On My Radio
IT WAS all Jerry Dammers’ fault. When The Specials found themselves short of a second track for their debut single, “Gangsters”, Dammers asked fellow Coventry musician Neol Davies if he could use “The Selecter”, a song written and recorded by Davies a year previously with drummer John Bradbury.
The double A-side single went Top 10, and Davies quickly realised he needed a band. He poached organist Desmond Brown from his previous group, The Transposed Men, brought in four musicians from local reggae outfit Hard Top 22 and added singer Pauline Black as a final flourish.
A multiracial, mixed-gender septet firing out a vibrant blend of ska, soul, calypso and pop, The Selecter was never easy – “It was all quite volatile!” says Black – but always exciting. The deal The Specials struck with Chrysalis allowed them to put out singles by other artists on their 2-Tone label. The Selecter were early beneficiaries, releasing “On My Radio” in October 1979 as their debut single proper. Written by Davies while in thrall to Elvis Costello, the song dated back to his days in The Transposed Men. “Writing it took a few weeks,” he recalls. “I wouldn’t say I thought it was a hit, but I thought it was different and that I’d done well. It felt
