The Specials are no more! Horace Panter remembers days when it was ‘like walking on air’

The Specials are no more! Horace Panter remembers days when it was ‘like walking on air’

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold July 14, 2026 Duration: 23:06

The Specials have officially disbanded, bowing out with a swansong album recorded in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral in 2019. Horace Panter looks back at the first shows they played - when Jim Callaghan was still PM! - and the rigours of mastering ska when some of the group thought it was “old man’s music”. Along with …

 

… the dignified way for any band to retire

 

… the 2-Tone tour of 1979 – “like a school trip with no teachers”

 

… bonding with Terry Hall over comedian Ken Platt: ‘I won't take me coat off, I'm not stoppin'!"

 

… the day Jerry Dammers came to rehearsal with Prince Buster’s Greatest Hits – “for all your rebellious needs!”

 

… the poignancy of playing in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral when you start the set with an air-raid siren

 

… seeing the Faces and Mott the Hoople, “once in my school uniform”

 

… the sensory overload - “The space! The volume!” - of Led Zeppelin at the Albert Hall when you’re 15 and from Kettering

 

… “strange to think few people under 60 have ever seen the Specials”

 

… the bassist he pretended to be when posing in the mirror

 

... the Bilzen Festival in 1979 “when the chain-link fence was broken down and I came offstage like I was walking on air”

 

… and creating the 2-Tone look with ex-Mod tonic suits

 

Order ‘Live From The Cathedral’ here: https://shop.thespecials.islandrecords.com/

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Word In Your Ear
Podcast Episodes
David Gray’s priceless memories of lessons learned the hard way [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:07
David Gray went through the roof with his White Ladder album in 2000 and he’s toured and recorded ever since, ending this summer’s loop at Latitude. He talks to us here about the rigours of seeing bands when you lived in…
Peter Frampton – ‘the Face of 1968’ looks back! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:16
Peter Frampton, for goodness sake! Part of our lives at Word In Your Ear since we were teenagers. Played guitar on national telly when he was 14. Joined the Herd at 16 and Humble Pie two years later. Had the biggest-sell…
Paul Simon’s Graceland and how the masterpiece was made [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:18
‘Graceland’ was an almighty gamble for Paul Simon, a costly, high-risk departure from the music he’d been making and a complex international venture. And a game-changing, worldwide triumph. When Ashley Kahn taught a cour…
Kate Mossman has strong feelings about rock stars past their prime [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:57
Kate’s an old pal of ours from Word magazine who writes scintillating columns and profiles for the New Statesman and Observer. We loved her book ‘Men Of A Certain Age: My Encounters With Rock Royalty’ – just out in paper…