Ranking Roger and Everett Morton's reformation of the Beat in London in 2006
The Beat (known in the United States and Canada as the English Beat and in Australia as the British Beat[1]) are a British band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978.[2] Their music fuses Latin, ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock.[3]
The band's debut studio album, I Just Can't Stop It, was released in May 1980, entering the UK albums chart at No. 3.[5] Notable singles from the album included "Can't Get Used to Losing You", "Mirror in the Bathroom", "Hands Off...She's Mine" and "Best Friend". The second Beat album, Wha'ppen? was supported by extensive touring, including a United States tour with the Pretenders and Talking Heads. The album yielded more UK hits, with "All Out to Get You", "Drowning" and "Doors of Your Heart", all of which broke into the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. The Beat received support from modern rock radio stations such as KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, the now-defunct KQAK The Quake 99FM (98.9) in San Francisco and KYYX in Seattle.[6]
Although the Beat's main fan base was in the UK, the band was also popular in Australia, partly due to exposure on the radio station Triple J and the TV show Countdown. The Beat had a sizable following in the US and Canada, where the band were known as the English Beat for legal reasons (to avoid confusion with the American band the Beat).[4] The Beat toured the world with well-known artists including David Bowie, the Clash, the Police, the Pretenders, R.E.M., the Specials and Talking Heads. Members of the band often collaborated on stage with the Specials.[7]
During their early career, the band were associated with Birmingham-based cartoonist Hunt Emerson, who designed their 'Beat Girl' icon and painted the mural that was used on the cover of Wha'ppen?[8][9]
Post-breakup
After the break-up of the Beat in 1983, Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger went on to form General Public and had a couple of hit singles in the US and Canada including "Tenderness", while Andy Cox and David Steele formed Fine Young Cannibals with vocalist Roland Gift from the ska band Akrylykz. Drummer Everett Morton and Saxa formed the International Beat along with the Birmingham-based singer, Tony Beet, and the band released an album titled The Hitting Line on Blue Beat Records in 1990. The album was produced by Ranking Roger and he often guested with the band at some of their shows. The International Beat toured the UK and United States until 1992.[citation needed]
Ranking Roger also briefly joined Mick Jones' post-Clash band Big Audio Dynamite and performed at several live shows with the band. However, the band broke up shortly after he joined when its last album was shelved by the record company. Meanwhile, "March of the Swivelheads", an instrumental version of the Beat's song "Rotating Head", was used in the climactic chase scene of 1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off; the band was listed in the end credits as "The (English) Beat". "Save It for Later" was featured on the soundtrack album to 1996's Kingpin, 2010's Hot Tub Time Machine and 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Everett Morton formed Beat Goes Bang and recruited vocalist Ross Lydon from 360, bass player Faisal Rashid, and Lukasz Machometa on sax, former member of Citybeats and Urban Groove Syndicate.[citation needed]
Roger released his solo debut, a reggae-oriented album entitled Radical Departure, in 1988. In the early 1990s, Roger joined members of the Specials to form Special Beat, which toured and released two live albums. They supported the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). In 2001, Roger released another solo album, Inside My Head, which included traditional reggae and ska with influences of electronica, jungle and dub. Ranking Roger's son, Ranking Junior, followed in his father's footsteps. In 2005, he appeared on the Ordinary Boys' single "Boys Will Be Boys".
Pearl Jam also began playing "Save It for Later" in 1996, blending it (a practice often known as "tagging") into the end of "Better Man", and it remained in the set list of their 2023 tour.[11]
21st century
In 2003, the Beat's original line-up, minus Cox and Steele, played a sold-out one-off gig at the Royal Festival Hall. In 2004, the VH1 show Bands Reunited tried unsuccessfully to reunite the original line-up.
In 2006, the UK version of the Beat, featuring Ranking Roger, recorded a new album that was mixed by Adrian Sherwood, but it remains unreleased. The band also featured Everett Morton and Mickey Billingham on keyboards, formerly a member of Dexys Midnight Runners and General Public.
Dave Wakeling fronts the US version of the group as the English Beat, which usually adds a couple of General Public songs to the setlist.[12] The singer and his band flew over to the UK in April 2011, to perform at the London International Ska Festival at the Clapham Grand music venue. They played the Great Dorset Steam Fair show 2011 on 31 August 2011. At this point, both the UK and US versions of the band continued to tour frequently on either sides of the Atlantic.
In mid-2012, the Beat released a box set, titled The Complete Beat, comprising their three albums along with non-album singles, remixes and live material.[13] Additional bonus tracks were included on re-released, double-CD versions of each studio album.
The English Beat recorded two new songs that feature prominently in the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode "Dance of the Undead" which aired 26 March 2013. It features a zombie ska group called Rude Boy and the Ska-Tastics who come back to life in order to turn people into zombies and make them dance to ska music forever. According to an interview Dave Wakeling conducted with the San Francisco Examiner, he said: "This was my first opportunity to do anything for television as a gun for hire, and I actually managed to record and mix two songs in 12 hours. It was like running at double speed with no brakes, but it was exciting, and Warner Bros. really loved them. So the zombies have a song called 'You’re Dead Right, Mate,' and the Hex Girls have one called 'We're the Good Bad Girls,’ which has a definite Ramones-Runaways vibe to it, but frankly, I'm really happy I did it, because I’ve always loved ‘Scooby-Doo."[14]
In late 2013, the Beat with Ranking Roger released the live album, Live in London which featured a new song titled "How Do You Do (Side to Side)" and also a song previously released solo by Ranking Roger, entitled "Dangerous", among many other songs.
The Beat feat. Ranking Roger released Bounce, a studio album, on 30 September 2016, on CD, Vinyl and Digital on DMF Records. The first single from the album, 'Walking on the Wrong Side' was released in July 2016, whilst the album reached No. 49 on the UK Albums Chart.[15]
Saxa (born Lionel Augustus Martin) died on 3 May 2017 at the age of 87.
In 2018 the Beat feat. Ranking Roger released The Beat – Live at the Roundhouse a live album with accompanying DVD,[16] while the (English) Beat starring Dave Wakeling released an album called Here We Go Love.[17][18][19][20] This album was announced by Wakeling in 2014, with the project funded through the PledgeMusic website (which was a direct-to-fan music platform where fans could donate money to a group to complete an album project).[21][22]
On 26 January 2019 the Beat feat. Ranking Roger released a new studio album, Public Confidential. The first single from the album 'Maniac' was playlisted on BBC Radio 6 Music.[citation needed]
Weeks after undergoing surgery for two brain tumours, and while undergoing treatment for lung cancer,[23] Ranking Roger died at home on 26 March 2019, aged 56.[24][25][26]
In March 2021, Mini Murphy (Ranking Junior from the Special Beat and the version of the Beat signed to DMF Music in 2016) teamed up with indie rock band the Ordinary Boys to record a tribute to his late father, Ranking Roger. The resulting double-A side single, with "Legacy" on one side and "Jump and Skank" on the other, was released as a download, vinyl and CD single by United Sound Records/Proper.[27]
In October 2021, drummer Everett Morton died at the age of 71.
General Public were an English new wave band, formed in Birmingham in 1983, by vocalists Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger of the Beat, and which also included former members of Dexys Midnight Runners, the Specials, and the Clash. They are best remembered for their hits "Tenderness" (1984) and "I'll Take You There" (1994).
I Just Can't Stop It is the debut studio album by British ska band the Beat, released on 23 May 1980 by Go-Feet Records in the United Kingdom. It was released the same year in the United States on Sire Records under the band name The English Beat". In Australia, it was released on Go-Feet under the band name The British Beat.
Andrew Cox is a British guitarist, who along with Dave Wakeling, formed ska band The Beat in 1978.
"The Tears of a Clown" is a song written by Hank Cosby, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder and originally recorded by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles for the Tamla Records label subsidiary of Motown, first appearing on the 1967 album Make It Happen. The track was re-released in the United Kingdom as a single in July 1970, and it became a number-one hit on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending September 12, 1970. Subsequently, Motown released a partially re-recorded and completely remixed version as a single in the United States as well, where it quickly became a number-one hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B Singles charts.
Roger Charlery, known professionally as Ranking Roger, was an English musician. He was a vocalist in the 1980s ska band the Beat and later new wave band General Public. He subsequently was the frontman for a reformed Beat lineup.
All the Rage is the debut studio album by English new wave band General Public, released in January 1984 by I.R.S. Records. It was recorded digitally. After his expulsion from the Clash, Mick Jones was a founding member of General Public. Though he is listed in the credits of the album as a member, Jones left General Public part way through the recording process and was replaced by Kevin White. White's picture appears on the back cover; Jones' picture does not. Jones did play guitar on many of the album's tracks however, including "Tenderness". The album spent 39 weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart and reached its peak position of No. 26 in mid-February 1985. However, it failed to chart in their home country.
David Wakeling is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known for his work with the band the Beat and General Public.
David "Shuffle" Steele is an English musician who was a member of the Beat and Fine Young Cannibals.
Special Beat Service is the third studio album by the British ska band the Beat, released on 1 October 1982 by Go-Feet Records. Like the rest of their material, it was released in the US under the name "the English Beat". It peaked at No. 39 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 1983 on the strength of two singles, "I Confess" and "Save It for Later," the music videos for which received modest airplay on the fledgling MTV video network.
"Hands Off...She's Mine" is the second single by British ska/new wave band the Beat, released on 14 February 1980 as the first single from their debut album I Just Can't Stop It. The single was successful, peaking at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart.
Wha'ppen? is the second studio album by British ska band the Beat, released in 1981 via Go-Feet Records in the United Kingdom and Sire Records in the United States. After the critical and commercial success of I Just Can't Stop It (1980), which mixed ska, reggae and punk rock with social lyrics, the band changed direction on Wha'ppen?, taking influence from many other musical styles which were intriguing the band, including African, steel band and dub music, while keeping reggae at its core. The fast pace of the band's previous work is also exchanged for a slower, mid-tempo pace. Accompanying the music is the socially conscious and political lyrics. The band recorded the record at Roundhouse Studios with producer Bob Sargeant.
What Is Beat? – The Best of The Beat is a greatest hits album by the ska band the Beat released in 1983. The original vinyl release included an additional "free album" of extended remixes entitled Frebe. Several songs had previously only been released as singles and B-sides. These include "Too Nice to Talk To", "March of the Swivelheads" and "Psychedelic Rockers". In the UK these also include the A-side "Tears of a Clown" and "Ranking Full Stop". "March of the Swivelheads" later appeared in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The song accompanies the film's climax. The question of the album's title was answered on the back of the original sleeve, "This is Beat!!"
Hand to Mouth is the second studio album by English new wave band General Public, released in 1986 by I.R.S. Records.
Rub It Better is the third studio album by English new wave band General Public, released on 4 April 1995 by Epic Records. The band had not recorded together in almost 10 years.
"Mirror in the Bathroom" is a single by the British ska band the Beat, released as a single in 1980 from their debut studio album I Just Can't Stop It. It reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and consequently was their highest charting release in the UK until 1983. It was released again in 1995 as a 12" single and early in 1996 as a CD single to promote B.P.M.: The Very Best of the Beat. The reissued single reached number 44 in 1996.
"Save It for Later" is a 1982 song written and recorded by the British ska/new wave band the Beat. The song was released as a single from the band's third and final studio album, Special Beat Service (1982), finding moderate chart success in Britain.
"I Confess" is a 1982 song written and recorded by British band the Beat. The song was released as a single from the band's third and final studio album, Special Beat Service, finding moderate chart success in the UK. Inspired by the romantic escapades of English tabloids and Wakeling's own personal relationships, the song featured a piano performance led by touring keyboardist Dave "Blockhead" Wright.
"Too Nice to Talk To" is a non-album single by British ska/new wave band The Beat, released on 5 December 1980 by Go-Feet Records. It peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. The song has since been included on CD reissues of the band's second album Wha'ppen?.
This is the discography of British 2-tone/ska band the Beat and its subsequent incarnations as the Beat featuring Ranking Roger based in the UK, and the English Beat starring Dave Wakeling based in the US.
"Drowning" is a song by British ska/new wave band the Beat, released in April 1981 as the first single from their second album Wha'ppen?. It was released as a double A-sided single with "All Out to Get You" and peaked at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart.
References
↑ Album I Just Can't Stop It Go-Feet Records L37344, Australia
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