The Not So Great Second Coming (A Double Dose Of Disappointment) (Episode 2)

1/20/2025

The Not So Great Second Coming (A Double Dose Of Disappointment) (Episode 2)

Some of you have heard me tell the story personally, or read my post when TERRY HALL 🇬🇧 passed away in late 2022.

For reference, here is a long snippet of that post-

In the Fall of 1979 I had started my last year of law school at Western in London Ontario (for those in the group not from these parts.) I was sports editor for the University student paper – the Gazette. Just before Christmas the entertainment editors introduced my to some strange new music. It was called “punk”. Some called it “new wave”.

I started buying a few records. By February 1980 I had acquired maybe 12 records and was listening to them like crazy. One day I went into Records on Wheels and bought two new records that looked sort- of the same with their black and white covers.

One album was “One Step Beyond” by a London UK band called Madness.

The other LP was the self- titled “The Specials.” The band was from Coventry England in the Midlands. Like Wïndsor, Coventry was am automotive town. It was also a bit of a rough and tumble place.

Anyway the LP was produced by Elvis Costello. The music was a blend of a type of reggae known as “ska” and punk music. It was exhilarating. The lyrics were very socially focused-

Ya’ done too much, much too young

Now you’re married with a son

When you could be having fun (with me)

Ain’t he cute, no he ain’t

He’s just another burden on the welfare state!

I gobbled up the songs and lyrics on this album in a week and then came back home for reading week.

Once home I looked in the Detroit newspaper and discovered The Specials were playing outside Detroit the next night! It was truly serendipitous. Little did I know it transform my life as much as anything.

Three of us went over. The venue was called Center Stage.

I figured the evening was a bit of a booking screw up. The first band up was a heavy metal outfit from nearby Ohio named Teezer. I am guessing that the show was originally scheduled as their event. Most of the people there were obvious metal heads and were not happy their band was not headlining. To say Teezer were beyond bad would be an understatement. It was embarrassingly painful to watch.

Mercifully it ended and after a short break out came the Specials. 7 guys. 2 black. 5 white. Their label was called “Two-Tone”.

Anyway, the band start playing and it was insane. It was loud, energetic and catchy. We were dancing and going wild.

But there was a problem. At least I thought it was a problem.

There were these guys who kept jumping on the stage and dancing madly and crashing violently around the band.

The bouncers were tossing these punters towards our front row seats. Once the guys hit the floor they got right up and went back on stage. It was pandemonium.

About 5 songs in the band stopped playing abruptly. I was furious that these punks might have caused a cancellation of this gig. I was not happy.

Patrons yelled and lit their lighters for what seemed 10 minutes or more. I sort of figured that the punk anarchy we had witnessed was going to have cancelled the show.

Boy, was I wrong and was my conventional thinking wrong!

The band came back on stage to huge cheers.

Lead singer Terry Hall stated in his thick Coventry brogue-

“The bouncers are ruining the Fookin’ gig!

If the people want to dance, let up Fookin’ dance!!”

And with that the band started up! Within 10 seconds there I was up from my front row location onto the stage, damn near cheek to cheek with Terry Hall loudly singing and dancing along! The stage filled with dancing punters. All of us were singing loudly and fookin’ dancing as commanded by HALL!

After the song, everyone exited the stage and the show continued without incident.

My life had changed permanently! While I was clearly getting keen on this punk/ post punk thing, I found my musical home permanently that night.

This was the music for me.

It was raw.

It was true.

It was insightful and thought- provoking

There were no costume changes

It was about the music and the message.

My fanatical interest in this music solidified that very night. It hasn’t wavered a scintilla since.

To give you a sense of what it was like that night here is a YouTube video of the band playing “Too Much Too Young” live.

Below is a pic of my The Specials LP with my VIP sticker from that night. I took it off my shirt and affixed it to the record when I arrived home. Ironically, and prophetically, the pass states “No Stage”.