TOO MUCH TOO YOUNG: THE 2 TONE RECORDS STORY –
RUDE BOYS, RACISM AND THE SOUNDTRACK OF A GENERATION
BY DANIEL RACHEL WITH INTRODUCTION
BY PAULINE BLACK (THE SELECTER)
CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED NEW BOOK CHRONICLES REMARKABLE HISTORY OF CROSS-CULTURAL BRITISH YOUTH MOVEMENT AND SUCH BANDS AS THE SPECIALS, THE SELECTER, MADNESS, AND THE BEAT
BEST-SELLING AUTHOR DANIEL RACHEL
SET FOR IN-STORE EVENTS BEGINNING AUGUST 23 AT WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA’S BOOK SOUP
WITH EXCLUSIVE CONVERSATION WITH THE SPECIALS’ LYNVAL GOLDING
AND SARAH-JANE OWEN OF THE BODYSNATCHERS
TOO MUCH TOO YOUNG: THE 2 TONE RECORDS STORY –RUDE BOYS, RACISM AND THE SOUNDTRACK OF A GENERATION
TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE US BY AKASHIC BOOKS ON JUNE 4
“Daniel Rachel has managed to talk to all the significant players and the story he tells is one that shines a light on the challenges of mixing pop with politics.
This feels like the definitive story of 2 Tone. Masterful.”
– Billy Bragg
“Daniel Rachel has bagged the whirlwind of 2 Tone with joy, honesty and compassion to create the definitive account of one of Britain’s finest youth movements.”
– Suggs, Madness
“The ideal match of author and subject.”
– Jon Savage, author of England’s Dreaming: The Sex Pistols and Punk Rock
The remarkable saga of the legendary 2 Tone record label will be celebrated in the critically acclaimed new book, Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story – Rude Boys, Racism and the Soundtrack of a Generation by best-selling author Daniel Rachel. The book features an introduction by Pauline Black (The Selecter) as well as the voices (via interviews with the author) of nearly every musician in every 2 Tone Band, and is to be published in the United States by Akashic Books on June 4.
Hailed by Madness lead singer Suggs as “the definitive account of one of Britain’s finest youth movements,” Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story was met by unanimous applause upon its publication in the United Kingdom last year, named as a Sunday Times Music Book Of The Year, the Uncut #2 Book Of The Year, Book of the Year in such outlets as Louder Than War and Blitzed, and long-listed for the prestigious Penderyn Music Book Prize, the first UK-based prize specifically for music titles.
Told in three parts, Too Much Too Young is the definitive story of a label that for a brief, bright burning moment, shaped British, American, and world culture. In 1979, 2 Tone exploded into the national consciousness as records by The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The Beat, and The Bodysnatchers burst onto the charts and a youth movement was born. 2 Tone was black and white: a multi-racial force of British and Caribbean island musicians singing about social issues, racism, class and gender struggles. It spoke of injustices in society and took fight against right wing extremism. The music of 2 Tone was exuberant: white youth learning to dance to the infectious rhythm of ska and reggae, crossed with a punk attitude to create an original hybrid.
The idea of 2 Tone was born in Coventry, masterminded by The Specials’ Jerry Dammers, a middle-class art student raised in the church with a vision of an English Motown. Borrowing £700, the label’s first record featured “Gangsters” by The Specials. Within two months the single was at #6 in the national charts. Dammers next signed Madness, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers as a glut of successive hits propelled 2 Tone onto Top of the Pops and into the hearts and minds of a generation.
However, soon infighting amongst the bands and the pressures of running a label caused 2 Tone to bow to an inevitable weight of expectation and recrimination. Still under the auspices of Dammers, 2 Tone entered in a new phase. Perhaps not as commercially successful as its 1979-1981 incarnation, the label nevertheless continued to thrive for a further four years releasing a string of fresh signings and a stunning end-piece finale in The Special AKA’s landmark 1984 protest anthem, “(Free) Nelson Mandela.”
“As a child, 2 Tone defined the way I saw the world. I was seduced by the off-beat rhythms, the cool-looking clothes, and most importantly the social and political lyrics. 2 Tone taught me about Black and white unity, it gave a voice to the pointlessness of street violence, and it provided an understanding and awareness of the horror of rape and apartheid. That you could dance, look good, and be educated by a record was incredible. This music and these bands have printed an indelible mark on my life. To write the story of 2 Tone is one of profound personal pride. But more so, to honor one of the greatest periods in modern popular culture. 2 Tone at its heart was a movement of great songwriters, musicians, and songs: We danced and sang, and the music played in a de boomtown!” – Daniel Rachel
“We lived in Britain, a country that had hugely benefited from immigration, but curiously had an innate antipathy to the ideas of multiculturalism and diversity. Daniel Rachel has managed to capture the essence of that contradiction in those Margaret Thatcher governed years, with this comprehensive, cautionary but nonetheless celebratory saga of the 2 Tone label.” – Pauline Black, The Selecter, OBE
Rachel will mark the US publication of Too Much Too Young with a wide-range of in-store appearances and events, beginning Friday, August 23 at West Hollywood, CA’s Book Soup (8818 Sunset Blvd.) with an exclusive conversation with The Specials’ Lynval Golding and Sarah-Jane Owen of The Bodysnatchers, moderated by esteemed radio host/MC Junor Francis. For complete details, please visit Akashic Books.
TOO MUCH TOO YOUNG EVENTS
FEATURING DANIEL RACHEL
Friday, August 23 | 7:00 pm
West Hollywood, CA – Book Soup (8818 Sunset Blvd.)
Daniel Rachel presents Too Much Too Young in conversation with Lynval Golding of the Specials and Sarah-Jane Owen of the Bodysnatchers; moderated by Junor Francis
Sunday, August 25 | 7:30 pm
San Francisco, CA – The Make Out Room (3225 22nd St. & Mission)
Daniel Rachel presents Too Much Too Young in conversation with Peter Maravelis
Tuesday, August 27 | 7:00 pm
Las Vegas, NV – The Writer’s Block (519 S. 6th St. Ste. 100)
Wednesday, August 28 | 7:00 pm
Tempe, AZ – Changing Hands Bookstore (6428 S. McClintock Dr.)
Friday, August 30 | 6:00 pm
Denver, CO – Tattered Cover (2526 E. Colfax Ave.)
Sunday, September 8 | 4:00 pm
Cleveland Heights, OH – Mac’s Backs Books (1820 Coventry Rd.)
Monday, September 9 | Time TBD
Saugerties, NY – Upstate Films / Orpheum Theatre (198 Main St.)
Wednesday, September 11 | 7:00 pm
Jersey City, NJ – WORD Bookstore (29 McWilliams Pl.)
Thursday, September 12 | Time TBD
NEW YORK, NY – Rough Trade NYC (30 Rockefeller Plaza)
Saturday, September 14 | 3:00 pm
Washington, DC – Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (901 G St., NW)
Sunday, September 15 | Time TBD
Fort Monroe, VA – Supernova Ska Festival (316 Fenwick Rd.)
ABOUT DANIEL RACHEL :
Daniel Rachel is a former musician-turned-award-winning and bestselling author whose previous works include Isle of Noises: Conversations with Great British Songwriters (a Guardian and NME Book of the Year), Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music & Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge (winner of the Penderyn Music Book Prize), Don’t Look Back in Anger: the Rise & Fall of Cool Britannia (An Evening Standard and Metro Book of the Year), The Lost Album of The Beatles: What If The Beatles Hadn’t Split Up? (Guardian Book of the Day and #1 Amazon Bestseller), One For The Road: The Life & Lyrics of Simon Fowler & Ocean Colour Scene, Oasis: Knebworth: Two Nights That Will Live Forever (with Jill Furmanovsky, a Sunday Times Bestseller), and co-writer of Ranking Roger’s autobiography, I Just Can’t Stop It: My Life in The Beat (a Vive Le Rock Book of the Year). In 2021, Daniel was a guest curator of the “2 Tone Lives & Legacies” exhibition as part of Coventry Cultural City 2021 and curated the anniversary edition of The Selecter’s debut album, Too Much Pressure.
