Pauline Black: “They don’t give you things. You struggle for things. You fight for things”
Back in 1979, a revolution was brewing in the grassroots music venues of the Midlands, a movement which would soon become known all across the globe as 2 Tone ska. Encapsulating groups like The Specials, The Beat, Madness, and The Selecter, this watershed moment in independent music saw mixed-race bands discussing politics, race relations, and British society on a mass scale that had never been seen before. At the forefront of that defiant movement was The Selecter’s vocalist and frontwoman, Pauline Black.
When she was first recruited to join the ranks of 2 Tone, ushered in by The Specials’ guitarist Lynval Golding as a potential vocalist for the newly founded group The Selecter, Black was the sole female voice within a male-dominated scene. On top of that, the singer had experienced a truly unique upbringing as an adopted, mixed-race child living in a white family in Romford, Essex.
As a result, Black was a perfect fit for the 2 Tone scene, which blended old-school Jamaican ska with the influence of modern punk rock – two genres which have always boasted a rich history of political activism. It is a testament to the groundbreaking impact of The Selecter that they, along with Black, still draw in crowds today, 45 years after the release of their debut album.
It further speaks to the lasting legacy of The Selecter that I, somebody who was born post-millennium, found solace in the music of Pauline Black during my own adolescence. As such, the prospect of interviewing the voice that has soundtracked so many of my most important memories was daunting, to say the least, but also an opportunity that would be impossible to refuse. As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about, as Black was all too keen to speak openly and passionately about her life, music career, and politics.
Our chat predominantly revolved around Pauline Black: A 2 Tone Story, a new documentary film directed by Jane Mingay, which is currently being toured around the UK. The film tracks the life of the performer from birth to the present day, based on her autobiography Black By Design. In opposition to the deluge of other films and books on the 2 Tone movement, this film is told almost exclusively from the perspective of Black, something she seemed to revel in.
“This is all about men, normally,” she told me, explaining the differences between her story and the various other accounts of 2 Tone that have come and gone over the years. “If we’re talking about lead singers or stuff like that, it’s about Terry Hall, it’s about Suggs. Mainly because 2 Tone music was embraced by a lot of white guys in boots at the beginning.” Although Black did qualify, “Women did come along to the shows, but they were mainly shows that I did, or maybe The Bodysnatchers did.”
Alongside this newfound feminine influence within the movement, The Selecter created some of the most socially conscious and politically turned-on tracks of that period. Songs like ‘Black and Blue’ or ‘Out on the Streets’ were a radical reflection of that tumultuous time period, both in Coventry and across the nation. “We were talking about racism,” Black recalled to me, “I mean, if someone interviewed me, I was talking about sexism and where the black woman fitted into this, and all those kinds of things.”
To this day, Black is still talking about sexism and the role of race in her career. Over the course of an hour, we spoke at length about the horrendous racism that she faced in virtually every aspect of her existence during childhood and beyond, as well as how those attitudes have changed – or, as it turns out, remained the same – during her lifetime. Her upbringing as an adopted Black baby in a white family placed Black in a fairly unique position, able to witness the widespread nature of racist attitudes even in her own childhood home.
“I know how white folks really are,” she told me, while reminiscing on her childhood years, “when they’re left to their own devices, and they don’t think anybody Black is listening.” Inevitably, these experiences would go on to shape Black’s music career, as well as her political activism and artistic aims. So much so that, even after The Selecter, Black was a pioneer and advocate for Black representation in the theatre, something which is explored in great detail within the documentary film.
When watching Pauline Black: A 2 Tone Story, it is almost impossible to watch the archival footage of the National Front without thinking back to the far-right marches and riots which infected cities across the country earlier in the summer. Have attitudes towards race really changed that much since The Selecter first burst onto the scene? Black herself isn’t all that sure.
“I was very optimistic about it,” she shared when questioned on how her attitudes towards race have changed over the years, “say, in 2008 when, across the pond, they elected Obama as the President of the United States.” Explaining, “It’s not that Obama did anything amazing or great, rather than just exist in the White House with his wife, but I mean, some kids who were growing up then had something to see that they could say, ‘Look at this person. This person runs things.’ He’s not a footballer; he’s not a musician; he’s not any of the other things that we’re supposed to be so good at.”
Continuing, the vocalist mused, “I was just hopeful that we might have something similar here, but that didn’t quite pan out in quite the same way. We now have Kemi Badenoch, but that’s another story…” Nevertheless, Black seems fairly confident that young Black people in Britain are in a better position today than she was back in the 1950s and 1960s. “It’s very difficult to say whether things are better or worse,” she said, “but I can tell you what I do think is better: Young Black people do not feel like I felt back then.”
“They are, you know, second, third generation. They have a stake in the society. I think they have a sense of belonging and a right to belong that possibly my generation didn’t feel in the same way.” It must be said that Black herself certainly had a role to play in bringing about that change; after all, when The Selecter appeared on Top of the Pops, it was one the first times that a mixed-race band had been beamed into the living rooms of England, nevermind singing about politics and racism. She was something of a trailblazer in that sense.
“We were talking about what was going on around us,” Black said of The Selecter’s discography, drawing parallels with modern artists and music scenes. “I mean, people like Stormzy talk about what’s going on around them, don’t they? You know, Kendrick Lamar talks about what’s going on around them. It’s not different.”
Summarising the continued struggle of Black people and ethnic minorities in Britain, Black told me, “Anyone who’s marginalised is always fighting to be heard. You don’t get things. They don’t give you things. You struggle for things. You fight for things.” Black and The Selecter certainly fought for themselves back in the 2 Tone era, and they continue to do so to this day.
One of the many ways in which The Selecter differ from their 2 Tone contemporaries is that they are still going strong, touring extensively and continuing to write politically active, important social commentary. “We’re talking about the same things,” the vocalist exclaimed, “I mean, you were saying earlier about, ‘did I think things changed?’ Well, if I really thought things changed so radically, I wouldn’t still be fucking talking about them.”
Admittedly, there is as much to talk and shout about in modern society as there was back in 1979, so it is no surprise that Black is still on the frontlines, creating defiantly political material.
Touching on the current state of affairs, with a particular emphasis on the ongoing genocide in Palestine – something The Selecter wrote about in their 2015 song ‘Babble On’ – she pleaded, “What does it take for us as human beings, irrespective of what colour you are, to know that bombing 45,000 women and children is really not a good idea to hammer home your particular feeling of ‘right to land’ or anything like that. My heart goes out to those people.”
Ending the interview on a particularly profound note, Black shared, “I would stand up for anyone who is feeling oppressed in that way. It’s all very well, run around and call ourselves activists, but it’s, you know, what are you saying? It’s only what we’re saying, and keeping it up there and out there and talking about it, that ever advances any change.”
Perhaps that is one of the reasons that The Selecter’s music and attitude still find relevance in the modern age, inspiring people like me who were not around for the first wave of 2 Tone. There is still so much to be angry about and campaign against in the modern world. When I first heard Too Much Pressure, as an angry adolescent living under a regressive Conservative government, it felt as if Black was talking directly to me, just as she had done to those kids back in the 1970s – such is the timeless appeal of her music.
There is no doubt that 2 Tone, The Selecter, and Pauline Black have certainly advanced some social and cultural changes over the years, but my interview with Black was a staunch reminder of just how much more progress there is to be made. The conditions that first inspired the 2 Tone revolution largely have not gone away, and neither has the quality of the music. 45 years after The Selecter’s debut, the music and attitude of Pauline Black exist as a beacon of hope that change is possible, but it must be fought for.
