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

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/word-in-your-ear-66565/the-specials-are-no-more-horace-panter-remembers-days-when-it-was-like-walking-on-air
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/word-in-your-ear-66565/the-specials-are-no-more-horace-panter-remembers-days-when-it-was-like-walking-on-air.md
Podcast: [Word In Your Ear](https://stenobird.com/podcast/word-in-your-ear-66565)
Published: 2026-07-14T19:12:29+00:00
Episode link: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5ff0586154e2a73589267809/e/6a568a1d70c881d75c03ed9e/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/word-in-your-ear-66565/episodes/the-specials-are-no-more-horace-panter-remembers-days-when-it-was-like-walking-on-air
Duration seconds: 1386

## Resource

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.

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