I have mixed feelings about UB40's music, to be honest. Like most British reggae, they got progressively less interesting as the 80s went on. No idea what they did in the 90s.
But, what needs to be remembered is where they came from and what they meant.
Along with Brixton and Liverpool, Birmingham in the late 70s/early 80s was under a global spotlight, thanks to its well documented race-related riots. Many of the most vibrant, acute, effective voices countering the fear and prejudice coming out from Birmingham itself (and the midlands) at the time were musical, including Steel Pulse, The Specials and UB40. Both UB40 and The Specials had black and white members. This is 5 years before 'Graceland' and 10 years before Mandela was released.
Hearing a multi-cultural band singing about poverty back then was a powerful thing. Have a listen, they were awesome:
Tomorrow night, UB40 are playing a gig at The Rainbow in Birmingham. A venue plagued by problems in a city where music venues are disappearing at a rate of knots. It's a pretty big statement for them to do this, and hopefully the conversation will continue to grow about what needs to happen to protect that vital voice in Birmingham Culture that its music scene has provided over the years.
It's also a chance to hear UB40 without any of the trappings or expectation of an arena show. Most bands get less interesting the bigger they get. Throw them back into a pub gig, and it all gets vibrant again. I'm here to be won back :) It'll be broadcast live on Rhubarb Radio.
All the stuff to do with that will be collected together at http://ub40.musicasculture.org/ - go and have a look at the video that's already there.
Amplified are involved, of course - cos that's what we do. It's going to be interesting.