This week the big hitters of the Second Wave of SKA pleed for your votes

THE SPECIALS
Leaders of the 2-Tone movement. Coventry's finest musical export since the one tha came before it. Sung songs about teenage pregnancy, James Bond and having a good time. Later spawned Special AKA, Fun Boy Three, Colourfield, Vegas, Terry.Blair & Anoushka, and, err, Terry Hall!

MADNESS
Caaaaaaaahm-den's finest 7 piece. One of the bggest selling singles bands of the 80's. Sung about Contraception, Michale Caine, ill fitting pants and heart attacks. Later spawned The Fink Brothers, The Madness, Voice Of The Beehive and, err, Suggs.

More of a Madness man myself. I always found the Specials a bit too hardgoing, if that makes any sense at all.

You are an evil, evil man, Sos.

*goes off to ponder/fret/tear hair out/skank a bit/ponder some more*

Madness are definitely more fun.

The Specials are just better.

The Specials. I love 'em to bits.

Madness for me. No particular reason really, I like both. I need to borrow my mums CDs and get em copied to my Zen, it would make a nice break from all the podcasts and old stuff.

Were you not tempted to put 'skank-wank' as the third option Sostie?

Nice one. Necer thought of that. I may get a tattoo of it though.

Depending on where you have it I look forward to seeing that at the next meet.

Madness, without a doubt. I love them to bits.

Without a moments hesitation I plumped for The Specials. I do love Madness, House Of Fun was my favourite song as a child (leading to a very funny adolescent trauma when I found out what the song was actually about) but The Specials are just a better band. The first time I heard ''Ghost Town'' was a revelation, one only bettered when a mate of mine played me their debut on vinyl.

Finally went for The Specials, too, for the same reasons maian noted. And more. Childhood crush on Suggsy - and his ace line reading of "You hum it and I'll smash your face in" - notwithstanding.

I voted for Madness because I enjoyed their music when I was a wee nipper and they helped soundtrack my first two years of university. Great videos as well.

*goes to listen to Our House*

If we based it solely on the videos, Madness would win in a landslide. They wouldn't even need the hilarious Japanese Honda commercials to boost their cred.

I love their appearances in The Young Ones I think that adds to the reason why I voted for them.

Specials.

A tough dessision for me. 'Ghost Town' is a better song than anything madness ever produced. However Madness introduced me to that sound... and I know more of their songs... & they're in the young ones... which was cool....
So,.. yeah... Madness.

Always been a Nutty Boy meself. I don't for a minute dislike the few songs I know of The Specials, but I've never felt compelled to acquire any of their albums.



Yes. Yes it does. Verily.



Heheh. That kind of tipped the balance for me also.

Rik: Do you know Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard?
Suggs: You hum it... I'll smash yer face in.

"Night Boat to Cairo" comes awful damn close, though.

Shit, now I'm second-guessing my answer.

Mr Sostie really is setting some tricky blighters lately, in't he?

He's cackling at us as we speak.

Madness for me. Without a doubt.

Loved the performances on The Young Ones.

Another band I grew up with, Madness all the way. I fuckin' love 'em. I've even got a bumper sticker on my wardrobe that says "HONK IF YOU LIKE MADNESS".

Like a lot of people, Madness are the band you grew up with, so I have a soft spot for them. They made loads of great singles (though if I hear any of their tunes at a club/party again I'll scream) and did the cheap and entertaining video better and before everyone else. On the downdised, when I saw them live, I'd never been in a crowd full of so many dicks.

The Specials get my vote. Specials and More Specials are two of the best albums of the 80's. They were doing what The Streets and Arctic Monkeys are lauded for decades before they existed. Without the Specials I would never have heard of Madness, and more importantly, discovered Ska/Trojan. And Terry Hall....what a cool dude.

Hate both. Sorry - ska is one of those genres that not only does nothing for me, it actively causes me to reach out for the skip button.

'the specials', no contest...

What he said.

The Specials, because they were better and more important at the time.

However, Madness often get stuck away in this 'fun pop band' category when they actually wrote some bloody good songs, and on fun themes such as apartheid, depression, homelessness and terrorism. I tend to think of them as the successors to The Kinks in the narrative pop song sense.

But still it's The Specials, but not by much.

Well I love me 2Tone but I've gone for Madness, who started out on 2Tone anyway. They just have the edge in this vote only as they had, and still do, a sense of pure fun with their music while The Specials/Special AKA had that harder political edge, though I actually like them both fairly equally.


Wife Of Rolex

My vote goes to Madness.