Hi everybody, again iv'e been a bit slack and two weeks have passed since my last post, to recap this is a series about a young white English guy's discovery of reggae in his youth and how it became a life long love. My journey started by way of UK Ska music the foundation of the skinhead/rudeboy movement of the late 1970's through this I learned of original Ska and rocksteady from Jamaica, mostly via the UK Trojan record label. Once my eyes and ears were open to this genre there was no going back I had a near bottomless pit of new reggae variants to delve into.
One style I had become aware of was Lovers rock, it was a smooth crooner type of reggae which found a audience with the masses when Dennis Brown had a top ten hit in the UK. Brown was touted by the likes of Bob Marley who had been quoted as saying Brown was his favorite singer, with backing like this success was on the cards. It had been a long time coming though as he had been performing since his youth when he first stepped on stage at 11 years old and releasing his first single aged 12, recorded in 1969 by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One's label the song "no man is a island" was a big hit in Jamaica but never really managed to break out of it's borders. He would have to wait a number of years for international recognition but with the release of "Money in my pocket" the reggae loving UK audience made that happen. Seen here performing on the BBC chart music show "Top of the Pops"
Lovers rock reggae became popular in the UK with a wealth of artists like Sugar Minot, Gregory Isaacs, Janet Kay and Freddie McGregor to name a few, having great success but the guy that they all owed something to was Ken Booth who had paved the way the years before with his global hit "every thing i own", which was promoted by the Trojan record label.
Whilst enjoying Lovers rock it didn't speak to me in the same way Ska had, I yearned for something a bit more gritty, it was time to delve deeper into that pit. In my search I found the likes of U-Roy, Big youth and Dillinger and started to explore Toasting a little more. It was something I had experienced through UK Ska band The Beat, one of the members "Ranking Roger" would toast on a few of their tunes, I liked the raw style of it.
Through this style I learned more about selectors the deejays who would lay down the riddim's that toaster's would sing over, often these riddim's were old rhythms recycled by many artists. Later King Jammy would produce "under mi Sleng teng" a digital riddim that was used by artists like Yellowman and Barrington Levy.
This style really worked for me and widened my interest in the Dancehall sound, a style that from a British point of view left a lot to be desired. Growing up in the UK through trials and tribulations we had become on the whole a multi cultural and modern thinking nation, a anything goes don't judge your neighbour way of thinking, I think it's fair to say a lot of Dancehall with homophobic lyrics and social judgment was in conflict with my way of thinking and no licky licky didn't keep the girls happy but words aside the overall sound drew me in. I'll finish today with a guy along with Eek a mouse were my soundtrack to the early 80's, Yellowman with the crazily entitled "Zungguzungguguzungguzeng"
If you missed my previous post iv'e left a couple of links below, next time I be going into Jamaica's influence on British reggae.
(https://hive.blog/hive-183952/@biggypauls/ska-d-for-life-finding-reggae)
(https://hive.blog/hive-183952/@biggypauls/trojan-a-short-story-about-a-legendary-record-label)
The Dancehall sound of the 80s and 90s really defined the times. Lover rockers, there is just something about that genre of reggae and soothes the soul ( especially when you are on a beach) I think this genre is gonna pick up a lot of attention again soon
The new Dancehall these days is so HipHop influenced with the riddims, I don't mind it, but I realize it is not what the masses want. They want that gritty King Jammy sound, that distinct Dancehall riddim that you can make no mistake that it is danchehall.
All classics in this post. My favorite is Sleng teng hahah. Thanks for sharing.
It's nuts how a 3 second sample from a Casio keyboard became the basis of a whole genre, the MT30 changed the sound of dancehall and nearly 40 years later that riddim is still being used. So the question could be asked is Hiroko Okuda the queen of dancehall?
Bro you just blew my mind with that statement! I had to go and google search her and went down the rabbit hole. We could definitely say she is the queen as her creation started the seed of the sound. I am not ashamed to say I was taken to school today and that many Jamaicans do not know the true history of the music.
It's a strange world we live in who would have thought a Japanese programmer would set the tone for a generation of Dancehall lovers. One thing for sure we know is that reggae artists will delve into all sort of music to bang out a tune. Big Youth had no issue using old school nursery rhymes as a basis for a tune. Glad to see this white boy from the UK is spreading the knowledge around. Peace bro!
Big tune!!! Dennis Brown- Money in my pocket.
Nice post @biggypauls
Thanks bro, Dennis was and is a legend, the lovers rock genre was a important in introducing reggae to the UK. It helped it to become a major part of British culture.
A really nice genre, i got my own "Lovers Rock" Playlist in my I Tunes.
This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and reblogged by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here
Thanks again for your support, it is always appreciated.