#books #music #britgrit: Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism and the Soundtrack of a Generation by Daniel Rachel

#books #music #britgrit: Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism and the Soundtrack of a Generation by Daniel Rachel?

From Wikipedia.

"Send to Coventry" is an?idiom?used in?England?meaning to deliberately?ostracise?someone. Typically, this is done by not talking to them, avoiding their company, and acting as if they no longer exist.

In the wake of punk rock, there was post-punk, and a major factor seemed to be ‘scenes’ that were taking place outside London. Indeed, there was something proudly provincial about many of these scenes and they were a hell of a mixed bag.

Leeds was very studenty with the likes of the Gang of 4, Delta 5 and the Mekons; Sheffield seemed to be more focused on electronic music with Cabaret Voltaire and the Human League; Liverpool had Zoo Records, Teardrop Explodes, Big in Japan, and Echo and the Bunnymen. Manchester was the big one, of course, with Joy Division, The Fall, Magazine, A Certain Ratio, and indeed Factory Records itself. There were lots more of course who didn’t garner as much attention as other but produced plenty of little gems.

Indeed, even the original cold-shoulder of Coventry produced a scene, in fact something more than a scene. Where the other scenes seemed focused on studenty NME readers, with the bands occasionally denting the general public consciousness, Coventry’s 2 Tone Records- masterminded by the half-mad/ half-genius Jerry Dammers became a full-blown movement shaking the structure of British society: The Specials, Madness, The Beat, The Selecter …

Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism and the Soundtrack of a Generation by Daniel Rachel ?gives a brilliant overview of this period and features a cast of quirky, outspoken and fascinating characters - not least Jerry Dammers himself.

Very highly recommended.

? Paul D. Brazill.

Daniel Rachel