Around 1979Coventry / United Kingdom

2 Tone

Also known as Two-Tone, Two Tone

A concise, source-grounded description of 2-Tone as a British ska revival scene and genre, with documented Coventry origins and early representative recordings from The Specials and The Selecter.

Origins and context

A British ska revival shaped by Jamaican music, punk, and a multiracial anti-racist scene around 2 Tone Records.

CoventryUnited Kingdom

The sound

Instrument palette

The voices and tools most associated with this sound.

Electric guitar
Bass guitar
Drums
Brass instruments

History

2-Tone emerged in Coventry and the wider Midlands in 1979, around Jerry Dammers, The Specials, and the 2 Tone Records label. The scene drew on Jamaican ska, rocksteady, and reggae while folding in punk and new-wave urgency, and it became known as a multiracial, anti-racist movement as much as a sound. The label’s black-and-white visual identity and the early singles from The Specials and The Selecter helped define the style quickly and unmistakably. In practice, 2-Tone sat at the center of a short but influential British pop moment that fed later ska-punk and third-wave ska scenes. (2-tone.info)