Canuckflack

Twenty-eight years ago this weekend, the Specials shot towards the top of the British charts with Gangsters.

Their interpretation of ska was directly responsible for me dancing  strangely and dangerously for quite a few years. Just check out the clip of Nite Klub on the old documentary Dance Craze. (It’s a must watch, in my opinion.)

If you’re looking for some authorized boots, try the Specials site.

Lily Allen appeared with The Specials at Glastonbury this year - the video for Gangsters is on YouTube, of course. And the original video was much better.

Allen was interviewed by Canadian cultural treasure Nardwuar in June. (abridged interview on Youtube, full transcript) Some choice quotes below:

Nardwuar: … Were there any local ska bands you checked out from England?
Lily Allen: No.

Nardwuar: None?
Lily Allen: It’s kind of a bit before my time really.

Nardwuar: Well, I mean the bands that are going on right now, like were there any local, contemporary ska bands?
Lily Allen: I don’t really like modern, contemporary ska. Don’t think it’s very good. It’s the older stuff.

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Nardwuar: From South By Southwest, “Lily Allen commented on her manager’s incredibly minute male appendage”?
Lily Allen: No, I didn’t. I commented on the editor of the NME magazine’s minute appendage.

Nardwuar: Would you ever make fun of your manager’s minute male appendage and how do you know that it isn’t a minute male appendage?
Lily Allen: I don’t.

Nardwuar: So to know that Lily Allen likes back hair, that’s awesome.
Lily Allen: Yeah, I like back hair.

Nardwuar: You have an amazing tongue. Have people said that to you Lily Allen? You have an amazing tongue?
Lily Allen: My boyfriend has. [laughs]

Nardwuar: Ba-boom. What I meant by that, you’ve had a lot of photos taken of you, and your tongue is always positioned really interestingly. What are the different Lily Allen tongue positions?

Lily Allen: [Lily shows tongue positions] That one, that one, that one, that one, that one occasionally.

Nardwuar: I like the little one, the little cat one. The cat one, that’s great. I love the Lily Allen tongue positions.

Technorati Tags: Specials, Specials, AKA, Lily Allen, ska, two tone, twotone, 2tone, Nardwuar