So why is The English Beat’s I Just Can’t Stop It on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
For a lFor a long time, I was mostly familiar with The English Beat by way of the soundtrack for the movie, Grosse Pointe Blank.*
* Apparently in the UK they’re simply referred to as The Beat, but as I’m an American I’ll call ‘em what we Yanks call them!
It’s a high quality soundtrack (so good, in fact, that I gave it some consideration for this here best 1,000 albums ever project) for a very good movie. The English Beat song included on the soundtrack is “Mirror in the Bathroom,” the band’s most popular song.
And it’s a very good one itself, but for whatever reason I never got around to giving The English Beat a real exploration, leaning perhaps on other English ska revival bands like The Specials and Madness instead.
Then one day I stumbled across a song called “Big Shot” and something clicked and I was all in on The English Beat. In fact, I quickly slotted “Big Shot” into that rare tier of songs that I’ll play over and over again in addition to throwing it into multiple curated playlists that I listen to often.
I finally understood that The English Beat’s blend of new wave, early ‘80s rock, and British-flavored ska and rock steady was super catchy, danceable, and wonderful.
At some point, it became nearly a cliché that ska bands would do a “ska version” of some song from an earlier era (typically ‘90s third wave bands performing ska versions of ‘80s songs à la Reel Big Fish doing “Take On Me,” by A-ha).
And maybe it was The English Beat themselves who kicked off this trend with their outstanding cover of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ classic, “The Tears of a Clown”?
It’s such a great example too of a band taking source material and reinterpreting it in a way that both honors the original and yet completely stands on its own in a fresh and exciting way.
Lately, I’ve been completely enamored with “Two Swords,” with its delightfully frantic ska/new wave beat. I’m somewhat more ambivalent about the lyrics on this one, I’ll admit. It expresses hatred toward Nazis (which, to be sure, I am 1,000% supportive of!) but it also advises some temperance in terms of feeling too angry and particularly violently toward one’s enemies. I’m going to speculate and say that this sentiment may well have a different grounding in 1980 versus the strange times we’re living through in 2023 and just leave it at that.
Finally, I’m always a sucker for a sweet and pure ska groove on a song like “Can’t Get Used to Losing You.”
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with The English Beat’s I Just Can’t Stop It
Grosse Pointe Blank as I mentioned is very good, but I imagine it’s not for everyone: it has a specific, darkly satiric and quirky tone that some people might not get with.
I think the movie works extremely well thanks to the direction by George Armitage and the strength of the performances, led by John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin (incredible in everything), and Dan Aykroyd.
Also, my man Lou and I love the scene when a seemingly placid character played by Jeremy Piven* suddenly freaks out on Cusack’s character for not having seen his close friend after an unexplained ten year absence. “Ten years!” became a fun catch phrase that we’d repeat.
* Side note that Piven and Cusack have a filmic history of being in movies together dating back to Say Anything. “You must chill!”
Some stats & info about The English Beat – I Just Can’t Stop It
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, British Bands, New Wave, Ska Revival, Dance Music
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was I Just Can’t Stop It released? 1980
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #280 out of 1,000
The English Beat’s I Just Can’t Stop It on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from The English Beat’s I Just Can’t Stop It that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Big shot, I want the whole lot. And if you like it or not, I still control you.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.