Quote:
Originally Posted by Engine
It's really hard for me to compare the Beat with the other 2-Tone bands. Every so often I try to connect with the music but I just can't. Maybe it's just me but their music just sounds so Top-40-Pop compared to The Specials, Madness, and my absolute favorite 2-Tone band: The Selecter.
Now, The Beat may very well be the best musicians in the bunch but they seem to be lacking the punk element that makes the other bands so interesting. I dunno - I'm sure I'll keep trying..
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I think the Beat was the least commercial sounding of all of the 2 Tone Bands and has a more of a punk attitude than any of the bands. Maybe you've only heard
W'happen or one of their later albums but that wasn't the original frontline of musicians that formed the first edition of the Beat. The Beat experimented with musical genres other than ska and reggae and was one of the earliest UK bands to incorporate dub into nearly all of their music. Selector was a great band and was largely ignored during the ska revival.
My personal feeling is that songs like
Twist and Crawl and
Mirror in the Bathroom were closer musically to punk rock than anything ever done by the Specials, Selector or Madness.
From a political view, the Beat's lyrics were less rude boy than the other 2 Tone bands, but closer to the punk perspective of the UK culture. Their first album
I Just Can't Stop railed against the National Front, Margaret Thatcher and the injustices of the class system in the UK. The evidence is in the lyrics.
Quote:
Two Swords
I've never been one for the punch-ups
But look I really hate those nazis
A certain something starts to wind me up
How could I hate them oh so violently
When two swords slashing at each other
Only sharpen one another
And in the long run even he's your brudda'
Said even though the c*nt's a nazi.
nazi
Always attack those things in someone else,
Reflections that you can't face in yourself,
To make precious fascistic feeling gone
It makes you turn into a bigger one
Bigger...
When two swords slashing at each other
Only sharpen one another
And in the long run even he's your brudda'
Said even though the c*nt's a nazi.
nazi
Are you fighting the Front,
or just fronting a fight?
Sometimes it's hard to see the left from the right
Are we angry, are we looking for peace
Or just tryin' to win the war...
...by killing all the enemy off
Just to kill all the enemy off
Kill the enemy off
Kill the enemy off
I've never been one for the punch-ups
But look I really hate those nazis
A certain something starts to wind me up
How could I hate them oh so violently
When two swords slashing at each other
Only sharpen one another
And in the long run even he's your brudda'
said even though the c*nt's a nazi.
nazi
Even though the c*nt's a nazi
nazi
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OR
Quote:
Big Shot
Yes, I've seen you go to work in your big car
Yes, your fat and can afford to be tasteless
You're a big shot.
You want the whole lot
And if I like it or not
You still control me,
You tell me what to think and what to be.
I like it best in the freezing winter, boy
I like to sneer as I sail past your bus stop
I watch you struggle and it gets me red hot,
I wander round in my empty office block
Big shot.
I want the whole lot
And if you like it or not
I still control you,
I tell you what to think and what to do.
So you listen to smoking industry,
You listen to the guys in the factories,
You listen to the wealth and the misery,
You listen to the power of money.
For a big shot
Who wants a whole lot
And if you like it or not
He'll probably get it,
He'll tell you when to beg and when to sit.
You look like a government minister
Or a high ranking military officer,
I don't think you care
You're just a big shot, yeah.
Yes, I've seen you go to work in your big car
Yes, your fat and can afford to be tasteless
You're a big shot
Who wants a whole lot
And if I like it or not,
You still control me
You tell me what to think and what to be.
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