The Beat (British band)
| The Beat | |
|---|---|
 The Beat in Truckee, California | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | The English Beat, The British Beat |
| Origin | Birmingham, West Midlands, England |
| Genres | New Wave, Ska, 2-Tone Post-punk |
| Years active | 1978–1983, 2003, 2006–present |
| Labels | Go Feet, 2 Tone, London, Sire, I.R.S., EMI, A&M, Chrysalis |
| Associated acts | Ranking Roger, Pato Banton, General Public, Fine Young Cannibals, The International Beat, Special Beat, Madness |
| Members |
The English Beat starring Dave Wakeling Dave Wakeling Nucci Cantrell Matt Morrish Kevin Lum Larry Young Jared Palazzolo King Schascha The Beat with Ranking Roger Ranking Roger Ranking Junior Oscar Harrison Steve Harper Chiko Hamilton Andy Pearson |
| Past members |
Saxa David Steele Andy Cox Everett Morton Dave 'Blockhead' Wright Wesley Magoogan The English Beat starring Dave Wakeling Rick Torres Wayne Lothian Raynier Jacildo Danilo Logan Nat Love Roger Bueno Phil Gough Antonee First Class Rhythmm Epkins The Beat with Ranking Roger Everett Morton Dave 'Blockhead' Wright Neil Deathridge Natasha Allan Mickey Billingham Simeon Murray |
The Beat (known in North America as The English Beat and in Australia as The British Beat) are a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in Birmingham, England, in 1978.[1] Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock, and their lyrics deal with themes of love and unity, and sociopolitical topics.[2]
The Beat, consisting of Dave Wakeling (vocals, guitar), Ranking Roger (vocals), Andy Cox (guitar), David Steele (bass), Everett Morton (drums), and Saxa aka Lionel Augustus Martin (saxophone), released three studio albums in the early 1980s: I Just Can't Stop It (1980), Wha'ppen? (1981) and Special Beat Service (1982), and a string of singles, including "Mirror in the Bathroom", "Too Nice to Talk To", "Can't Get Used to Losing You", "Hands Off, She's Mine" and "All Out to Get You".[3]
Career
1978–1983
The Beat were formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978, during a period of high unemployment and social upheaval in the United Kingdom. Ranking Roger, one of the band's vocalists, added a Jamaican vocal flavour to the band's sound with his toasting style. Jamaican saxophonist Saxa (born 1930) added a Jamaican ska instrumental sound. Saxa or Lionel Augustus Martin had played saxophone with Prince Buster,[3] Laurel Aitken, and Desmond Dekker in the first wave of ska. He joined The Beat to record their first single, "Tears of a Clown,"[4] a cover version of the Motown hit by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.[3]
Notable singles from the first album included "Can't Get Used to Losing You," "Mirror In the Bathroom," "Hands Off She's Mine" and "Best Friend." The second Beat album, Wha'ppen? was supported by extensive touring, including a US tour with The Pretenders and Talking Heads. The album yielded more UK hits, with "All Out to Get You" and "Too Nice To Talk To," both of which broke into the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. The Beat received support from modern rock radio stations such as KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, the now defunct KQAK The Quake 99FM (98.9 to be exact) in San Francisco and KYYX in Seattle.[5][6]
Although The Beat's main fan base was in the United Kingdom, the band was also popular in Australia, partly due to exposure on the radio station Triple J and the TV show Countdown. The Beat had a sizable following in North America, where the band was known as The English Beat for legal reasons (to avoid confusion with the American band The Beat).[3] The Beat toured the world with well-known artists such as David Bowie, The Clash, The Police, The Pretenders, R.E.M., The Specials and Talking Heads. Members of the band often collaborated on stage with The Specials.[7]
Post-breakup
After the break-up of The Beat in 1983, Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger went on to form General Public and had a couple of hit singles in North America, while Andy Cox and David Steele formed Fine Young Cannibals with vocalist Roland Gift from the ska band Akrylykz. Drummer Everett Morton and Saxa formed The International Beat along with the Birmingham-based singer, Tony Beet, and the band released an album titled The Hitting Line on Blue Beat Records in 1990 (BBSLP 009). The album was produced by Ranking Roger and he often guested with the band at some of their shows. The International Beat toured the United Kingdom and USA before calling it a day in 1992. Ranking Roger also briefly joined Mick Jones' post-Clash band Big Audio Dynamite and performed at several live shows with the band. However, the band broke up shortly after he joined when its last album was shelved by the record company. Meanwhile, "March of the Swivelheads," an instrumental version of the Beat's song "Rotating Heads," was used in the climactic chase scene of 1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off; the band was listed in the end credits as "The (English) Beat." "Save It for Later" was featured on the soundtrack album to 1996's Kingpin and 2010's Hot Tub Time Machine.
Roger released his solo debut, a reggae-oriented album entitled Radical Departure, in 1988. In the early 1990s, Roger joined members of The Specials to form Special Beat, which toured and released two live albums. They supported the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. In 2001, Roger released another solo album, Inside My Head, which included traditional reggae and ska with influences of electronica, jungle and dub. Ranking Roger's son, Ranking Junior, has followed in his father's footsteps. In 2005, he appeared on The Ordinary Boys' single "Boys Will Be Boys" and is a current member of The Beat in the UK.
Pete Townshend covered the song "Save It For Later" numerous times between 1985 and 1998. The Who performed the song twice on their 1989 Reunion Tour.[8]
The Wonder Stuff also covered "Save It For Later" featuring Ranking Roger on their "From The Midlands With Love" series in June 2012
Pearl Jam also began covering the song in 1996 blending it into the end of "Better Man", and it has remained in the set list for their 2014 tour.
21st century
In 2003, The Beat's original line-up, minus Cox and Steele, played a sold-out one-off gig at the Royal Festival Hall. In 2004, the VH1 show Bands Reunited tried unsuccessfully to reunite the original line-up.
In 2006, the UK version of The Beat, featuring Ranking Roger, recorded a new album that was mixed by Adrian Sherwood, but it remains unreleased. The band also featured Everett Morton and Mickey Billingham on keyboards, formerly a member of Dexys Midnight Runners and General Public.
Dave Wakeling fronts the US version of the group as The English Beat. The singer and his band flew over to the UK in April 2011, to perform at the London International Ska Festival at the Clapham Grand music venue. They played the Dorset Steam Fair Show 2011 on 31 August 2011.
For Record Store Day, "Mirror in the Bathroom" and "Too Nice to Talk To" are getting re-released as a limited edition 7".
Both the UK and US versions of the band still continue to tour frequently.
In the Summer of 2012, The English Beat released a box set, titled The Complete Beat.[9]
The English Beat recorded two new songs that feature prominently in the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode "Dance of the Undead" which aired 26 March 2013. It features a zombie ska group called Rude Boy and the Ska-Tastics who come back to life in order to turn people into zombies and make them dance to ska music forever. According to an interview Dave Wakeling conducted with the San Francisco Examiner, he said: "This was my first opportunity to do anything for television as a gun for hire, and I actually managed to record and mix two songs in 12 hours. It was like running at double speed with no brakes, but it was exciting, and Warner Bros. really loved them. So the zombies have a song called ‘You’re Dead Right, Mate,’ and the Hex Girls have one called ‘We’re the Good Bad Girls,’ which has a definite Ramones-Runaways vibe to it, but frankly, I’m really happy I did it, because I’ve always loved ‘Scooby-Doo."[10]
In late 2013, The Beat with Ranking Roger released the live album, Live In London which featured a new song entitled "How Do You Do (Side To Side)" and also a song previously released solo by Ranking Roger, entitled "Dangerous", among many other songs.
Ranking Roger, his son Ranking Junior and his daughter Saffren Murphy are currently writing songs for a new album, produced by Mick Lister, to be released by DMF Music later this year.
In mid-2014, The English Beat starring Dave Wakeling announced that they will be releasing a new studio album entitled Here We Go Love in 2015. The album, which will be The English Beat's fourth studio album, is being funded through the PledgeMusic website, in which fans donate to the group.
Members
Current members
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Former members
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Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [11] |
NZ [12] |
NOR [13] |
SWE [14] |
US [1] | |||||
| 1980 | I Just Can't Stop It
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3 | 30 | 30 | — | 142 |
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| 1981 | Wha'ppen?
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3 | 20 | — | 28 | 126 |
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| 1982 | Special Beat Service
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21 | 50 | — | — | 39 | |||
| 2016 | Here We Go Love
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— | — | — | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Live albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [11] |
NZ [12] |
NOR [13] |
SWE [14] |
US [1] | |||||
| 2013 | Live In London
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— | — | — | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Compilation albums
| Year | Album details | Peak positions | Certifications (sales threshold) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [11] |
NZ [12] |
US [1] | |||||||
| 1983 | What Is Beat?
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10 | 14 | 87 |
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| 1996 | B.P.M. The Very Best of the Beat
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13 | — | — | |||||
| 2000 | Beat This! The Best of the Beat
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— | — | — | |||||
| 2006 | The Platinum Collection
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— | — | — | |||||
| 2008 | You Just Can't Beat It: The Best of the Beat
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— | — | — | |||||
| 2012 | Keep The Beat: The Very Best of The English Beat
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— | — | — | |||||
| 2012 | The Complete Beat
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— | — | — | |||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [11] |
NZ [12] |
NL [16] |
US Dance [1] | ||||||
| 1979 | "Tears of a Clown"/"Ranking Full Stop" (Double A-side) | 6 | — | — | — | I Just Can't Stop It | |||
| 1980 | "Hands Off...She's Mine" / "Twist and Crawl" (double A-side) | 9 | — | 41 | 22 | ||||
| "Mirror in the Bathroom" | 4 | — | — | 22 | |||||
| "Best Friend"/"Stand Down Margaret (Dub)" (Double A-side) | 22 | — | — | — | |||||
| "Too Nice to Talk To" | 7 | — | — | — | Non-album song | ||||
| 1981 | "Drowning"/"All Out To Get You" (Double A-side) | 22 | — | — | — | Wha'ppen? | |||
| "Doors of Your Heart" | 33 | — | — | — | |||||
| "Hit It (Auto Erotic)" | 70 | — | — | — | Non-album song | ||||
| 1982 | "Save It for Later" | 47 | — | — | 58 | Special Beat Service | |||
| "Jeanette" | 45 | — | — | — | |||||
| "I Confess" | 54 | — | — | 34 | |||||
| 1983 | "Can't Get Used to Losing You" | 3 | 47 | 12 | — | What is Beat? | |||
| "Ackee 1-2-3" | 54 | — | — | — | |||||
| 1996 | "Mirror in the Bathroom" (remix) | 44 | — | — | — | The Very Best of the Beat | |||
| 2012 | "Mirror in the Bathroom" / "Too Nice to Talk to" (B-side) | — | — | — | — | Record Store Day exclusive | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or has not yet been released | |||||||||
Film and video
- Dance Craze (1981 Independent Film – VHS) A compilation that contains live 1980 Beat footage among other Ska bands.
- Video Collection (198x Channel 5 – VHS)
- Live (198x unknown – VHS) 45 min live performance.
- The Beat In Concert at the Royal Festival Hall (2005 MVD Visual – DVD)
Also released:
- Can't Get Used to Losing You: Greatest Hits (1985 Channel 5, VHS)
- The Special Beat released a DVD entitled Enjoy Yourself in 2004.
- The soundtrack album to Dance Craze, entitled Dance Craze: The Best of British Ska... Live!
- US EP, The English Beat, in 1989.
Video
- PUNKCAST#908 The English Beat @ Canal Room NYC on 13 January 2006. (RealPlayer, mp4)
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 The English Beat at AllMusic
- ↑ "Baltimore Sun - The Beat goes on, By Evan Haga, Special to The Baltimore Sun". Articles.baltimoresun.com. 2011-01-06. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- 1 2 3 4 Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 63–64. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
- ↑ "English Beat, The Biography". Musicianguide.com. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
- ↑ "Last FM event notification". Last.fm. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ↑ "KROQ Radio.com Event notification". Kroq.radio.com. 2010-07-27. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ↑ "The English Beat Biography". Sing365.com. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ↑ "The Who Concert Guide: Concert List". Thewholive.net. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
- ↑ "Interview With Dave Wakeling Of The English Beat". Nymn.com. 27 July 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
- ↑ "Marco On The Bass: Scooby Doo Episode Features New Music By The English Beat". Marcoonthebass.blogspot.com. 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
- 1 2 3 4 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 48–49. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- 1 2 3 4 Hung, Steffen. "New Zealand charts portal". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
- 1 2 Hung, Steffen. "Norwegian charts portal". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
- 1 2 Hung, Steffen. "Swedish Charts Portal". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
- 1 2 3 "BPI". Bpi.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
- ↑ Hung, Steffen. "The Beat - Can't Get Used To Losing You". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
Bibliography
- The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, Third Edition (Fireside, 2001)
- The Beat: Twist and Crawl by Malu Halasa (Eel Pie, 1981)
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Beat. |
- The Beat official website (US)
- The Beat official website (UK)
- Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph interview with The Beat
- Songfacts interview with Dave Wakeling
- 2009 Dave Wakeling interview at Bullz-Eye.com
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