When they reformed in 2008-ish, I was lucky enough to see them play on that tour at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. One of the best gigs I have ever been to.
One of the 1st bands I remember liking as a kid, this one hits hard. The Specials were magnificent, the Ska era gave us some great music and they were at the forefront. RIP Terry. “Thinking of You”
The Specials first made themselves known to my consciousness with the single Gangsters in 1979. It had a kind of ghostly, ethereal quality to it, conveyed by Dammers’s writing and the band’s playing, but most of all by Terry Hall’s voice that somehow captured the bleakness of the times, a bleakness and sense of hopelessness under Thatcher’s Britain that everyone in the country under 25 seemed to share.
The same feeling was conveyed by Hall’s blank delivery on Too Much Too Young and then Do Nothing, but woven into a hypnotic, spellbinding beauty on the latter. And then, a few months later, it reached a peak synthesis moment of art, voice and national mood with Ghost Town that I don’t think could ever be topped, and that maybe can’t be adequately conveyed to those who didn’t live through it. The only thing for The Specials to do after that was to break up.
I liked lots of the things that Hall did after that, but that was the moment, the peak moment, a moment that only comes along once a generation, and his was the voice articulating it.
Gutted a true legend who’ll be forever remembered all over for tackling race and social issues through incredible music.
Thank you to the man for everything he did for Coventry and the Midlands as a whole making it a place for people of all ethnicities ❤️
I knew and worked with Terry many times over the years with the Dub Pistols and later on as Lynval Golding’s live sound engineer, also supporting the Specials on a few occasions.
Top bloke, and then some. Many a good memory of spending time with him. I’ll remember him most though for his amazing dry sense of humour.
Been a sad day all around really. You’ll be missed mate. RIP.
RIP and condolences to his family and friends. The Specials were great and his voice was a big part of that. Fun Boy Three as well.
RIP Terry, what a dude. His RHLSTP episode is excellent
That’s younger than my dad, what a loss. Ghost Town came up on my Spotify shuffle yesterday, such a unique voice
“This ones dedicated to the Tory government & the shit theyre leading us into..”-Terry Hall 1980
A quote I think of a lot.
RIP, Terry Hall. Your music entertained, educated and elevated me; always a rude girl.
RIP Terry, used to play footy with you and the gang in Cheylesmore.
Your music really meant something….
Before my time but I still got into them around 18 when I started to investigate older music. His delivery and stage persona was pretty unique. He’s gone but left behind some great songs that I have been playing since I heard the news
Gutted. Loved Ghost Town for years (perfectly applies to these times as well as the times before I was born) and got really into The Specials just the other week.
I got big into Fleetwood Mac a few weeks before Christine McVie died, and the same now with The Specials (Also the case with Leonard Cohen, David Bowie and George Michael in 2016). Just gutting and Britain, I’m sorry.
Rip, scrolls to see if anyone says was it the clot shot…
Ah fuck. The Specials are one of the most influential bands around and one of the best from the UK (still put them and the clash as my top two UK bands).
While he may be gone, his music will live on for generations like it already has.
Crap. I was so into the Specials when I was 13 in 1981. Got detention for covering my work books with drawings of the album.
Changed my life that band did.
I met him once at a Daniel Johnston gig and we chatted about the gig and afterwards I said to the people I was with, ‘I can’t believe Terry Hall just asked my opinion about something’, and they were like, ‘what, where?’, none of them even recognised him & 2 of them were Specials fans, he was so humble and unassuming you would never guess he was the lead singer of one the biggest bands in Britain.
Sad, sad news.
Just read his obit and holy fuck: abducted to France by teacher aged twelve, sexually abused for four days then dumped by the side of the road.
19 comments
What a rotten year
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2oXzrnti4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2oXzrnti4)
And *Its in your living roooom*
Ah, terrible news.
When they reformed in 2008-ish, I was lucky enough to see them play on that tour at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. One of the best gigs I have ever been to.
One of the 1st bands I remember liking as a kid, this one hits hard. The Specials were magnificent, the Ska era gave us some great music and they were at the forefront. RIP Terry. “Thinking of You”
The Specials first made themselves known to my consciousness with the single Gangsters in 1979. It had a kind of ghostly, ethereal quality to it, conveyed by Dammers’s writing and the band’s playing, but most of all by Terry Hall’s voice that somehow captured the bleakness of the times, a bleakness and sense of hopelessness under Thatcher’s Britain that everyone in the country under 25 seemed to share.
The same feeling was conveyed by Hall’s blank delivery on Too Much Too Young and then Do Nothing, but woven into a hypnotic, spellbinding beauty on the latter. And then, a few months later, it reached a peak synthesis moment of art, voice and national mood with Ghost Town that I don’t think could ever be topped, and that maybe can’t be adequately conveyed to those who didn’t live through it. The only thing for The Specials to do after that was to break up.
I liked lots of the things that Hall did after that, but that was the moment, the peak moment, a moment that only comes along once a generation, and his was the voice articulating it.
Gutted a true legend who’ll be forever remembered all over for tackling race and social issues through incredible music.
Thank you to the man for everything he did for Coventry and the Midlands as a whole making it a place for people of all ethnicities ❤️
I knew and worked with Terry many times over the years with the Dub Pistols and later on as Lynval Golding’s live sound engineer, also supporting the Specials on a few occasions.
Top bloke, and then some. Many a good memory of spending time with him. I’ll remember him most though for his amazing dry sense of humour.
Been a sad day all around really. You’ll be missed mate. RIP.
RIP and condolences to his family and friends. The Specials were great and his voice was a big part of that. Fun Boy Three as well.
RIP Terry, what a dude. His RHLSTP episode is excellent
That’s younger than my dad, what a loss. Ghost Town came up on my Spotify shuffle yesterday, such a unique voice
“This ones dedicated to the Tory government & the shit theyre leading us into..”-Terry Hall 1980
A quote I think of a lot.
RIP, Terry Hall. Your music entertained, educated and elevated me; always a rude girl.
RIP Terry, used to play footy with you and the gang in Cheylesmore.
Your music really meant something….
Before my time but I still got into them around 18 when I started to investigate older music. His delivery and stage persona was pretty unique. He’s gone but left behind some great songs that I have been playing since I heard the news
Gutted. Loved Ghost Town for years (perfectly applies to these times as well as the times before I was born) and got really into The Specials just the other week.
I got big into Fleetwood Mac a few weeks before Christine McVie died, and the same now with The Specials (Also the case with Leonard Cohen, David Bowie and George Michael in 2016). Just gutting and Britain, I’m sorry.
Rip, scrolls to see if anyone says was it the clot shot…
Ah fuck. The Specials are one of the most influential bands around and one of the best from the UK (still put them and the clash as my top two UK bands).
While he may be gone, his music will live on for generations like it already has.
Crap. I was so into the Specials when I was 13 in 1981. Got detention for covering my work books with drawings of the album.
Changed my life that band did.
I met him once at a Daniel Johnston gig and we chatted about the gig and afterwards I said to the people I was with, ‘I can’t believe Terry Hall just asked my opinion about something’, and they were like, ‘what, where?’, none of them even recognised him & 2 of them were Specials fans, he was so humble and unassuming you would never guess he was the lead singer of one the biggest bands in Britain.
Sad, sad news.
Just read his obit and holy fuck: abducted to France by teacher aged twelve, sexually abused for four days then dumped by the side of the road.
A lot of shit to carry. RIP Terry