Anvilicious: Quite a few of their more politically charged songs ended up like this. The most anvilicious of them all, though, are probably Racist Friend and War Crimes.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The song "Holiday Fortnight" on the second album is an easy listening Latin jazz instrumental, at right angles to the style of the rest of the record.
Covered Up: Their version of "A Message to You Rudy". Two of their earlier songs, "Gangsters" and "Too Much Too Young", also borrowed heavily from earlier Jamaican ska songs. They didn't originally record "You're Wondering Now" either (for the record, neither did the Skatalites or Amy Winehouse, nor was it written for Death in Paradise); that was Andy & Joey.
Misattributed Song: Their 1996 "comeback" single "Hypocrite" was credited as written by Bob Marley, rather than the actual writer Leroy Sibbles of The Heptones (who was correctly credited on the album). It's likely somebody got "Hypocrite" mixed up with a different song called "Hypocrites" which Marley did write.
Narm: While Jerry Dammers was a talented songwriter, some of his lyrics could leave something to be desired.
Rob Lowe playing a slimy, amoral jerk who ends up being "the other man" by having an affair with a married woman, causing chaos among the cast, and not feeling a bit sorry about all the damage he caused? Gee, sounds like his guest appearance on The Orville.
The next time James Gunn got "the sixth or seventh best team" in the universe, that universe was the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and said team was the Guardians of the Galaxy. Like the Specials, they're definitely the "oddball, the rebel, the outcast, the geek!"
, establishing that The Specials are not in great shape and the bottom is about to drop out. And the first sign that they're going to be okay? The impromptu dance performance to the novelty hit "Life is a Rock, but the Radio Rolled Me."