I was 15 when i first heard "One Step Beyond". That- and it's A-side, "Al Capone" - had been gathering dust in an otherwise modern juke-box in a Totenham Court Road arcade. Me and Chalky (my oldest friend) used to go there to play pool and would put both sides on in constant rotation, much to the costernation of the owner.

"Al Capone" was an amazing track - it inspired The Specials' first, "Gangsters" - with shouting and machine guns and all, but "One Step beyond" had the greater allure for a young man who'd never been abroad. It's lazy, smoky saxophone conjured images of dusty rooms in the casbah. Why Prince Buster was exhorting his cohorts to go "one step beyond", I never did find out, but it always had one foot off the ground.

Our money spent, we would wander back to my Mum's flat above Maples, the furniture shop where, a few years later, I would be playing a rough cassette of the song by a new band called Madnesss to a young gentleman called Jerry Dammers, whose own band, The Specials, had been playing in our local watering hole, The Hope & Anchor. Having nowhere to stay, he had kipped on my Mum's settee, with all his worldly goods - one toothbrush and a few cassettes - collected in a battered school briefcase.

Later on, we would play the song at record boss Dave Robinson's wedding party. Says Dave, "I didn't know what to expect. I'd been told they were a jumped up copy of Kilburn & The High Roads (Ian Dury's first group), which made them sound rather interesting. Afterwards, they told me they'd only come along to take the piss. I remember Chas jumping into the crowd and dragging a bewildered Elvis Costello ontop the dancefloor. They didn't play too well, but they had so much dash, and this totally radical, very visual and exciting on stage style. One song, in particular, stood out for me. As soon as they launced into 'One Step Beyond', I wanted to sign them".

Dave thought this short (about 90 seconds) rendition of a Prince Buster B-side would be a big hit. It didn't end there, as our producer, Clive Langer, remembers: "We did the whole album in three weeks, working around the clock, rehearsing and recording. None of us had any money, but the enthusiasm and excitement was overwhelming. In many ways, it seemed quite easy...apart from the track, 'One Step Beyond', which was a different story. In those days, dave Robinson would come down to the studio and give each song marks out of 5..."

Dave Robinson: " As far as I was concerned, 'One Step Beyond' was the key to the whole ball game...and i found they'd decided not to record it! I couldn't believe it. I had to reason with them for hours - how it should be the single and the album title - and, when they finally agreed, they recorded a version that only lasted 1 minute 20! In the end we had to cut up bits, duplicate them, and edit it all together to make it the right length for a single."