your favourite ska/2-tone band of the early 80s poll

specials -vs- beat is kind of a mean trick of a choice. they were both very wonderful.

How is this not Specials? The other bands all have very high moments but for overall impact and consistency - Specials.

yeah, specials are ultra-klassik. i can't see many people not voting for them. BUT the beat did have some moments that are, to me, some of the highlights of 20th century music.

Madness' "One Step Beyond" en espanol was pretty classic.

Re. the undeniable classickness of the Specials. An element of high-testosterone laddishness has been known to be a turn-off for some people.

How is this not Specials? The other bands all have very high moments but for overall impact and consistency - Specials.

Oh you Americans. 15 Top 10 hits in 5 years suggest Madness might get a few votes from UK Ilxors

one from me

Bet Obama goes for the Specials and Brown for Madness - more trouble ahead

The (English) Beat
Madness
Specials
The Selecter
Bad Manners (meh)

The Beat for me, although nothing they did was nearly as great as "Ghost Town" or the Special AKA's "The Boiler" with Rhoda.

the specials with no hesitation whatsoever. one of my first ever favourite bands, one of the coolest and best dressed cast of folks, and the only ska band that i still get down to on a regular basis.

I <3 all of them but have to go with The Specials.

What Scott said; Specials vs. Beat is way too close to call. Guess I'll do it mathematically: They both had equally excellent debut albums, but after that, the Specials basically have one song (or a 3-song EP to be generous) that I love, while the Beat put out two whole more really good albums. It's possible if I heard More Specials again now it'd blow me away (don't think I've heard it in almost three decades, so who knows), but until then, I have to go with the Beat.

Never understood what people loved about Madness's heavy heavy monster sound stuff (not being British), though "Our House" is real good of course. (Selektor's "Too Much Pressure" and "On My Radio" are pretty great, too. To hell with Bad Manners, though; who needs those clods?)

Yeah, The Specials.

The English Beat. By a considerable margin.

Special AKA's "The Boiler" with Rhoda

This is one of the few songs that really terrifies me.

totally the specials for me. bad manners, is that the group with that buster bloodvessel guy or whatever?

Yep.

the selecter's too much pressure is the best album cover any of these bands ever had & the album can stand up next to the best albums by the other acts - but the beat have at least two really good albums, and the specials - well, they were in a class by themselves imo

I was familiar with Specials, Beat and Madness but only in the last few years did I check out them all - and only The Specials debut captured my heart, along with the incomparable "A Chequered Past" Two Tone compilation. The debut Beat album has VERY high points (Mirror In The Bathroom, Twist & Shout, Tears Of A Clown, Ranking Full Stop) but overall I felt it was inconsistent, unlike the Specials debut. I also listened to the Madness singles box and it really left no strong impression on me. Agreed on the two best Selector songs cited above but not much else they did approaches them.

yeah the selecter is my shit. they would eat this poll up if the only factor being considered was RUDEBOI ATTITOOD.

Selecter was so good. Specials have highest highlights and best single album (S/T obv) but I'm tempted to Beat it, for most songs I can listen to in a row without feeling at all "skippit".

Having put out this poll, I find myself unable to make my mind up.

Not that I would actually vote for them in this poll, but just a quick word in defence of Bad Manners. I went to see them a couple of times back in the day, and it was just fun, nothing else. They were also (for those that may be unaware) very successful in the UK at the time - 10 top-40 hits between 80 and 82. Walking In The Sunshine and Special Brew were undeniably great singles.

Were the Specials known as Specials in the States or something?

10 top-40 hits between 80 and 82. Walking In The Sunshine and Special Brew were undeniably great singles.

The Can-Can was terrible though, and I can't think what their other singles were.

Wait: Lip-Up Fatty

Ah, and 'Lorraine' ('when I find her, I'm gonna kill her' - nice sentiment)

Madness by a mile. Seeing the Specials earlier this year made it absolutely plain that while the Specials had the "social importance", Madness had the songs. Specials could have a tight 30-minute set of really good songs; Madness could have a tight 90-minute set of really good songs. The Beat had great moments, but in the UK their status is definitely a good step below Madness or the Specials.

To be fair to Bad Manners' 'Can Can', I wrote this play when I was ten for me and my sister to act out in front of our parents. We were both Vikings and it was the epic story of us leaving behind our village on the fjord and going off to plunder and pillage abroad. We both get killed in battle in the final act, and for some reason I chose that song as the soundtrack for our entry into Valhalla (Chart Hits 81 was all we had apart from the Police and Shakin' Stevens). I had to leap up from lying slain on the floor, drop the needle on Bad Manners, then do this ska-Viking-can-can dance, it was dead good really.

i think john is exactly right about too much pressure being the best proper uk ska album. i rather like the specials as the best uk ska band.

but the beat shits on these bands from a height as a pop band imo. <--- too disco for geir

Cardiac Arrest
House of Fun
Driving In My Car
Our Housel
Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)/Madness (Is All in the Mind)
Wings of a Dove
The Sun and the Rain
Michael Caine
One Better Day

Durr managed to delete most of last post before submitting

Let's try again.

"the beat shits on these bands from a height as a pop band"

Whoa! What made those early Beat records so great was how unpoppy they sounded - skittery and paranoid and looking for trouble. Twist and Crawl sounds like terrible speed. I thought that if Madness were dismissed on this thread it would be for being "only" a pop group compared to the others. Look at their 79-84 run of singles for a band that shots on the others as a pop band:
The Prince
One Step Beyond
My Girl
Work, Rest and Play EP
Baggy Trousers
Embarrassment
Return of the Los Palmas 7
Grey Day
Shut Up
It Must Be Love
Cardiac Arrest
House of Fun
Driving in my car
Our House
Tomorrow's Just Another Day/Madness
Wings of a Dove
The Sun and the Rain
Michael Caine
One Better Day

Voting for the Beat. Can understand the pop appeal of Madness, but they never wrote anything as plain moving as 'I Confess' or 'Save It For Later' or 'Doors of Your Heart', and their self-conscious, we're-mad-we-are 'nuttiness' has always been a turn-off for me.

ithappens you're right point taken. madness was a good and v v popular pop band. nickb's point is where im comin from tho.

I just realized I messed my list up, up there, putting Madness decond and then the Specials. It's the Beat by a hair and then the Specials (Terry Hall has done loads of good stuff in his time, even beyond the Specials) and then a couple of songs by Madness and then the Selecter and I never cared for Bad Manners.

The Prince
One Step Beyond
My Girl
Work, Rest and Play EP
Baggy Trousers
Embarrassment
Return of the Los Palmas 7
Grey Day
Shut Up
It Must Be Love
Cardiac Arrest
House of Fun
Driving in my car
Our House
Tomorrow's Just Another Day/Madness
Wings of a Dove
The Sun and the Rain
Michael Caine
One Better Day

my early teenage life in one list.

The Specials have the best song, but Madness have got more strength in depth.

Specials

I know Specials will take it but lately I listen more the The Selecter. They sound freakier than the others after you have had a few beers.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Madness brings me the most joy.

if you were to include the two fun boy three records, i would vote specials. otherwise, madness.

nothing brings the smiles down like when "The Boiler" comes up on shuffle.

Madness all the way. Because they were more than just ska, and showed they were able to play on numerous other musical (and lyrical) strings in addition.

Specials still had the best single track in "Ghost Town" though.

Among the others, the only one I have any feelings for at all is Bad Manners, who were kind of underrated and the only one of these bands besides Madness who did indeed manage to sound extremely English.

i don't know, beat or specials, very hard to choose.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41003000/jpg/_41003964_buster_cheeks_203.jpg

Posting pix of Geir feels mean-spirited.