The Untouchables — Agent Double-O Soul [HQ]

JUL 01 1988 · 12:00

The Untouchables — Agent Double-O Soul [HQ] (1988) Era: Late 80s American Ska/Soul Revival (1988) - Peak of the U.S. second-wave ska movement, bridging 2-Tone aesthetics with funk and Northern Soul influences in Los Angeles High archival value as a visual document of The Untouchables at the peak of their late-1980s career, capturing the aesthetic codes—fashion, movement, performance energy—of the American ska/mod revival. The video's rapid editing pace and warm, low-lit documentary style authentically preserve the atmosphere of the Los Angeles ska live scene. As a cover of a foundational 1965 Northern Soul track, it also illustrates the cross-generational and transatlantic dialogue at the heart of ska's American evolution. Context: The Untouchables emerged from the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1981 and are widely credited as America's first ska band, blending R&B, reggae, and Northern Soul into a high-energy live act. Their 1988 album and single 'Agent Double O Soul' represented a stylistic evolution toward deeper funk and soul territory, building on the momentum of their 1985 debut 'Wild Child' (Stiff/MCA Records). The song is a cover of Edwin Starr's 1965 Ric-Tic debut single, which drew a James Bond-inspired parallel between spy culture and soul cool. The Untouchables' racially integrated lineup and diverse Southern California fanbase made them a model of the multicultural potential of the ska/mod revival scene, predating and influencing third-wave ska acts of the 1990s. Director notes: The video is documented as a 1988 music video on IMDB. No production company, director, or crew credits have been located in any publicly available database or music history source as of the time of this annotation.