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Stop your messing around
Better think of your future
Time you straightened right out
Creating problems in town

Rudy, a message to you
Rudy, a message to you

Stop your fooling around
Time you straightened right out
Better think of your future
Else you'll wind up in jail

Rudy, a message to you
Rudy, a message to you

Stop your messing around
Better think of your future
Time you straightened right out
Creating problems in town

Rudy, a message to you
Rudy, a message to you
Rudy, a message to you
Rudy, a message to you

 The Specials were formed in Coventry in 1977, as The Coventry Automatics and later The Special A.K.A. by: 
Jerry Dammers - Organ
Lynval Golding - Rhythym Guitar
Horace Gentleman - Bass
Terry Hall - Vocals
Roddy Radiation - Lead Guitar
John Bradbury - Drums
Neville Staples - Vocals

with honourary members:
Rico Rodriguez - Trombone
Dick Cuthell - Trumpet

NOVEL PERTAMANYA YUZU ney............. coming soon............. dalam pengeditan......hehehe tunggu aja yah.......

Rocksteady is a music genre that was most popular in Jamaica, starting around 1966, and its reggae successor was established around 1968.

The term rocksteady comes from a dance style that was mentioned in the Alton Ellis song "Rock Steady". A successor to Jamaican ska, and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was performed by Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, The Kingstonians, The Maytals and The Paragons. Dances performed to rocksteady were less energetic than the earlier ska dance moves. Rocksteady differs from ska musically as the tempo is slower and more relaxed. The bass is heavier and more prominent in the mix and in addition, the bass lines abandon the earlier "walking" style of the ska period in favor of more broken, syncopated figures. The ska-style back beat and the emphasis on the offbeat carried over into rocksteady.

History

Rocksteady arose at a time when young people from the Jamaican countryside were flooding into the urban ghettos of Kingston — in neighborhoods such as Riverton City, Greenwich Town and Trenchtown. Though much of the country was optimistic in the immediate post-independence climate, these poverty-stricken youths did not share this sentiment. Many of them became delinquents who exuded a certain coolness and style. These unruly youths became known as rude boys.

The rude boy phenomenon had existed in the ska period, but was expressed more obviously during the rocksteady era in songs such as "Rude Boy Gone A Jail" by the Clarendonians; '"No Good Rudie" by Justin Hinds & the Dominoes; and "Don't Be A Rude Boy" by The Rulers. Though Alton Ellis is sometimes said to be the father of rocksteady for his hit "Girl I've Got a Date", other candidates for the first rocksteady single include "Take It Easy" by Hopeton Lewis, "Tougher Than Tough" by Derrick Morgan and "Hold Them" by Roy Shirley. In a Jamaican radio interview, pianist Gladstone Anderson said that bandleader Lynn Taitt was the man who slowed down the ska beat in 1964 during a "Take It Easy" recording session to create Rocksteady.The record producer Duke Reid released Alton Ellis' "Girl I've Got a Date" on his Treasure Isle label, as well as recordings by The Techniques, The Silvertones, The Jamaicans and The Paragons. Reid's work with these groups helped establish the vocal sound of rocksteady. Notable solo artists include Delroy Wilson, Bob Andy, Ken Boothe and Phyllis Dillon (known as the "Queen of Rocksteady").

Rocksteady lyrics mainly dealt with love and the rude boy culture, but most of the songs are simply music for dancing. Rocksteady singers regularly covered American soul recordings. For example, the song "You Don't Care" by The Techniques is a cover of "You'll Want Me Back" by The Impressions. "Ilya Kuryakin" by Ike Bennet and The Crystalites is lifted from "Theme from A Summer Place". Musicians who were crucial in creating the music included guitarist Lynn Taitt, keyboard player Jackie Mittoo, drummer Winston Grennan, bassist Jackie Jackson and saxophonist Tommy McCook. As a musical style, rocksteady was shortlived, and existed only for about two years. For this reason original recordings in this genre are often harder to find than those from the ska and reggae era. In contrast to rocksteady, the Jamaican ska trend lasted several years, and classic reggae lasted for over a decade.

Transformation into reggae

Several factors contributed to the evolution of rocksteady into reggae in the late 1960s. The emigration to Canada of key musical arrangers Jackie Mittoo and Lynn Taitt — and the upgrading of Jamaican studio technology — had a marked effect on the sound and style of the recordings. Musically, bass patterns became more complex and increasingly dominated the arrangements and the piano gave way to the electric organ in the mix. Other developments included horns fading farther into the background; a scratchier, more percussive rhythm guitar; the addition of African-style hand drumming, and a more precise and intricate drumming style. The use of a vocal-free or lead instrument-free dub or B-side "version" became popular in Jamaica.

By the late 1960s, as the Rastafari movement gained in popularity, many reggae songs became focused less on romance and more on black consciousness, politics and protest. The release of the film The Harder They Come and the rise of Jamaican superstar Bob Marley brought reggae music to an international level that rocksteady had never been able to reach. Although rocksteady was a short-lived phase of Jamaican popular music, it was hugely influential to the reggae, dub and dancehall styles that followed. Many bass lines originally created for rocksteady songs continue to be used in contemporary Jamaican music.

Skinhead adalah suatu sub-budaya yang lahir di London, Inggris pada akhir tahun 1960-an. Sekarang Skinhead sudah menyebar ke seluruh belahan bumi. Nama Skinhead merujuk kepada para pengikut budaya ini yang rambutnya dipangkas botak. Sebelum bermulanya era Skinhead, ada golongan remaja yang dipanggil Mods yang menjadi pemula kepada skinheads.

Meskipun Skinhead banyak diasosiasikan dengan kelompok orang-orang yang rasis dan Neo-Nazi, namun Skinhead yang sebenarnya tidaklah Neo-Nazi, karena pada awalnya Skinhead adalah kaum tertindas dari kelas pekerja (utamanya buruh pelabuhan) di London, Inggris. Skinhead juga bisa merujuk kepada kepada kelompok orang (biasanya remaja) yang merupakan fans musik Oi!/streetpunk dan juga punk.

Sejarah

Skinhead merupakan subkultur yang bermula di Inggris pada era ‘60-an, ketika Mods sedang mengharubiru kaum muda Inggris. Mods yang pada awalnya didominasi kaum muda yang berasal dari kalangan menengah ke atas kemudian mewabah dan menyentuh setiap kalangan. Tidak terkecuali kalangan pekerja alias working class. Para pemuda dari kalangan tersebut meskipun harus bekerja keras tiap hari, sebagian malah sebagai buruh kasar atau buruh pelabuhan, namun tetap memiliki cita rasa tinggi dalam memilih life style tertentu. Mereka berusaha mengadaptasi life style yang berkembang dengan pola hidup, selera serta kemampuan dompet.

Maka pada sekitar tahun 1965, dalam dunia Mods dikenal pula istilah Smooth Mods (Peacock Mods) yang terdiri dari kalangan menengah stylish dengan pilihan kostum yang mahal serta Hard Mods (lemonheads, gang mods) yang terdiri dari kaum pekerja dan merupakan cikal bakal dari Skinheads.

Hard mods kemudian baru dikenal sebagai kaum Skinheads sekitar tahun 1968. Generasi pelopor Skinheads tersebut biasanya disebut Trads (Traditional Skinheads) atau Trojan Skinheads, sesuai dengan nama label Trojan Records.

Pakaian

Kaum Trads ini mudah dikenali dari setelan seperti shirt button-up Ben Sherman, polo Fred Perry, Bretel/suspender, celana jeans semi ketat, monkey boots, jaket jeans, jaket Harrington, V neck Sweater dls. Serta yang terpenting adalah potongan rambut yang pendek, berbeda dengan gaya rambut mods pada umumnya. Pilihan akan jenis rambut yang pendek ini lebih disebabkan alasan kepraktisan. Terutama karena sebagian besar lapangan pekerjaan yang tersedia tidak membolehkan pekerja berambut gondrong apalagi bergaya acak tidak beraturan. Selain itu, potongan rambut pendek dianggap sebagai keuntungan sewaktu harus menghadapi kehidupan jalanan yang keras ketika itu. Ada pula yang berpendapat bahwa pilihan berambut pendek merupakan counter terhadap life style kaum hippie yang dianggap mewah dan juga sedang berkembang pada masa tersebut. Lebih jauh lagi, suatu kisah menceritakan bahwa pilihan tersebut berasal dari kaum pekerja pelabuhan, seperti di kota Liverpool, yang memotong pendek rambut mereka untuk menghindari kutu yang banyak terdapat di sekitar pelabuhan.

Musik

Karena Skinhead sendiri pada dasarnya adalah suatu subkultur bukannya sebuah genre atau aliran musik, pilihan musiknya pun bisa beragam.

Yang pertama tentunya adalah roots mereka yang berasal dari Mods, para Trads pun pada awalnya sangat terpengaruh musik R&B ala British seperti dari The Who, The Kinks dls. Namun, mereka juga terinspirasi oleh style ala Jamaican Rude Boy yang juga populer di Inggris pada zaman itu. Rude Boy atau rudy merupakan sebutan untuk para imigran Jamaika yang berkulit hitam pencinta dansa dan musik asal mereka.

Hasilnya, para Trads pun sangat menggemari musik ska, reggae, rocksteady, bahkan sampai musik soul dls. Maka terkadang, seorang Skinhead pun ikut menikmati alunan dari seorang penyanyi soul seperti Aretha Franklin misalnya.

Dari roots tersebut dapat ditelusuri bahwa pada dasarnya Skinhead sama sekali tidak identik dengan rasis. Sebagaimana pendapat awam pada umumnya. Karena mereka pun menikmati kultur dari masyarakat kulit hitam. Bahkan, banyak juga Skinhead yang berkulit hitam dan berwarna kulit lainnya.

Rasisme

Mereka mendapat cap rasis pertama kali ketika beberapa Skinhead terlibat clash beberapa kali dengan imigran Pakistan dan imigran dari Asia Selatan (mereka menyebutnya Paki-Bashing) di Inggris pada era ’60-an. Tindak kekerasan yang biar bagaimanapun tidak bisa dibenarkan tersebut dipicu oleh masalah pekerjaan. Di mana para Skinhead yang merupakan kaum pekerja tersebut merasa lahan pekerjaan mereka semakin sempit terdesak oleh kedatangan imigran yang bersedia dibayar lebih rendah. Label rasis kemudian semakin melekat, salah satunya setelah beberapa Skinhead tergabung dan dihubungkan dalam organisasi white power, National Front yang terbentuk di awal ’70-an. Militansi dan karakter Skinhead yang keras khas kaum pekerja sempat membuat mereka dijadikan alat maupun berbagai kepentingan politik. Termasuk dihubungkan dengan paham Neo Nazi. Meskipun sejarah maupun kenyataan yang ada bisa menunjukkan fakta yang berbeda.

Sama dengan nasib Mods leluhurnya, pamor Skinhead sempat meredup di era ’70-an, setelah sebelumnya mencapai puncak popularitas mereka pada tahun 1969.

Mereka kemudian bangkit kembali, bersamaan dengan kelahiran musik punk pada sekitar tahun 1977

Ska (pronounced /ska/ or in Jamaican Patois /skja/) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was a precursor to rocksteady and reggae.

Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line, accented guitar or piano rhythms on the offbeat, and in some cases, jazz-like horn riffs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant musical genre of Jamaica, and it was also popular with British mods. Many skinheads, in various decades, have also enjoyed ska (along with reggae, rocksteady and other genres).Music historians typically divide the history of ska into three periods: the original Jamaican ska scene of the 1960s, the 2 Tone ska revival that started in England in the late 1970s, and the third wave ska movement, which started in the 1980s.

History

After World War II, Jamaicans purchased radios in increasing numbers and were able to hear rhythm and blues music from Southern United States cities such as New Orleans by artists such as Fats Domino and Louis Jordan. The stationing of American military forces during and after the war meant that Jamaicans could listen to military broadcasts of American music and there was a constant influx of records from the US. To meet the demand for that music, entrepreneurs such as Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems. As jump blues and more traditional R&B began to ebb in popularity in the early 1960s, Jamaican artists began recording their own version of the genres.The style was of bars made up of four triplets, similar to that of "My baby just cares for me" by Nina Simone, but was characterized by a guitar chop on the off beat - known as an upstroke or skank - with horns taking the lead and often following the off beat skank and piano emphasizing the bass line and, again, playing the skank.Drums kept 4/4 time and the bass drum was accented on the 3rd beat of each 4-triplet phrase. The snare would play side stick and accent the 3rd beat of each 4-triplet phrase.The upstroke sound can also be found in other Caribbean forms of music, such as mento and calypso.

Music of Jamaica

Kumina - Niyabinghi - Mento - Ska - Rocksteady - Reggae - Sound systems - Lovers rock - Dub - Dancehall - Dub poetry - Toasting - Raggamuffin - Roots reggae

Anglophone Caribbean music

Anguilla - Antigua and Barbuda - Bahamas - Barbados - Bermuda - Caymans - Grenada - Jamaica - Montserrat - St. Kitts and Nevis - St. Vincent and the Grenadines - Trinidad and Tobago - Turks and Caicos - Virgin Islands

Sound samples

Other Caribbean music

Aruba and the Dutch Antilles - Cuba - Dominica - Dominican Republic - Haiti - Hawaii - Martinique and Guadeloupe - Puerto Rico - St. Lucia - United States - United Kingdom

One theory about the origin of ska is that Prince Buster created it during the inaugural recording session for his new record label Wild Bells.[7] The session was financed by Duke Reid, who was supposed to get half of the songs to release. However, he only received one, which was by trombonist Rico Rodriguez.[citation needed] Among the pieces recorded were "They Got To Go", "Oh Carolina" and "Shake A Leg."[citation needed] According to reggae historian Steve Barrow, during the sessions, Prince Buster told guitarist Jah Jerry to "change gear, man, change gear."[citation needed] The guitar began emphasizing the second and fourth beats in the bar, giving rise to the new sound. The drums were taken from traditional Jamaican drumming and marching styles. To create the ska beat, Prince Buster essentially flipped the R&B shuffle beat, stressing the offbeats with the help of the guitar.

The first ska recordings were created at facilities such as Studio One and WIRL Records in Kingston, Jamaica with producers such as Dodd, Reid, Prince Buster, and Edward Seaga.There are different theories about the origins of the word ska. Guitarist Ernest Ranglin said the offbeat guitar scratching style that he and other musicians played was described as "ska! ska! ska!"[citation needed] Some believe that bassist Cluet Johnson coined the term ska when explaining the ya-ya sound of the music.[citation needed] Johnson was known to greet his friends with the word skavoovie, perhaps imitating American hipsters of the era. Johnson and the Blues Blasters were Coxsone Dodd's house band in the 1950s and early 1960s before the rise of the The Skatalites.[citation needed]

The ska sound coincided with the celebratory feelings surrounding Jamaica's independence from the UK in 1962; an event commemorated by ska songs such as Derrick Morgan's "Forward March" and The Skatalites' "Freedom Sound." Because the newly-independent Jamaica didn't ratify the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works until 1994, copyright was not an issue which created a large number of cover songs and reinterpretations. Jamaican musicians such as The Skatalites often recorded instrumental ska versions of popular American and British music, such as Beatles songs, Motown and Atlantic soul hits, movie theme songs, or surf rock instrumentals. Bob Marley's band The Wailers covered the Beatles' "And I Love Her," and radically reinterpreted Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone."

Byron Lee & the Dragonaires performed ska with Prince Buster, Eric "Monty" Morris, and Jimmy Cliff at the 1964 New York World's Fair. As music changed in the United States, so did ska. In 1965 and 1966, when American soul became slower and smoother, ska changed its sound accordingly and evolved into rocksteady.[8][7]

2 Tone

The 2 Tone genre, which began in the late 1970s in England, was a fusion of Jamaican ska rhythms and melodies with punk rock's uncompromising lyrics and aggressive guitar chords.Compared to 1960s ska, 2 Tone music had faster tempos, fuller instrumentation and a harder edge. The genre was named after 2 Tone Records, a record label founded by Jerry Dammers of The Specials. Although 2 Tone bands were respectful to the original Jamaican ska artists, The Specials failed to credit musicians such as Prince Buster, Toots & the Maytals and Dandy Livingstone as the composers of songs on their 1979 debut vinyl release. However, in many cases, the reworking of classic ska songs turned the originals into hits again in the United Kingdom. The 2 Tone movement promoted racial unity at a time when racial tensions were high in the UK. Most of the 2 Tone bands had multiracial lineups, such as The Beat (known as English Beat in North America) and The Selecter.Although only on the 2 Tone label for one single, Madness were one of the most effective bands at bringing the 2 Tone genre into the mainstream.

Third wave ska

Main articles: Third wave ska and Ska punk

In the 1980s, bands influenced by the 2 Tone ska revival began to form in the United States and other countries.The first well-known American ska revival band was The Toasters, who played in a 2 Tone-influenced sound and paved the way for the third wave ska movement. Other notable early third wave ska bands included The Uptones, Fishbone and Operation Ivy.

Many third wave ska bands played ska punk (sometimes known as ska-core), which is a fusion of ska, 2 Tone and punk rock. However, some third wave ska bands — such as The Allstonians, Hepcat and The Slackers — continued to play in a more traditional 1960s-influenced style. By the early 1990s, ska revival and ska punk bands were forming throughout the United States and many other countries. An enormous growth of the ska punk genre occurred after the ska-core band Mighty Mighty Bosstones signed with Mercury Records in 1993 and appeared in the film Clueless with their first mainstream hit "Someday I Suppose". The ska-influenced rock band No Doubt and Sublime also gave the ska genre more mainstream attention. By the late 1990s, mainstream interest in third wave ska bands had waned as other music genres gained momentum.However, several of the most popular ska punk bands have maintained a steady following in the 2000s (although many have moved away from their earlier ska-influenced sound to embrace various forms of rock, punk, and alternative music).

Reggae

Stylistic origins: R&B, Jazz, Mento, Calypso, Ska, Rocksteady

Cultural origins: Late 1960s Jamaica, especially Kingston

Typical instruments: Bass - Drums - Guitar - Organ - Brass - Melodica

Mainstream popularity: Early 1970s onward, worldwide

Derivative forms: Trip hop - Drum and bass - Dancehall

Subgenres

Roots reggae - Dub - Dub poetry - Toasting - Lovers rock - Dancehall - Ragga

Fusion genres

Reggaeton - Seggae - 2 Tone - Reggae rock

Regional scenes

African - Kanéka - New Zealand

Other topics

Jamaica - Rastafari movement - Haile Selassie - Marcus Garvey - List of reggae musicians

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.

While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based on a rhythm style characterized by regular chops on the off-beat, known as the skank. The tempo is generally slower than that found in ska. Reggae usually has accents on the 3rd beat in each bar, there being four beats in a bar; many people think it's accentuated on the 2nd and 4th, because of the rhythm guitar.

Reggae is often associated with the Rastafari movement, an influence on many prominent reggae musicians from its inception. Reggae song lyrics deal with many subjects, including faith, love, relationships, poverty, injustice and other broad social issues.

History

Toots Hibbert, lead singer of the Maytals.The 1967 edition of the Dictionary of Jamaican English lists reggae as "a recently estab. sp. for rege", as in rege-rege, a word that can mean either "rags, ragged clothing" or "a quarrel, a row".

The word as a musical term first appeared in print with the 1968 rocksteady hit "Do the Reggay" by the vocal group the Maytals, but it was already being used in Kingston as the name of a slower dance and style of rocksteady. As singer Derrick Morgan has reminisced,

"We didn't like the name rock steady, so I tried a different version of "Fat Man". It changed the beat again, it used the organ to creep. Bunny Lee, the producer, liked that. He created the sound with the organ and the rhythm guitar. It sounded like ‘reggae, reggae' and that name just took off. Bunny Lee started using the world [sic] and soon all the musicians were saying ‘reggae, reggae, reggae.'"

However, by Maytals' lead singer Toots Hibbert's account,

"There's a word we used to use in Jamaica called 'streggae'. If a girl is walking and the guys look at her and say 'Man, she's streggae' it means she don't dress well, she look raggedy. The girls would say that about the men too. This one morning me and my two friends were playing and I said, 'OK man, let's do the reggay.' It was just something that came out of my mouth. So we just start singing 'Do the reggay, do the reggay' and created a beat. People tell me later that we had given the sound it's name. Before that people had called it blue-beat and all kind of other things. Now it's in the Guinness World of Records."

Reggae historian Steve Barrow credits producer Clancy Eccles with altering the word streggae into reggae. Bob Marley is said to have claimed that the word reggae came from a Spanish term for "the king's music". The suggestion that reggae was derived from the Latin regis meaning "to the king" is less likely to be correct, although the music style is sometimes referred to as "JAH Throne music" in Rastafarian contexts. In the Caribbean, Reggae in general is also sometimes known as Rockers music.

Origins

Music of Jamaica

Kumina - Niyabinghi - Mento - Ska - Rocksteady - Reggae - Sound systems - Lovers rock - Dub - Dancehall - Dub poetry - Toasting - Raggamuffin - Roots reggae

Anglophone Caribbean music

Anguilla - Antigua and Barbuda - Bahamas - Barbados - Bermuda - Caymans - Grenada - Jamaica - Montserrat - St. Kitts and Nevis - St. Vincent and the Grenadines - Trinidad and Tobago - Turks and Caicos - Virgin Islands

Sound samples

Other Caribbean music

Aruba and the Dutch Antilles - Cuba - Dominica - Dominican Republic - Haiti - Hawaii - Martinique and Guadeloupe - Puerto Rico - St. Lucia - United States - United Kingdom

Although strongly influenced both by traditional African and Caribbean music and by American rhythm and blues, Reggae owes its direct origins to the progressive development of ska and rocksteady in 1960s Jamaica.

Ska music first arose in the studios of Jamaica over the years 1959 to 1961, itself a development of earlier mento. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line, accentuated guitar or piano rhythms on the offbeat, and sometimes jazz-like horn riffs. Aside from its massive popularity amidst Jamaican "rude boy" fashion, it had gained a large following among "mods" in Britain by 1964. According to Barrow, rude boys began deliberately playing their ska records at half speed, preferring to dance slower as part of their "tough" image.

By the mid-60s, many artists had begun actually playing the tempo of ska slower, while emphasizing the walking bass and offbeat aspects. The slower sound had a new name: Rocksteady, taken from a single of the new genre by Alton Ellis. This phase of Jamaican music lasted only until 1968, when the musicians began to slow the tempo of rocksteady into yet another gear, and add still other effects. This was the genesis of the now world-famous sound known as reggae.

The shift from rocksteady to reggae was caused by the organ shuffle that was pioneered by Bunny Lee, and was also featured in the transitional singles "Say What You're Saying" (1967) by Clancy Eccles, and "People Funny Boy" (1968) by Lee "Scratch" Perry. The Pioneers' 1967 track "Long Shot Bus' Me Bet" has been identified as the earliest recorded example of the new rhythm sound that would soon become known by the name reggae. Early in 1968 was when the first bona fide reggae records came into being; both "Nanny Goat" by Larry Marshall, and the Beltones' "No More Heartaches" have been claimed for this honour. Music historian Piero Scaruffi credits US artist Johnny Nash's 1968 hit "Hold Me Tight" with first putting reggae on the American listener charts.

Bob Marley Live a painting by Steve Brogdon 1992The Wailers, started by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer in 1963, are generally agreed to be the most easily recognised group worldwide that made the transition through all three stages: from ska hits like "Simmer Down", through slower rocksteady; and they are also among the significant pioneers who can be called the literal roots of reggae, along with Prince Buster, Desmond Dekker, Jackie Mittoo, and several others. Some of the many notable Jamaican producers who were highly influential in the development of ska into rocksteady and reggae in the 1960s include Coxsone Dodd, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Leslie Kong, Duke Reid, Joe Gibbs and King Tubby.

Among these early producers was Chris Blackwell, who founded Island Records in Jamaica in 1959, then relocated to England in 1962, where he continued to promote Jamaican music. He formed a partnership with Trojan Records, founded by Lee Gopthal in 1968, which lasted until 1972. Trojan continued to produce reggae artists in the UK until 1974, when it was bought by Saga.

1970s and 1980s

The 1972 film The Harder They Come, starring Jimmy Cliff, generated considerable interest and popularity for reggae music in the United States, and Eric Clapton's 1974 cover of the Bob Marley song "I Shot the Sheriff" is thought to signify reggae's acceptance as a global phenomenon by the "white rock world"[9]. By the mid 1970s, reggae was getting radio play in the UK on John Peel's radio show, and Peel continued to play much reggae during his career. What is called the first "Golden Age of Reggae" corresponds roughly to the heyday of roots reggae.

In the second half of the 1970s, the UK punk rock scene was starting to take off, and some punk DJs played reggae records during their DJ sets. Some punk bands, such as The Clash, The Slits, and The Ruts, incorporated reggae influences into their music.

At the same time, reggae began to enjoy a revival in the UK that continued into the 1980s, exemplified by groups like Steel Pulse, Aswad, UB40, and Musical Youth. Other artists who enjoyed international appeal in the early 80s include Third World, Black Uhuru and Sugar Minott.

The Grammy Awards introduced the "Best Reggae Album" category in 1985, which was won that year by Black Uhuru's Anthem LP. Winners for subsequent years have included albums by Jimmy Cliff, Steel Pulse, Peter Tosh, Ziggy Marley (four times), Bunny Wailer (three times), Shabba Ranks (twice), Inner Circle, Shaggy, Sly and Robbie, Beenie Man, Damian Marley (twice), Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sean Paul, and Toots and the Maytals.

Musical characteristics

Reggae is always played in 4/4 time or swing time, because the symmetrical rhythm pattern does not lend itself to other time signatures such as 3/4 time. Harmonically, the music is often very simple, and sometimes a whole song will have no more than one or two chords. The Bob Marley and the Wailers song "Exodus" is almost entirely comprised of A-minor chords. These simple repetitious chord structures add to reggae's sometimes hypnotic effect. However, Marley also wrote more complex chord structures, and bands such as Steel Pulse have often used very complex chord structures.

Drums and other percussion

A standard drum kit is generally used, but the snare drum is often tuned very high to give it a timbale-type sound. Some reggae drummers use a separate additional timbale or high-tuned snare to get this sound. Rim shots on the snare are commonly used, and tom-tom drums are often incorporated into the drumbeat itself. From the mid-80s onward, electronic instruments such as synthesizers and samplers have been used for the same purpose, especially by reggae artists who write in the Stepper and Dancehall styles.

Reggae drumbeats fall into three main categories: One drop, Rockers and Steppers. With the One drop, the emphasis is entirely on the third beat of the bar (usually on the snare, or as a rim shot combined with bass drum). Beat one is completely empty, which is extremely unusual in popular music. There is some controversy about whether reggae should be counted so that this beat falls on the 3, or whether it should be counted half as fast so that it falls on the 2 and 4. This article follows the convention of placing the beat on the 3. Many credit Carlton Barrett of The Wailers as the creator of this style, although it may actually have been invented by Winston Grennan. An example played by Barrett can be heard in the Bob Marley and the Wailers song "One Drop". Barrett often used an unusual triplet cross-rhythm on the hi-hat, which can be heard on many recordings by Bob Marley and the Wailers, such as "Running Away" on the Kaya album.

An emphasis on beat three is in all reggae drumbeats, but with the Rockers (pronounced like "raucous") beat, the emphasis is also on beat one (usually on bass drum). This beat was pioneered by the prolific innovative duo of Sly and Robbie — Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare — who later also helped create the "Rub-a-Dub" sound that greatly influenced Dancehall. An example of the Rockers beat is in "Night Nurse" by Gregory Isaacs. The Rockers beat is not always straightforward, and various syncopations are often included. An example of this is the Black Uhuru song "Sponji Reggae."

In Steppers, the bass drum plays four solid beats to the bar, giving the beat an insistent drive. An example is "Exodus" by Bob Marley and the Wailers. Another common name for the Steppers beat is the "four on the floor".

The Steppers beat was also adopted (at a much higher tempo) by some of the 2 Tone ska revival bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Examples include "Stand Down Margaret" by The Beat and "Too Much Too Young" by The Specials.

An unusual characteristic of reggae drumming is that the drum fills often do not end with a climactic cymbal. A wide range of other percussion instrumentation is used in reggae. Bongos are often used to play free, improvised patterns, with heavy use of African-style cross-rhythms. Cowbells, claves and shakers tend to have more defined roles and a set pattern.

Bass

The bass guitar often plays a very dominant role in reggae, and the drum and bass is often called the riddim. Several reggae singers have released different songs recorded over the same riddim. The central role of the bass can particularly be heard in dub music — which gives an even bigger role to the drum and bass line, reducing the vocals and other instruments to peripheral roles. The bass sound in reggae is thick and heavy, and equalized so the upper frequencies are removed and the lower frequencies emphasised. The bass line is often a simple two-bar riff that is centred around its thickest and heaviest note (which in musical terms is often the harmonic root note) - the other notes in the bassline often serve simply to lead you towards the bassist note. An example of this can be heard on "Sun Is Shining" by Bob Marley and the Wailers.

Guitars

The rhythm guitar in reggae usually plays the chords on beats two and four, a musical figure known as skank or the 'bang'. It has a very dampened, short and scratchy chop sound, almost like a percussion instrument. Sometimes a double chop is used when the guitar still plays the off beats, but also plays the following 8th beats on the up-stroke. An example is the intro to "Stir It Up" by The Wailers.

The lead guitar will often add a rock or blues-style melodic solo to a song, but much of the time it plays the same part as the bass line an octave higher, with a very muted and picked sound. This adds definition to the bass line (which is usually devoid of upper frequencies), and emphasizes the bass melody. Sometimes the guitar will play a counter-melody to the bass line instead.

Keyboards

From the late 1960s through to the early 1980s, a piano was generally used in reggae to double the rhythm guitar's skank, playing the chords in a staccato style to add body, and playing occasional extra beats, runs and riffs. The piano part was widely taken over by synthesizers during the 1980s, although synthesizers have been used in a peripheral role since the 1970s to play incidental melodies and countermelodies. Larger bands may include either an additional keyboardist, to cover or replace horn and melody lines, or the main keyboardist filling these roles on two or more keyboards. The latter has become increasingly popular as keyboard technology improves.

The reggae-organ shuffle is unique to reggae. Typically, a Hammond organ-style sound is used to play chords with a choppy feel. This is known as the bubble. There are specific drawbar settings used on a Hammond console to get the correct sound. This may be the most difficult reggae keyboard rhythm. The 8th beats are played with a space-left-right-left-space-left-right-left pattern. The right-hand part coincides with the rhythm guitar and piano. It makes the music sound faster than it really is. The organ often also plays melodic runs and extra beats. The organ part is typically quite low in the mix, and is often more felt than heard. Examples include the songs "Natural Mystic", "Is This Love" and "Midnight Ravers" by Bob Marley.

Horns

Horn sections are frequently used in reggae, often playing introductions and counter-melodies. Instruments included in a typical reggae horn section include saxophone, trumpet and/or trombone. In more recent times, real horns are sometimes replaced in reggae by synthesizers or recorded samples. The horn section is often arranged around the first horn, playing a simple melody or counter melody. The first horn is usually accompanied by the second horn playing the same melodic phrase in unision, one octave higher. The third horn usually plays the melody an octave and a fifth higher than the first horn. The horns are generally played fairly softly, usually resulting in a soothing sound. However, sometimes punchier, louder phrases are played for a more up-tempo and aggressive sound.

Vocals

The vocals in reggae are less of a defining characteristic of the genre than the instrumentation and rhythm. Almost any song can be performed in a reggae style. Vocal harmony parts are often used, either throughout the melody (as with bands such as the Mighty Diamonds), or as a counterpoint to the main vocal line (as with the backing group I-Threes). The British reggae band Steel Pulse used particularly complex backing vocals. An unusual aspect of reggae singing is that many singers use tremolo (volume oscillation) rather than vibrato (pitch oscillation). Notable exponents of this technique include Dennis Brown and Horace Andy. The toasting vocal style is unique to reggae, originating when DJs improvised along to dub tracks, and it is generally considered to be a precursor to rap. It differs from rap mainly in that it is generally melodic, while rap is generally more a spoken form without melodic content.

Lyrical themes

Reggae is noted for its tradition of social criticism, although many reggae songs discuss lighter, more personal subjects, such as love, sex and socializing. Some reggae lyrics attempt to raise the political consciousness of the audience, such as by criticizing materialism, or by informing the listener about controversial subjects such as Apartheid. Many reggae songs promote the use of cannabis (also known as marijuana or ganja), considered a sacrament in the Rastafari movement. There are many artists who utilize religious themes in their music — whether it be discussing a religious topic, or simply giving praise to the Rastafari God Jah. Other common socio-political topics in reggae songs include black nationalism, anti-racism, anti-colonialism, anti-capitalism, criticism of political systems and "Babylon", and promotion of caring for needs of the younger generation.

Subgenres

Roots reggae

Roots reggae is the name given to a spiritual type of music whose lyrics are predominantly in praise of Jah (God). Recurrent lyrical themes include poverty and resistance to government oppression. Many of Bob Marley's and Peter Tosh's songs can be called roots reggae. The creative pinnacle of roots reggae was in the late 1970s, with singers such as Burning Spear, Gregory Isaacs, Freddie McGregor, Johnny Clarke, Horace Andy, Ijahman Levi, Barrington Levy, Big Youth, and Linval Thompson, and bands like Culture, Israel Vibration, and Misty in Roots, teaming up with various studio producers including Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Coxsone Dodd.

Dub

Dub is a genre of reggae that was pioneered in the early days by studio producers Lee 'Scratch' Perry and King Tubby. It involves extensive remixing of recorded material, and particular emphasis is placed on the drum and bass line. The techniques used resulted in an even more visceral feel described by King Tubby as sounding "jus’ like a volcano in yuh head." Augustus Pablo and Mikey Dread were two of the early notable proponents of this music style, which continues today.

Lovers rock

Main article: Lovers rock

Lovers rock originated in South London in the mid-1970s, and is produced for a smoother, more commercial sound, with more apolitical lyrics.

Newer styles and spin-offs

Hip hop and rap

Further information: Toasting, Hip hop music and Rapping

Toasting is a style of chanting or talking over the record that was first used by 1960s Jamaican deejays such as U-Roy and Dennis Alcapone. This style greatly influenced Jamaican DJ Kool Herc, who used the style in New York City in the late 1970s to pioneer a new genre that became known as hip hop or rap. Mixing techniques employed in dub music have also influenced hip hop.

Dancehall

Main article: Dancehall

The dancehall genre was developed around 1980, with exponents such as Yellowman, Super Cat and Shabba Ranks. The style is characterized by a deejay singing and rapping or toasting over raw and fast rhythms. Ragga (also known as raggamuffin), is a subgenre of dancehall where the instrumentation primarily consists of electronic music and sampling. Notable ragga artists include Shinehead and Buju Banton.

Reggaeton

Main article: Reggaeton

Reggaeton is a form of dance music that first became popular with Latino youths in the early 1990s. It blends reggae and dancehall with Latin American genres such as bomba and plena, as well as hip hop.

Reggae rock

Main article: Reggae rock

Reggae rock is a fusion genre that combines elements of reggae and rock music. Notable artists who have mixed rock and reggae include: The Police, Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, Bedouin Soundclash and The Beautiful Girls.