Three At Three For Free

SWC, who produces the essential and inspirational No Badger Required music blog, has just wrapped up the Rocks Greatest Number countdown. I was once again privileged to be a voting member of the Musical Jury.

These events are huge fun to participate in and a compelling read, and it's always a thrill to see where your votes land in the final ranking. This one in particular also provided moments of perfect symmetry. For example, placed at #3 were Fun Boy Three.

Not bad for a band that 'only' released two albums and a clutch of singles between 1981 and 1983. But timing is everything and Fun Boy Three arrived at just the right time for this particular music lover.

Fun Boy Three was my band, inasmuch as the other kids at primary school had turned up in their Harrington jackets and buzz cuts, into all things 2-Tone, not least The Specials. But I don't remember anyone else being the first to talk about Fun Boy Three. 

Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staple. One moody as hell, barely moving yet effortlessly cool. The other two looking for the rhythm and the good time in everything around them.

Not easy, when Fun Boy Three lyrics spanned The Troubles and childhood sexual abuse. A lot of that was completely over my head as a 10 going on 11 year old. Yet, their music, their friendship, their appearance all affected me deeply. 

Waiting was their second and final album, but the first FB3 album that I owned (on cassette) and it's hard to know how they could have followed (or bettered) it, to be honest. 

Fun Boy Three were a brief but perfectly formed moment in music.

I've picked three videos for today's post: their astonishing debut from 1981 (and worryingly relevant today), followed by the first 12" single of theirs that I bought, and finally a seasonal cover of a George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward classic, originally recorded in 1935 which Fun Boy Three absolutely made their own in 1982.