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The Selecter
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
The Selecter is an English ska band from Coventry, formed in 1979. It began with an instrumental track that the guitarist Neol Davies, the drummer John Bradbury and the trombonist Barry Jones had already recorded in 1977. When The Specials needed a B-side for their debut single Gangsters in 1979, that track was put on it under the name The Selecter. It became the first single on the 2 Tone label. After the success Davies quickly put together a real band, with musicians from Coventry's reggae scene, the singer Arthur Gaps Hendrickson and the singer Pauline Black.
Music and breakthrough
In October 1979 On My Radio was released, written by Davies, and the band toured England with Madness and The Specials. Three Minute Hero, Missing Words and, in February 1980, the debut album Too Much Pressure followed. Later that year the group left 2 Tone. The second album, Celebrate the Bullet (1981), was darker and slower, with influences from new wave. Soon afterwards Black left, and the band fell apart. From 1991 The Selecter returned in changing line-ups, in recent years under Black's leadership.
Influence
The Selecter belonged to the core of the 2 Tone movement, which mixed ska with the energy of punk. The band was one of the few 2 Tone groups with both Black and white members and with both men and women. Pauline Black, in a man's suit and a trilby, sang about racism and sexism. In this way she became a role model for later ska artists such as Gwen Stefani of No Doubt.
Listening
On My Radio · The Selecter, 1979Apple Music ↗
Discography
Studio albums
- 1980Too Much Pressure
- 1981Celebrate the Bullet
- 1994The Happy Album
- 1995Hairspray
- 1995Pucker!
- 1998Cruel Britannia
- 1999The Selecter Perform the Trojan Songbook
- 2000Kingston Affair
- 2002Perform the Trojan Songbook 3
- 2002The Selecter Perform The Trojan Songbook, Volume 2
- 2002Unplugged for the Rude Boy Generation
- 2003Real to Reel
- 2003Requiem for a Black Soul
- 2011Made in Britain
- 2013String Theory
- 2015Subculture
- 2017Daylight
- 2023Human Algebra
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 2: Youth Cultures 1950-1980NL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- 2 Tone Genre
In 1979 Jerry Dammers founded the label 2 Tone in Coventry, with deliberately mixed bands that played ska with the energy of punk: The Specials, The Selecter and The Beat.