One of the abiding memories of those of us of a certain age in 1981 is Terry Hall and company packed into a 1961 Vauxhall Cresta, driving past of the concrete wastelands of east London and telling us all about a ghost town where bands no longer play. It’s the quintessential hit of early Thatcher’s Britain. The claustrophobia of the video, the bleak lighting, creating an intense sense of doom.

The song was by the Coventry band The Specials, a multi-racial band playing ska-based music, recording on the TwoTone label. A band whose existence the top of the charts, with Terry Hall singing alongside Neville Staple, showed the power of working together.

Not all of Terry Halls’s career was full of the bleak misery of Ghost Town. Some of The Specials other popular songs were more joyous, there’s even a song called Enjoy Yourself!

Hs solo career continued with this mix of the political – The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum  – the fun pop – It Ain’t What You. There is the perfect pop of Our Lips Are Sealed.

Terry Hall died today. If you don’t the man and his music, then I suggest you have a look at this article.