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Press Releases
Inside Out: Ghost Town 25 years on.
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This week, Inside Out takes a trip to Coventry to conduct a rare interview with Jerry Dammers, the genius behind The Specials, 25 years after he wrote and released the number one single Ghost Town - to this day, one of the most important political songs in history.
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Coventry in the late Seventies was not exactly the city of dreams. With high unemployment and intimidating architecture, the city was going nowhere fast.
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But where there is deprivation, there is often inspiration. Out of a city ravaged by recession, there emerged a musical movement and one song in particular that helped to change the face of popular music.
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The Specials started writing songs about the everyday frustrations of living in Coventry in a time of recession and high unemployment.
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The band's message struck a chord with disaffected young people all over the country, not just in Coventry, and almost by accident they became the political voice of a generation.
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Ghost Town was released in 1981, going on to sell more than a million copies, staying at No.1 for three weeks - and is recognised as one of the best-ever British pop songs.
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Twenty-five years after Ghost Town was released, the song is still thought of as being relevant.
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Although the face of pop music has changed considerably over the years and music is far less political, The Specials' influence can still be heard in the music listened to by today's youth.
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Ashley Blake and the Inside Out team visit Coventry and look at the social and political scenery of the time, from which The Specials and the whole Ska movement arose.
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Ashley speaks to Jerry, along with band members Roddy Byers and Neville Staple, about what drove them to form the band, the message behind Ghost Town and its lasting legacy.
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Inside Out goes is on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ ONE West Midlands on Monday 9 October at 7.30pm.
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