Talk:The Specials

Confusion on Original Members
Don't know the band. Reading the article, it says the names of people who created the band in 1977. A couple of lines later, it says that one of those same people (Hall) seemingly first joined a second time, in 1979. Later, in a section showing the years that each member participated, it shows that another aforementioned 1977 member (Golding) did not join until 1979. Hope someone "in the know" can clear up these differences in the article. Jmg38 (talk) 10:39, 15 July 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
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Terry Hall abduction
Thanks to Wikipedia bureaucrats, anonymous editors can't do anything to the Terry Hall article and I can't even post on his article's talk page there.

I wished to add something about Terry admitting recently he'd been abducted and abused when he was twelve in France.* It's a terrible thing but obviously he wishes to go on record about it:


 * ''Hall said he was abused by a group of men over the course of several days in the 1970s. Following the ordeal he sought medical help for anxiety and quickly became addicted to valium...


 * “At 12 I got abducted by a paedophile ring in France and that was a real eye-opener. And I can laugh about it now but it sort of switched something in my head and it’s like I don’t have to do that and that’s when I started like not listening to anyone.”

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/specials-terry-hall-reveals-kidnapped-paedophile-ring-child-153125080.html

No, I don't wish to set up an account.

Timeline
I added Encore to the timeline, but I didn't know how to set the timeline end point to just be the present, so I put today's date.

If anyone knows how to change that, go ahead

DeputyBeagle (talk) 18:15, 7 February 2019 (UTC)

Is Saffiyah Khan a member?
She's described so here but theface.com is not listed on WP:RSP. She's mentioned on the band's official bio but not specifically described as a member of the band. However, she went on tour with them and is not specifically listed anywhere I can find as a featured guest or something so I think it could go either way. Anyway, I just added a short paragraph about her in the current events section. Might need some editing. Thanks. Kire1975 (talk) 07:12, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

Change of name
I don't think the full story re the origins of The Specials' name has been told. As is documented, as nauseum, at first, they were called The Automatics, after automatic rifles/guns. Then, as we know, another band with the same name objected, so they changed it to The Specials AKA The Automatics which, unsurprisingly, got shortened to The Specials AKA (also known as) because they didn't want to lose the small following they'd built up from gigging locally. This is before they got the break that changed their career trajectory, supporting The Clash on tour. But what everyone fails to point out or explain to curious young minds is where they came up with the name The Specials. It's from the term 'Saturday Night Special', American slang for a cheap knock-off gun, usually bought wrapped in a brown paper bag from some dodgy bloke in a big city side street. From automatics to specials, geddit? Mag Wildwood (talk) 14:01, 14 May 2022 (UTC)


 * @MadgeWildwood Do you have a source for one of the band members stating that origin for the name The Specials? I would interested in adding it to the article. Thanks :)
 * RudeTheHamster (talk) 11:38, 25 August 2022 (UTC)