Top singles from the past

12 June 1981

British ska heroes THE SPECIALS scored their biggest hit
with GHOST TOWN this day 45 years ago, on 12 June 1981.

It topped the UK Singles Charts for 3 weeks.

The song’s sparse lyrics allude to urban decay, unemployment
and violence in inner cities in the UK, at the time.

Jerry Dammers (keyboards/songwriter): “The overall sense I wanted to convey was impending doom. There were weird, diminished chords: certain members of the band resented the song and wanted the simple chords they were used to playing on the first album. It’s hard to explain how powerful it sounded. We had almost been written off and then “Ghost Town” came out of the blue”

R.I.P. Terry Hall (1959-2022)