When Rock Met Reggae
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When Rock Met Reggae

When Rock Met Reggae

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERSISBN: 9781493074471

How the Cultural Crossover of Bob Marley, The Clash, The Specials and More Changed the Face of Rock Music

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$57.99
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By Steven Blush
Imprint: GLOBE PEQUOT
Release Date:
Format: PAPERBACK
Dimensions: 229 x 152 mm
Weight: 500 g
Pages: 233

Description

In When Rock Met Reggae, Steven Blush takes a spirited, cross-genre perspective in this "illuminating chronicle" (Booklist) of the crossover of Jamaican, British, and American sounds that changed the face of popular music.



Bringing the same incisive, cross-genre perspective he offered in When Rock Met Disco, Steven Blush gives a spirited survey of the crossover of Jamaican, British, and American sounds that changed the face of popular music in When Rock Met Reggae. The inspiration of ska, rock-steady, dub, and reggae—heard on independent recordings played on “soundsystems” from Kingston and Brixton—created a new rock tonality and attitude, spanning from Eric Clapton to The Clash. Meanwhile, the “Two Tone” sounds—traversing The Specials, Madness, and UB40—fueled the ‘90s ska revival of Sublime, No Doubt, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and beyond. Attentive to the racial, political, and artistic aspects of this intricate story, Blush gives a memorable account of one of the most fertile cross-pollinations in pop music history.


STEVEN BLUSH has written seven books about rock and pop culture, including, most recently, When Rock Met Disco: The Story of How The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, KISS, Queen, Blondie and More Got Their Groove On in the Me Decade.


Reviews

Reggae may have started in Kingston, Jamaica, but according to Blush, it didn’t truly spread around the world until waves of Jamaicans began emigrating to England in the late 1950s. Reggae, he maintains, “spoke in a language that upstart youth could identify with: fierce lyrics, anti-fashion, DIY attitude, and a radical fight for freedom.” Blush discusses the roots of reggae before turning to the many sounds of Bob Marley, Millie Small, Prince Buster, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals, and Desmond Dekker. He then tackles the various forms of reggae, including dub, rock-reggae, and punk-reggae, the latter perhaps best exemplified by the Clash (Joe Strummer and Mick Jones went to Jamaica to write the songs on their second album, Give Em Enough Rope). As musicians on both sides of the Atlantic experimented with reggae, including the Police, Blondie, and Elvis Costello, such 2 Tone label artists as the Specials, the Selecter, the English Beat, and UB40 blended punk, rock, reggae, and ska into a unique sound. Blushs illuminating chronicle ends with an annotated playlist featuring the backstories of classic recordings.

— Booklist


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