THE SELECTER – THREE MINUTE HERO 7″ – Nr MINT UK PAPER LABELS SKA 2 TONE

The Selecter – Three Minute Hero
(2-Tone Records  1980  TT8)
UK Pressing

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from a few light crackles at the very start of each side)

2 Tone Sleeve in Nr MINT/Excellent+ condition
– a little wear

The Selecter are a 2 Tone ska revival band from Coventry, England, formed in mid-1979.

The Selecter featured a diverse line-up, both in terms of race and gender, initially consisting of Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson and Pauline Black on lead vocals, Neol Davies and Compton Amanor on guitar, Desmond Brown on Hammond organ, Charley ‘H’ Bembridge on drums, and Charley Anderson on bass. The band’s name is based on the term “selector”, which is a Jamaican word for disc jockey. The band were one of the most successful ska bands of the 2 Tone era, notching up several top forty singles in the British charts. Having co-released the first 2 Tone Ska single with The Specials, they are considered one of the founding acts of the movement. Though highly influential, the original lineup only remained together for a year, and even with replacement players the band only continued until breaking up in 1981.

By 2011, another version of the band featuring Neol Davies was touring separately. In June 2011 Black applied for, and won, the Selecter trademark and the right to use the name herself. The reformed, Pauline Black-led line-up still tours and releases albums under the Selecter name, most recently releasing Human Algebra, the band’s 16th studio album, in 2022.

“Three Minute Hero” is a song and single written by Neol Davies and performed by British ska group The Selecter. It is also the opening track on side one of their album Too Much Pressure. Released in 1980 it reached 16 on the UK charts, staying for eight weeks.