The Boiler
single by Rhoda Dakar
"The Boiler" is a single by Rhoda Dakar with the Special AKA (The Specials). It was released in January 1982 on 2 Tone Records.
Early version
"The Boiler" is about a woman with low self-esteem ('boiler' being a pejorative term for a sexually unattractive woman ) who is raped and assaulted. In the song Rhoda Dakar references the rape of a friend some years before.
"The Boiler" was the first song The Bodysnatchers wrote themselves; prior to this they only had played old ska covers. Jerry Dammers wanted to produce it for the band, but pressure from Chrysalis (who looked after the 2 Tone label) caused The Bodysnatchers to record the more commercial "Let's Do Rock Steady." Due to musical and some personal differences, The Bodysnatchers disbanded after a year, and some members went on to form The Belle Stars; while remaining on friendly terms with The Belle Stars, founder member and bass guitarist Nicky Summers chose to work with Rhoda. There is a live bootleg version of "The Boiler" from 1980, on "The Bodysnatchers Live at Folkestone," though it is a rough mix. There also exists an as-yet-unreleased specially-recorded version from the John Peel show.
Live with The Specials
Rhoda Dakar, who had sung some tunes on the More Specials album, went on tour with The Specials in 1981 more or less by accident, first as a guest then as a permanent fixture. Not long after making the "Ghost Town" promo, "The Boiler" got added to the set list.
“The Boiler” enters the record as single by Rhoda Dakar. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Boiler, single and Rhoda can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“The Boiler” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Boiler, single and Rhoda provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2141630. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1982, 1980 and 1981.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Boiler” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.