Fun Boy 3 - Having All The Fun?

 

Fun Boy 3 on The Tube (Channel 4) in June 1983

It do not suppose for a minute that when The Specials recorded 'Too Much Too Young' it crossed their minds that the stark message to the young mum of the song could be equally applied under different circumstances to The Specials themselves.

For all of Jerry's meticulous planning of the 2 Tone brand from label, to look to sound, I am sure that even he did not imagine that the band's flame would burn so brightly but for such a relatively short period of time. Such were the pressures on the bands associated with the 2 Tone label that none of them (Madness being an exception) enjoyed any prolonged success. As leaders of the 'movement', Jerry Dammers and The Specials felt those pressures more keenly than any of their label mates, including those that moved away from 2 Tone early on, but still flew the flag so to speak. 

The heavy touring schedule across the globe, violence at gigs and personality differences within the band (it was prickly on stage and in the studio) did little to bring longevity to the career of The Specials.

Legend has it that as The Specials appeared on one of their two Top Of The Pops appearances with the seminal 'Ghost Town' the band were in the process of splitting up in one of the BBC dressing rooms. In fact something of a coup was announced when members of the band not in the know were informed that three members, Terry, Neville and Lynval had already split off to form Fun Boy Three.

This 'Specials spin-off' trio it should be remembered were also rather successful, 'enjoying' no less that two top 20 albums (they only released two!) and seven top 20 singles in their short career. The music they produced was rather different from that of The Specials but in fairness that was only to be expected. Since Steve Strange had delivered 'New Romanticism' into the charts things became pretty superficial pretty quickly. At the height of the FB3 success in '82 and '83 they were competing on the record buying front with the likes of Wham and Culture Club! Nevertheless, I have argued it previously on this site that much of the material recorded by the band very much carried on the themes that lay at the heart of The Specials world view. 'The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum' is a natural successor to 'Ghost Town' whilst 'The Tunnel Of Love' echoes 'Too Much Too Young in every respect! Sure, there were lighter moments that perhaps the General would not allowed to appear on a 2 Tone release.... but the subject matter of 'Well Fancy That' is about as bleak as it gets.

A common theme in the bands material is how far removed is the perception of the pop star lifestyle from the reality! Terry sings in 'We're Having All The Fun':

'I live in a flat, I like Manchester United

I live with my girlfriend and my cat, we're really happy

I like watching television wearing pants and moccasins

Eating crispy pancakes and having Monday haircuts that we've done'

How glamorous is that?! But that speaks volumes about Terry Hall as a person.

So whilst many of the glowing obituaries and tributes to Terry gloss over his career beyond The Specials in both their initial and later incarnations, we should not overlook what he did in the interim!