Why the Specials' Ghost Town is still the sound of a country in crisis

Not all protest songs offer political solutions. Some, such as the Specials' 1981 hit, are better at capturing a mood of anxietyOn Sunday morning – after Tottenham but before London's rioting went viral – I was reading reports of the violence when Gimme Shelter came on the radio. The combination was unexpectedly visceral. The Rolling Stones' slow-burning jeremiad played out over images of riot police and buildings on fire. Possibly this suggests a chronic inability on my part not to relate d...

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