Not long ago, “Gangsters” came on in the car, and about a week later my kid was telling me about how great The Specials were as though I didn’t know. Regardless, proud dad moment ensued. Ska music has a special place in my heart, and above any of the third-wave punk-infused acts that I loved in my 20s, The Specials stand alone.
2 Tone Records was long done by the time I developed my own affection for The Specials and their contemporaries, but Daniel Rachel‘s definitive history of the band, the label and the scene is essential reading for serious fans of the music.
At the outset, Rachel makes the scene feel alive. England in the late 70s was consumed by racial violence, the beginning of Thatcherism and the mass poverty and discord that accompanied it. Punk music had burned bright and short, and there was a vacuum in the music scene. In this moment, Jerry Dammers imagined a fusion of punk and reggae, black and white artists, and a music label to champion it. Somehow managing to sell Chrysalis Records on the idea of a subsidiary label that was basically no-risk and all reward, 2 Tone records was born as a handshake deal and a split single with The Specials and the Selecter. The label was instantly iconic. Rachel’s extensive research and interviews provide deep insight into the successes and struggles of the label over the 5-ish years that it existed.
The author details every act that the label signed (and several that they nearly signed), from legendary acts like Madness and The English Beat to has-beens or never-weres like The Appolinaires, The Swinging Cats and The Higsons. No detail is spared, and over nearly 500 pages the book sometimes felt like a slog. Long chapters about bands that flamed out before achieving commercial success are often entertaining, but frequently the book gets dragged down in conflicting details about origin stories or tours.
I loved much of this book: I learned a ton about The Specials and a whole lot about the scene and culture of the day. Most eye opening was the description of how big a presence the racist National Front had in that era, and how closely the Nazi movement was associated with ska music (despite 2 Tone being clearly motivated by racial harmony).
If I’m honest, though, the book was a lot more than I needed. The last 100 pages were often a grind, in the same way that Hearts on Fire was. Meeting a new band, adding another half-dozen to the massive cast of characters after 400 pages was overwhelming to the casual fan that I am. As a historical document, Too Much Too Young is an impressive feat, but unless you lived through the era or have a deep interest in the details of obscure artists, it might simply be too much.
