Book Review: Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism and the Soundtrack of a Generation by Daniel Rachel

Book Review: Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism and the Soundtrack of a Generation by Daniel Rachel 

This book does what it says on the cover, which is tell the 2 Tone Records story. In many ways, the story of the Specials is entwined with that. Related bands like Madness and the (English) Beat were involved and tangentially important. I think by staying true to the concept, the book is better for it. The book won a lot of awards for music writing and deservedly so. 

Author Daniel Rachel seems to have interviewed everyone involved and when conflicting stories pop up, he will tell all of those involved's versions. Which makes this a great music book regardless if you are a diehard fan or a novice. What amazes me is how short the heyday of 2 Tone was. May 1979 was the release of Gangsters and June 1981 was the release of Ghost Town (with Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staple leaving subsequently to form Fun Boy Three). 

 Even as an American music fan, I see these are wildly different eras. The Specials formed in 1977 amidst punk, unemployment, National Front tensions, Rock Against Racism and heavy unemployment. At the end, New Wave has taken over and the Falklands War is on the horizon. The rise of the band is lightning fast and the idea of 2 Tone surely seems ahead of its time. Sure I can think of many artists who had record labels- Beatles, Stones, Zappa but the idea of a boutique label launching new artists (with major label backing) and a similar sound and vision is the kind of thing that didn’t really take off until the 90s. 

That said, it’s a blessing and a curse. The Beat and Madness saw the allure of more money and publicity and went elsewhere. The Bodysnatchers and The Selecter made great singles but would not survive band infighting. UB40 would do something similar but end up charting a non-2 Tone path altogether as agreed upon by all parties involved. Meanwhile, complicating things was the fact that it was part of a bigger label Chrysalis who had their own motivation and profit goals. 

Rachel makes sure Jerry Dammers is able to tell his point of view. An oversimplified characterization might otherwise fall into place. Dammers was a task manager who perhaps worked the band too hard. His principles put art over money and sought to avoid the hypocrisy he felt affected Joe Strummer and the punks. 

On the other hand, one should remember this was a nine person group with Dammers, Hall, Staple, Golding and Roddy Byers all would be more than capable of fronting a band on their own. Also the slim construct of what “the 2Tone sound” is becomes both a blessing and a curse. Decades later, it means the label is still much venerated. However, it also was so slim of a description, that the label was unable to expand its catalog and grow that much. 

It’s probably not surprising that Dammers wanted to change his sound for the second Specials album. What is surprising is that the new influence on him was something he heard in America- and that was Muzak. While it was not a huge commercial success and was part of a rollercoaster ride to the band breaking up, I do think More Specials holds up. Even more so, as the band fell apart, the band recorded “Ghost Town”. As much as it’s a low point in the story, the song is truly timeless. 

Similarly the “third” album In the Studio by the band now dubbed The Special AKA was a boondoggle. Of course, in retrospect, Jerry had to essentially restart the band in an incredibly short time frame, and his new band members much less experienced than the previous group. Yet again, he succeeded by creating one single “Free Nelson Mandela” that is truly transcendent. 

Another major chapter of the band’s life that goes horribly wrong is the 1981 documentary Dance Craze. In this case, a missed opportunity maybe to tell more of the story and a document that faded quickly into obscurity (like so much of the 2 Tone Story- time has rewarded that narrow focus- but it was also a barrier to sales and growth) but has recently been rediscovered, re-released in 2023 and instantly caused a huge buzz. 

This is a great book at telling the story of a special moment in time. How a bunch of extremely talented artists worked together to create something unique while having to deal with the issues of the day and issues of the industry - sexism, racism, music label problems and infighting.