This is a culturally significant British music video text from 1981. It reflects the social and historical contexts of the early 1980s including youth unemployment, race riots and the rise of far-right racism.
Notes from the lesson
AQA introduces this text with a simple statement: “Ghost Town is a product which possesses cultural, social and historical significance. It will invite comparison with the other CSP music video allowing for an analysis of the contexts in which they are produced and consumed.”
Social, cultural and historical context
Ghost Town by The Specials conveys a specific moment in British social and political history while retaining a contemporary relevance. The cultural critic Dorian Lynskey has described it as ‘’a remarkable pop cultural moment’’ one that “defined an era’’. The video and song are part of a tradition of protest in popular music, in this case reflecting concern about the increased social tensions in the UK at the beginning of the 1980s. The song was number 1 post-Brixton and during the Handsworth and Toxteth riots.
The aesthetic of the music video, along with the lyrics, represents an unease about the state of the nation, one which is often linked to the politics of Thatcherism but transcends a specific political ideology in its eeriness, meaning that it has remained politically and culturally resonant.
The Specials: redefining genre
The Specials played a type of ska music known as 2-Tone - named after The Specials' record company. A hydrid mix of Jamaican reggae, American 1950s pop and elements of British punk rock, it was popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was also notable for its mixed race bands - the Specials had both black and white members - and its stand against racism at a time of racial tension in the UK. Margaret Thatcher had been elected in 1979 with the warning that Britain was being "swamped" by non-white people. In constrast, Ska and 2-Tone was prominent in anti-racism campaigns in the 1980s.
You can watch part 2 of the Two Tone story here - recommended as it gets more into the culture and includes more from our theorist Paul Gilroy.
Ghost Town: social and historical contexts
The aesthetic of the music video, along with the lyrics, represents an unease about the state of the nation, one which is often linked to the politics of Thatcherism but transcends a specific political ideology in its eeriness, meaning that it has remained politically and culturally resonant.
The Specials: Ghost Town video analysis
The video combines eerie shots of a deserted East End of London with the band in a 1962 Vauxhall Cresta lip syncing. The mise-en-scene and cinematography seem to reference a range of film styles including British social realism, thriller and horror genres, with the expressionist lighting drawing attention to the different meanings of the lyric ‘ghost town’.
The strong political message of the video is a challenge to the audience with a direct mode of address which is both angry and plaintive. The video was unusual for the time in conveying a strong social message (in contrast to the dominant style of pop music in the charts at the time), meaning that the audience of the time might well have been shocked or discomfited by it.
Conduct a close-textual semiotic analysis of the video focusing on how meanings are created. Think about the following areas in particular:
- Narrative
- Mise-en-scene: setting, lighting, colour, actor placement/movement, costume and props
- Camerawork and editing
Ghost Town and media theory
Applying Neale’s genre theory
Music video was still a very new media form in 1981 so it’s therefore difficult to find ‘repetition and difference’.
However, the video clearly uses recognisable genre conventions of film genres such as social realism and horror to create something familiar to audiences and yet new and different as it was in the form of a music video.
Applying Gilroy’s diasporic identity
The representations in the music video are racially diverse. This reflects its musical genre of ska, a style which could be read politically in the context of a racially divided country. This representation of Britain’s emerging multiculturalism, is reinforced through the eclectic mix of stylistic influences in both the music and the video.
The song and video offers evidence of Gilroy’s Black Atlantic diasporic identity theory – that black culture is forged through travel and hybridity, a “liquidity of culture”. The Specials are representative of ska – itself an international hybrid music genre blurring reggae and American 1950/60s pop and later elements of punk rock – which brings in working-class British culture (linked in part to Coventry in the Midlands where they were formed).
The representations in the music video are racially diverse. This reflects its musical genre of ska, a style which could be read politically in the context of a racially divided country. This representation of Britain’s emerging multiculturalism, is reinforced through the eclectic mix of stylistic influences in both the music and the video.
The song and video offers evidence of Gilroy’s Black Atlantic diasporic identity theory – that black culture is forged through travel and hybridity, a “liquidity of culture”. The Specials are representative of ska – itself an international hybrid music genre blurring reggae and American 1950/60s pop and later elements of punk rock – which brings in working-class British culture (linked in part to Coventry in the Midlands where they were formed).
Industry contexts
Ghost Town video director Barney Bubbles said: "A good video can sell a record which might not do so well," Bubbles told Smash Hits magazine in 1982. "The record companies know that. I think Chrysalis would agree that The Specials’ 'Ghost Town' video helped sales a good deal. This year I intend to make videos which are really inexpensive but really inventive. It can be done, you know."
The Specials - Ghost Town: Blog tasks
Background and historical contexts
Read this excellent analysis from The Conversation website of the impact Ghost Town had both musically and visually. Answer the following questions
1) Why does the writer link the song to cinematic soundtracks and music hall tradition?
2) What subcultures did 2 Tone emerge from in the late 1970s?
3) What social contexts are discussed regarding the UK in 1981?
4) Cultural critic Mark Fisher describes the video as ‘eerie’. What do you think is 'eerie' about the Ghost Town video?
5) Look at the final section (‘Not a dance track’). What does the writer suggest might be the meanings created in the video? Do you agree?
Now read this BBC website feature on the 30th anniversary of Ghost Town’s release.
1) How does the article describe the song?
2) What does the article say about the social context of the time – what was happening in Britain in 1981?
3) How did The Specials reflect an increasingly multicultural Britain?
4) How can we link Paul Gilroy’s theories to The Specials and Ghost Town?
5) The article discusses how the song sounds like a John Barry composition. Why was John Barry a famous composer and what films did he work on?
Ghost Town - Media Factsheet
Watch the video several times before reading Factsheet #211 - Ghost Town. You'll need your GHS Google login to access the factsheet. Once you have analysed the video several times and read the whole factsheet, answer the following questions:
1) How does the article describe the song?
2) What does the article say about the social context of the time – what was happening in Britain in 1981?
3) How did The Specials reflect an increasingly multicultural Britain?
4) How can we link Paul Gilroy’s theories to The Specials and Ghost Town?
5) The article discusses how the song sounds like a John Barry composition. Why was John Barry a famous composer and what films did he work on?
Ghost Town - Media Factsheet
Watch the video several times before reading Factsheet #211 - Ghost Town. You'll need your GHS Google login to access the factsheet. Once you have analysed the video several times and read the whole factsheet, answer the following questions:
1) Focus on the Media Language section. What does the factsheet suggest regarding the mise-en-scene in the video?
2) How does the lighting create intertextual references? What else is notable about the lighting?
3) What non-verbal codes help to communicate meanings in the video?
4) What does the factsheet suggest regarding the editing and camerawork? Pick out three key points that are highlighted here.
5) What narrative theories can be applied to the video? Give details from the video for each one.
6) How can we apply genre theory to the video?
7) Now look at the Representations section. What are the different people, places and groups that are represented in the Ghost Town video? Look for the list on page 4 of the factsheet.
8) How can Gauntlett's work on collective identity be applied to the video?
9) How can gender theorists such as Judith Butler be applied to Ghost Town?
10) Postcolonial theorists like Paul Gilroy can help us to understand the meanings in the Ghost Town music video. What does the factsheet suggest regarding this?
A/A* Extension reading: Music video and Ghost Town
There is so much excellent reading on The Specials and Ghost Town in particular. This Guardian feature by Alexis Petridis describes the social context and the band’s relationship superbly.
Along similar lines, this is an excellent piece on music reflecting the mood of a country – written during the 2011 London Riots but linking back to Ghost Town in 1981.
Enjoy this phenomenal long read by GQ editor Dylan Jones who links the history of London since 1981, music, race relations and riots to Ghost Town and the Specials.
The career of the director of the Ghost Town video, Barney Bubbles, and his influence over graphic design in the 1970s is laid out in this website article that will appeal to any arts students.
This Rolling Stone article offers some industry context regarding how artists can make money from music videos.
Finally, here are some extracts from an academic research paper on Rock Against Racism at the time Ghost Town was released. It refers to Gilroy and other theorists and gives you a superb introduction to university-level reading. You'll need to login using your Greenford Google login to read it.
There is so much excellent reading on The Specials and Ghost Town in particular. This Guardian feature by Alexis Petridis describes the social context and the band’s relationship superbly.
Along similar lines, this is an excellent piece on music reflecting the mood of a country – written during the 2011 London Riots but linking back to Ghost Town in 1981.
Enjoy this phenomenal long read by GQ editor Dylan Jones who links the history of London since 1981, music, race relations and riots to Ghost Town and the Specials.
The career of the director of the Ghost Town video, Barney Bubbles, and his influence over graphic design in the 1970s is laid out in this website article that will appeal to any arts students.
This Rolling Stone article offers some industry context regarding how artists can make money from music videos.
Finally, here are some extracts from an academic research paper on Rock Against Racism at the time Ghost Town was released. It refers to Gilroy and other theorists and gives you a superb introduction to university-level reading. You'll need to login using your Greenford Google login to read it.
