Defend the undefendable: UB-40

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i just can't listen to them for more than 10 seconds without wanting to break me stereo:"red red wine" is a musical nightmare for me,and "i've got you,babe" - as if it's not enough they added chrissie hynde...
ok,i admmit,i hate reggae, but i hate ub 40 the most:
their singer is annoying, the production is thin and awful.
what is there about to love?
please open my eyes.

― choice of nature, Saturday, 4 March 2006 18:42 (nineteen years ago)

ok,i admmit,i hate reggae, but i hate ub 40 the most:

This is somewhat akin to saying...

"ok, I admit it, I hate heavy metal, but I hate Loverboy the most"

UB40 are ultimately harmless. Get over it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 4 March 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

ok i admit i hate jazz, but kraft-werk are the wurst

― mark s (mark s), Saturday, 4 March 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

but if i listen to bob marley for example, i'm ok,calm and relaxed.
but about ub-40:
i dont understand why people who do love reggae, can also love them.
the singer, the production...zero quality what so ever..
or not?!

― choice of nature, Saturday, 4 March 2006 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

UB-40 did "One In Ten", "Red Red Wine" and "Rat In Ma Kitchen", ergo they are easily defensible. Get one sensible hobby horse.

― Dan (Hate On Snow Instead) Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 4 March 2006 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

Why hate cocaine?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 4 March 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

every girl i know has at least one UB-40 cd, even the ones that aren't music fans.

― pinder (pinder), Saturday, 4 March 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

ok, so i might be the only one thinking it.
i thought i'll find some company here,but,whatever...
i'll get over it, i'm strong..

― choice of nature, Saturday, 4 March 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

First couple of UB40 albums are great. "Tyler", "King", "Food for Thought", "One in Ten" are righteous political pop songs. A lot of their Labour of Love covers, especially "Red Red Wine", are fine; it's hardly the band's fault that the originals are unbeatable. Sure they got cheesier as time went by, but there are far worse musical atrocities than breezy reggae-tinged pop, and they still came out with the odd corker like "Rat in Mi Kitchen". So there you go.

― Raw, Uncompromising, and Noodly (noodle vague), Saturday, 4 March 2006 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

"Rat in Mi Kitchen" you say - i'll check it out..

― choice of nature, Saturday, 4 March 2006 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

'don't break my heart'

― dave q (listerine), Saturday, 4 March 2006 19:28 (nineteen years ago)

They were better than Musical Youth.

That's all I can give ya.

― Brian O'Neill (NYCNative), Saturday, 4 March 2006 19:31 (nineteen years ago)

earth dies screaming = yes.
99.9999% of everything else they did = no no no no no

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Saturday, 4 March 2006 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

"Musical Youth."
are those the one's going "pass the (wahtever it is) left outside" kids? ("it really,really make me jump")?

i used to love them as a kid!nostalgia..

― choice of nature, Saturday, 4 March 2006 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

Their dub LP is perfectly adequate.

― r3000, Saturday, 4 March 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

I seem to recall the entire "Rat in the Kitchen" album is pretty great. But if you actively "hate" reggae, I'd suggest listening to something else, because like 'em or not, UB40 are reggae.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Saturday, 4 March 2006 19:56 (nineteen years ago)

I do love "King," actually. Forgot about that one (way pre-Labor of Love).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 4 March 2006 22:12 (nineteen years ago)

They were better than Musical Youth.

No. No they weren't.

I once helped arrange delivery of Ali Campbell's kitchen.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 4 March 2006 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sure we've done this before, but when UB40 first came out they were fantastic.

They were politically comitted and outspoken; they were great live; they produced a string of great singles ("King" / "Food For Thought"; "My Way Of Thinking" / "I Think It's Going To Rain Today"; "The Earth Dies Screaming" / "Dream A Lie"; "Don't Slow Down" / "Don't Let It Pass You By"; "One In Ten"; "I Won't Close My Eyes"....), the first album (Signing Off) was great; the second one (Present Arms) maybe not quite as good but still not bad; and it's dub version (Present Arms In Dub) maybe a bit misguided but still eminently forgiveable.

Then they had an enormous success with that appalling cover of "Red Red Whine" (sic), and it all suddently and apparently irreversibly turned to the most appalling shit imaginable.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Saturday, 4 March 2006 22:30 (nineteen years ago)

because like 'em or not, UB40 are reggae.

Several reggae purists would disagree with you.

UB40? They created pop reggae. Hardly the worst genre ever. Still love "Red Red Wine".

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 4 March 2006 23:08 (nineteen years ago)

UB40? They created pop reggae.

That's not really true either.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 4 March 2006 23:17 (nineteen years ago)

i have this strange and slightly embarrassing soft spot for their cover of "can't help falling in love with you".

and yes, their very first stuff was wonderful. "one in ten" is an early musical memory, and i recall - at the age of five or six or something - being very freaked out by it; aware that there was something very dark about being a "number on a list". i remember my dad explaining it to me - and telling me what their name meant - and thinking, woah, being a grown-up is gonna SUCK.

i also liked the fact that there were fucking loads of them and they looked a bit like a (not very good) gang.

― grimly fiendish, a statistical reminder of a world that doesn't care (grimlord), Saturday, 4 March 2006 23:18 (nineteen years ago)

This is weird to see a thread about them because another friend of mine just mentioned them.

Oh! It's Grimly even! Wow!

― Bimble The Nimble (Bimble...), Saturday, 4 March 2006 23:21 (nineteen years ago)

Well as for me I bought Geoffrey Morgan at the time, liked maybe half of it. That was a long time ago, though. But I don't have a problem with UB40.

― Bimble The Nimble (Bimble...), Saturday, 4 March 2006 23:23 (nineteen years ago)

the extended version of i've got mine is great great great!!

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 4 March 2006 23:43 (nineteen years ago)

I was at this barbecue party one summer and the bloke with the dreads was there - his daughter is a FOX!

― Merryweather (scarlet), Saturday, 4 March 2006 23:51 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, an actual fox.

― Merryweather (scarlet), Saturday, 4 March 2006 23:52 (nineteen years ago)

TS: "Rat in Mi Kitchen means UB40 aren't so bad, really" vs "Money's Too Tight to Mention means Simply Red aren't so bad, really".

― JimD (JimD), Sunday, 5 March 2006 01:27 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.rivernen.ca/fox_4.jpg

― Bimble The Nimble (Bimble...), Sunday, 5 March 2006 06:20 (nineteen years ago)

ali campbell's voice is a lot of what made early ub40 so good....one of the best white reggae singers ever

― grapple (grapple), Sunday, 5 March 2006 10:42 (nineteen years ago)

as if it's not enough they added chrissie hynde...

In what way is this a bad thing, exactly?

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 5 March 2006 11:42 (nineteen years ago)

ali campbell's voice is a lot of what made early ub40 so good....one of the best white reggae sinners ever

= how I read that, at first

― Roque Strew (RoqueStrew), Sunday, 5 March 2006 12:40 (nineteen years ago)

I will listen to anything UB40 chooses to cover and will like it better than the original. "Ace of Spades," "Get Low," hell, even "4'33," doesn't matter, I'm absolutely dying to hear their soulful lite pop-reggae take on it.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 5 March 2006 13:54 (nineteen years ago)

have to say, their set at live 8 pissed all over everyone elses. and a contiuous mix if i remember rightly.

― frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Sunday, 5 March 2006 15:17 (nineteen years ago)

i canna do it.

every time i've thought "there must be something to these guys" i hear something truly execrable or, at best, done better by a hundred other people.

that said, i love 'red red w(h)ine'

― mitya is still waiting to receive his new password in the mail, Sunday, 5 March 2006 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

UB40 is to reggae as Jimmy Buffet is to country.

― Brian O'Neill (NYCNative), Sunday, 5 March 2006 21:44 (nineteen years ago)

I was in Tesco last week and a little kid, five years old maybe, was wandering around singing 'Rat In Mi Kitchen' to himself. I thought that was pretty cool

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Monday, 6 March 2006 10:08 (nineteen years ago)

"I hate UB40 with an unbridled passion" = "I've heard three songs of theirs total" 99 times out of 100

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 6 March 2006 10:20 (nineteen years ago)

What Stewart said. Once again.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 6 March 2006 10:30 (nineteen years ago)

For later UB40, I have a definite soft spot for 'Sing Our Own Song'.

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 6 March 2006 12:03 (nineteen years ago)

Speed II House Band on the ship. That's all.

― Navek Rednam (Navek Rednam), Monday, 6 March 2006 13:49 (nineteen years ago)

"Signing Off" is pretty decent, and the usage of an unemployment benefit claim for the cover art is joyfully fitting.

..and while i greatly enjoy Cabernet, Merlot and Pinot's, Red RED Wine makes me physically ill.

― christoff (christoff), Monday, 6 March 2006 15:07 (nineteen years ago)

Stewart is correct:

Say something complimentary about UB40

― Jeff W (zebedee), Monday, 6 March 2006 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

They are my Mum's favourite band, so therefore classic. I even have a soft-spot for their cheesier moments like Kingston Town, Higher Ground and yes that cover of I Can't Help Falling In Love With You.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 6 March 2006 15:21 (nineteen years ago)

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