The Beat (band)
| The Beat | |
|---|---|
 Dave Wakeling's reformation of The English Beat
Club Nokia, L.A. July 2009 |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | The English Beat |
| Origin | Birmingham, England |
| Genres | 2 Tone, Ska, Reggae, New Wave |
| Years active | 1978-1983 2003 2005-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 |
| Website | www.thebeatofficial.com |
| Members | |
| The Beat (UK) Everett Morton* Ranking Roger* Mickey Billingham Ranking Junior The English Beat (US) Dave Wakeling* Rhythmm Epkins Wayne Lothian Antonee First Class Raynier Jacildo Matt Morrish |
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| Former members | |
| Andy Cox* David Steele* Saxa* *original members |
|
The Beat (known in North America as The English Beat) are a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in England in 1978.[1] Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock, and their lyrics deal with themes of love, unity and sociopolitical topics.
The Beat released three albums: 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".[2]
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Success
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 flavor to the band's sound with his toasting style. Jamaican saxophonist Saxa added an authentic Jamaican ska instrumental sound. Saxa had played saxophone with Prince Buster,[2] Laurel Aitken, and Desmond Dekker in the first wave of ska (as well as with The Beatles in their Liverpool days). He joined The Beat to record their first single, "Tears of a Clown,"[3] a cover version of the Motown hit by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.[2]
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 in Los Angeles and KYYX in Seattle.
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).[2] 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. 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 and participated in the collaborative recording "Free Nelson Mandela".
[edit] Post-breakup
After the break-up of The Beat in 1983, Wakeling (guitar, vocals) and Ranking Roger (vocals) went on to form General Public, while Andy Cox (guitar) and David Steele (bass guitar) formed Fine Young Cannibals with vocalist Roland Gift from the Akrylykz.[2] Everett Morton and Saxa formed The International Beat, fronted by Tony Beet. 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 Head," 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."
In the 1990s, Roger recorded his solo début, a reggae-oriented album entitled Radical Departure. 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.
[edit] Reformations
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 and Morton, recorded a new album that was mixed by Adrian Sherwood, but it remains unreleased. After Dave Blockhead left the band, he was replaced on keyboards by Mickey Billingham formerly a member of Dexys Midnight Runners and General Public.
Wakeling fronts the US version as "The English Beat." In 2009, Wakeling co-headlined a tour with Reel Big Fish and also discussed plans to release new material in 2009.[4]
Both the UK and US versions of the band tour frequently and both recently celebrated the 30th Anniversary of The Beat.[5]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [6] |
NZ [7] |
NOR [8] |
SWE [9] |
US [10] |
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| 1980 | I Just Can't Stop It
|
3 | 30 | 30 | — | 142 | |||
| 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 | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
[edit] Compilation albums
| Year | Album details | Peak positions | Certifications (sales threshold) |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [6] |
NZ [7] |
US [10] |
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| 1983 | What Is Beat?
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10 | 14 | — |
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| 1983 | What Is The English Beat?
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— | — | 87 | |||||
| 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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— | — | — | |||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
[edit] Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [6] |
NZ [7] |
NL [12] |
US Dance [13] |
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| 1979 | "Tears of a Clown" | 6 | — | — | — | I Just Can't Stop It | |||
| 1980 | "Hands Off...She's Mine" | 9 | — | 41 | 22 | ||||
| "Mirror in the Bathroom" | 4 | — | — | 22 | |||||
| "Best Friend" | 22 | — | — | — | |||||
| "Twist & Crawl" | — | — | — | 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 | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
[edit] 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)
[edit] Video
- PUNKCAST#908 The English Beat @ Canal Room NYC on January 13, 2006. (Realplayer, mp4)
[edit] References
- ^ Allmusic
- ^ a b c d e Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 63–64. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
- ^ The Biography, The English Beat musicianguide.com
- ^ The English Beat Celebrates 30th Anniversary... For Crying out Loud!
- ^ Dave Simpson The Beat guardian.co.uk, 17 March 2009
- ^ a b c Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 48–49. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ a b c http://charts.org.nz/search.asp?cat=a&search=The+Beat
- ^ http://norwegiancharts.com/search.asp?search=the+beat&cat=a
- ^ http://swedishcharts.com/search.asp?search=the+beat&cat=a
- ^ a b http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=THE|ENGLISH|BEAT&sql=11:hifoxqe5ldhe~T5
- ^ a b c http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx
- ^ http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Beat&titel=Can%27t+Get+Used+To+Losing+You&cat=s
- ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=THE|ENGLISH|BEAT&sql=11:hifoxqe5ldhe~T51
[edit] Bibliography
- The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, Third Edition (Fireside, 2001)
- The Beat: Twist and Crawl by Malu Halasa (Eel Pie, 1981)
[edit] External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Beat |
- The Beat Official Website
- The English Beat (USA)/Dave Wakeling at MySpace
- The Beat (UK) at MySpace
- Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph interview with The Beat
- Songfacts interview with Dave Wakeling
- 2009 Dave Wakeling interview at Bullz-Eye.com
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