There had been multiracial bands before. Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames had recorded versions of 'blue beat' standards in the 60s and midlands band Locomotive had made the charts in 68 with a version of 'Rudi's In Love'. But it was Jerry Dammers and The Specail AKA that were to provoke a late 70s boom for black & white bands with their first single, a cover of Prince Buster's 'Gangsters'.
The band had formed in Coventry and with £700 and a borrowed B/side (The Selector) they set up their own label, Two Tone and released 'Gangsters through Rough Trade records. Only 5000 copies had been pressed originally and Rough Trade found that they had to press many more copies to meet the demand. Dammers had designed the black and white rude boy emblem of Two Tone and all of a sudden the logo was everywhere during the summer of 79. The Special AKA were to change their name to The Specials and many a band were to follow them by recording versions of old ska tunes and writing new material in the ska style, Madness and The Beat being two of the most successful of the 'Two Tone' bands...
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