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    Full Stop

    Ranking Roger, dead at 56

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...r-dies-aged-56

    #2
    Of all the Dance Craze bands, The Beat stood tallest. RIP Ranking Roger.

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      #3
      Very sad; 56 is no age and he clearly had more good work to offer.

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        #4
        What Satchmo said.

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          #5
          I can't believe he was so young. The bands contemporary with the Beat, basically the ones I saw in college, would be pensionable age by now.

          At least Margaret stood down first.

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            #6
            Originally posted by tee rex View Post
            I can't believe he was so young.
            Surprised me as well. A classmate of mine at primary school had big brothers who were well into their music, and I swear I heard The Beat round his house when I was still in my pre-secondary school days. And I'm only five years younger than Ranking Roger was.

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              #7
              I'm two years younger than he was and I remember buying I Just Can't Stop It around the time of my 16th birthday in 1980.

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                #8
                As tee rex and treibeis said, forgot how young he was (only six years older than me). As mentioned on another thread, I met Dave Wakeling in Chicago last year, and he talked fondly about the early days of The Beat and his friendship with Roger. I was, and still am, a lover of that era of ska and 2-Tone. Can't get used to losing you...

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                  #9
                  He was younger than I am, which I hadn't known until the news broke.

                  The Beat are retrospectively underrated in my opinion, but had plenty of major hits - Mirror in the Bathroom remaining my personal favourite.

                  RIP.

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                    #10
                    It's weird that the age thing is hitting everyone the same way. I always figure the band you're bouncing around to is 5-10 years older than you, so finding that RR is 56? Fuck. Saw them as The Beat and General Public and always thought they were great.

                    Mirror is one of those 'signature' songs that I think are wildly overrated. I can think of 10 Beat songs I prefer to it. But that's the same with People Are People, which I think is pretty dire from DM.

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                      #11
                      Went to see the beat and selecter about 18 months ago, tbh they weren't that great, " the beat " were a group of long haired session men who looked like they'd rather be anywhere else and a large part of the show was Roger pushing his son's music.
                      However we adjourned afterward to a pub where a local ska band were playing, Roger and his son came back and played a brilliant set, even better, they stood at the bar chatting to everyone so he's part of the small group of famous people I've talked to.
                      He was supposed to play again later this year so it must have caught up with him quickly.
                      R.I.P.

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                        #12
                        The age thing got me too. He must have been a 17/ 18 year old kid when I saw them at the Sub Rooms in Stroud. He was fantastic. They were fantastic. This is really sad.

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                          #13
                          So, this is The Beat at the US Festival in 1983....the year they broke up. He's 20 here.

                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MlBzPvCsMo

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                            #14
                            A sad loss and too young. I Just Can't Stop It was the first album that I bought for myself; I've still got that copy upstairs.

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                              #15
                              Loved The Beat, wore the ‘dancing girl’ t-shirt with (Milan away-style) red and black stripe in the 80s until it literally began to fall apart. And am exactly the same age as Roger. Gulp.

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                                #16
                                Originally posted by WOM View Post
                                Mirror is one of those 'signature' songs that I think are wildly overrated. I can think of 10 Beat songs I prefer to it. But that's the same with People Are People, which I think is pretty dire from DM.
                                The obvious difference being that People Are People was a fairly bland statement from a band that by then had started to explore the darker side of human nature.

                                Mirror in the Bathroom was similarly a signature hit, sure, but far braver in that it was one the earliest examples of a UK top-five single directly referencing mental illness. (They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa beat it by over a decade, to be fair.) The fact that, in April 1980, MITB didn't sound like anything else - even the other ska hits with which it rubbed shoulders - also helped.

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                                  #17
                                  Interesting. But I'm not judging it within either its contemporary or its historical context. I'm talking about enduring popularity / general quality. I just don't hear that good a song. It's fine, but it ain't all that. I realize that a lot of people really like it. And, it's the only [English] Beat song that a lot of people know.

                                  Frankly, the line 'Can I take you to a restaurant that's got glass tables / you can watch yourself while you are eating' should be enough to permanently sink it to the depths of the Marianas Trench.

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                                    #18
                                    I guess it 'is' their best-known song - I think having got to know it at that time in British music (and my own life) makes something of a difference, however. It mightn't be their most melodic moment, but it still sounds dark and urgent to me: nobody else was really doing that in ska, at least not at the top level.

                                    Looking back, two of the other major hits were covers (Tears of a Clown and Can't Get Used to Losing You), which leaves Too Nice to Talk To (great, but almost 'Mirror Pt II' for me), Hands Off She's Mine and Stand Down Margaret (good party staples), the decent Best Friend, Drowning, Doors of Your Heart and Save It For Later (by which time their star was fading here). (Hit It, I Confess and Jeanette were not vintage Beat, while Ackee 1-2-3 I don't recall ever hearing.) For other cuts, I'd need to revisit the albums.

                                    (And that's a great line!)

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                                      #19
                                      Head and shoulders above all the others, for me, is Save It For Later. I'd need paper and pen to sort out the rest. Ranking Full Stop is right up there, along with Best Friend. Tears of a Clown is lovely, but covers never count in these matters. Unless it's UB40, and what else are you going to do?

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                                        #20
                                        If it's UB40, you go with Signing Off, the first album - which had some good and original moments. King/Food For Thought was one of the best singles (well, double-headers) of 1980.

                                        All of your selected Beat moments were decent, indeed.

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                                          #21
                                          Save it for Later is indeed wonderful, one of their best moments. But there were a lot of 'em; there always seemed an extra layer to The Beat's stuff, which put them a notch above their largely excellent 2-Tone/ska-revival peers.

                                          Even as a young kid, Mirror in the Bathroom and Too Nice To Talk To (their best song IMO) were entrancing and magnificent.

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