face of profound political and economic insecurity, class tensions and escalating racism.
● Rock Against Sexism- used punk as a vehicle to challenge sexism, promoting female musicians while challenging discrimination in the music industry between 1979 and 1982. 1970s saw a plethora of sexist song lyrics, record covers and band advertisements, many depicting violence towards women.
●2 Tone- a genre of British popular music, that fused punk with Jamaican reggae and ska music. Attracted the attention of right-wing youth. The bands had to tackle their own prejudices towards each other, highlighting the challenges of
mixing different class, racial and educational backgrounds

Social, historical and cultural background

The video and song are part of a tradition of protest in popular music, in this case reflecting concern about the increased social tensions in the UK at the beginning of the 1980s.

Linked to the politics of Thatcherism

Racially diverse representations

Musical genre of ska

Representation of Britain’s emerging multiculturalism, is reinforced through the eclectic mix of stylistic influences

mix of black and white members, The Specials, too, encapsulated Britain’s burgeoning multiculturalism. The band’s 2 Tone record label gave its name to a genre which fused ska, reggae and new wave and, in turn, inspired a crisply attired youth movement.

uneasy mood of the general music

Caribbean immigrants brought ska to England, where it attracted a cult following. The factory town of Coventry in the British Midlands was a hot spot for ska activity, as large numbers of blacks settled there to work in the British auto industry.

 lurking just beneath the “happy,” infectious dance beat were often chilling stories of the racial divisiveness and economic deprivation that characterized the dawning of the Thatcher era.

music video was directed by Barney Bubbles

a cry out against injustice, against closed off opportunities by those who have pulled the ladder up and robbed the young, the poor, the white and black of their songs and their dancing, their futures. Drive round an empty city at dawn. Look at the empty flats.

See the streets before the bankers get there and after the cleaning ladies have gone. And put young, poor, disadvantaged people in that car. See how “Ghost Town” makes sense. Now.

Radio stations didnt want to play reggae music so the only way it would get heard is through handmade sound system

Musicians escaped Jamica as they just introduced guns and brought their music to england which became poular