Album · Selecter
Too Much Pressure by Selecter
Too Much Pressure is an album by Selecter, released in 1980. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 31 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Too Much Pressure”, on 18 lists with a best position of #301.
Too Much Pressure, the Selecter's debut, came out on 2 Tone in February 1980, recorded at Horizon Studios over two months with Errol Ross producing. The Coventry band had only officially come together the year before, and it was the hit "On My Radio" that got 2 Tone and Chrysalis asking for an album.
What they got was a skanking, jittery, tightly wound thing. Neol Davies wrote most of the originals, and the rest are ska and reggae covers, much as the Specials had done on their own debut. Pauline Black and Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson trade lead vocals, Desmond Brown's Hammond organ bubbles away, and Charley Anderson's bass and Charley Bembridge's drums keep it all locked tight, from a lineup mixed in race and gender. It went to number 5 in Britain, "Three Minute Hero" and "Missing Words" both made the UK top 25, and the 2 On 2 Tour, violent as it was, helped push it along. The critics loved it then and still do.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Too Much Pressure on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Too Much Pressure | 18 | #301 | – | 1999–2025 | |
| 2 | On My Radio | 11 | #801 | – | 1999–2026 | |
| 3 | The Selecter | 2 | #570 | – | 2002–2003 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.