…And Start Stomping
Four decades on, live ska movie Dance Craze returns.
Top ranking: Specials and fans, Brighton, 1981;
THERE WILL be a fitting way to remember Terry Hall – as well as his late Specials bandmate John Bradbury, plus Ranking Roger, Saxa and Everett Morton from The Beat and Winston Bazoomies from Bad Manners – this March 24. On that date, a restored version of 1981’s six-band ska concert film Dance Craze will be launched at the BFI. Filmed in 1980 during the height of 2 Tone mania, Dance Craze’s limited cinema run brought together performances from the above-mentioned groups plus Madness, The Selecter and The Bodysnatchers. Apart from a VHS release in 1989, in the absence of film materials since rediscovered, it has been unavailable since.