By Professor Skank
Photos by Adrian Boot
When originally asked to write this piece on the
King of reggae music, Robert Nesta Marley, I wasn’t sure of which direction to
follow. I ultimately decided to just write some random thoughts and hopefully tie them all
together. As we all know, 2004 marks what would have been Marley’s 59th
birthday and also 23 years since his unfortunate passing. Both numbers are truly hard to
believe.
Talking to some friends recently, we discussed
what it would be like if Marley was still alive. Could you imagine? 
He’d
be the biggest star on the planet. No doubt about it. Bigger than Elvis, bigger than the
Beatles, bigger than the Stones, bigger than anyone. At the time of his death, he was on
the verge of worldwide superstardom, with an upcoming tour with Stevie Wonder in the works
- and that was way back in 1980. Who knows what kind of crucial music and life lessons he
would have given us in the past two-plus decades. Mind boggling, for sure.
Speaking of that, there are still numerous dubs
and rarities in the vaults. Hopefully we’ll get to hear them in our lifetime. This
current batch of 200-plus "rare" songs on the horizon seems bogus, however, as
all but six of them have been previously released on JAD Records.
Another thing we discussed that day (since
we’re all old punk rockers) was how cool it would have been to have been in England
in 1977. After the assassination attempt on Marley’s life on December 3, 1976 –
and his subsequent monumental performance at the "Smile Jamaica" concert two
days later – Marley basically "disappeared." He ultimately showed up
stateside, then traveled to London to work on "Exodus" (among other things),
arriving overseas during the peak of the punk rock revolution. Could you imagine Marley
walking down King’s Road and crossing paths with Johnny Rotten or Joe Strummer? It
must have been incredible.
It’s been said that Marley appreciated
the punks and liked The Clash and their hard-core version of the Junior Murvin/Lee Perry
classic "Police And Thieves." From Timothy White’s book, "Catch A
Fire: The Life Of Bob Marley," White wrote:
"While in London with Lee Perry, [Marley]
heard The Clash for the first time. [Lee Perry, in fact, produced the band’s epic
single, "Complete Control," in 1977]. He admired their spunky courage and
anger in the face of England’s social stratification and class-based economic
oppression. He also admired the help that The Clash and other punk rockers were giving to
East and West Indians (especially dreads, in the latter case) who were being hunted in the
streets by disciples of the neo-fascist National Front and victimized by the bobbies’
brutally racist application of the "sus laws" – edicts dating back to the
Napoleonic Wars that allowed police to strip search and harass anyone judged to be
"loitering with intent."
"Bob went into the Basing Street studios
with members of the Anglo-Jamaican reggae group Aswad and cut a song he had tossed
together on the spot entitled "Punky Reggae Party." (Additional parts were later
dubbed in by some members of the Wailers back in Kingston). The song was released on the
Tuff Gong label in Jamaica and in England as a twelve-inch single, with an incendiary Lee
Perry dub on the B side. |
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"Rejected by
Society," Bob sang of Rastas and punk rockers, "mistreated with
impunity…""
I always liked the song’s following lyrics,
too (especially the Johnny Rotten reference at the end): "The Wailers will be there /
The Damned, The Jam, The Clash / Maytals will be there / Dr. Feelgood, too / No boring old
farts / no boring old farts / no boring old farts will be there…"
During punk concerts at the 100 Club and
elsewhere, the latest reggae tunes were blasted between sets (what a vibe that must have
been) and various groups in their prime also played shows at these same venues (Culture
and Steel Pulse come to mind).
I remember some interesting quotes that Vic
Goddard (lead vocalist of Subway Sect) once emailed me in response to some questions about
where he was hearing reggae at that point in time, if his band had opened for any reggae
bands and also what he had thought of Marley:
"From my personal point of view I got to
listen to most of the best 12" singles in '76-'77 on the John Peel Show. He also
loved DJ music at that time and I used to sometimes see him in the same record shops as us
in the west end looking for things to play on his show. Oh how I'd love to have my old
collection. Of course we all went on to be junkies in the 80's and sold all our records.
My flatmate at the time - Rob Green - worked on a market stall outside a reggae shop in
Shepherds Bush market and he got lots of 12"s free every Saturday when the new ones
came in from JA. He would bring new ones home every week. The ones I'd like most are
"Hotter (?) Cup (?) Claps Dem" by Ranking Joe and "No. 1 DJ" by Rankin
Trevor - and "There's A Hole In My Bucket" by Nigger Kojak - who (I'm told by
Dennis Bovell ) is a farmer now....but I could go on and on trying to remember records. I
think that golden era for DJ music only lasted maybe 4 or 5 years.
"We supported Steel Pulse (plus Crazy Cavan
& The Rhythm Rockers) at Alexandra Palace in '78 or '79 (before the fire). I wasn't
into that sort of reggae though. We were into Clint 
Eastwood,
Ranking Trevor, Trinity, Ranking Joe, Dillinger and all the DJs. We supported Tapper Zukie
at the Rainbow theatre in '78 when Pattie Smith was headlining. We were 3rd on the bill
(ie bottom) and our bass guitar wouldn't work in the soundcheck so we had to summon up the
courage to ask this huge giant of a man (Tapper's bass player) if we could borrow his
guitar - to which he generously said yes and we got a great review as a result of it. And
the best gig ever was Clint Eastwood at 100 Club and Fulham Town Hall in '77.
"[Wasn’t] really into Marley…[he]
was considered "pop"....not despised, just a little too commercial for the
punks."
I also got a few interesting memories from
James Dutton, who now runs Motion records in the UK:
"I was in The Interrogators, a 'punk'
band that played some dub reggae live.....we had a dread called Dread Lepke (Leroy
Anderson, Rita Marley's brother) doing our live mixing....he used a loop tape echo to add
dub effects. This was '77. Leroy started DBC (Dread Broadcasting Corporation, the first
pirate reggae station in London)
"I went to see Steel Pulse at the 100 Club
and Joe Strummer (who I didn't know, despite knowing Vic)... Quite a few punks were in the
audience."
"And Dread Lepke took me to see Dillinger at
the Music Machine, a large venue in London. We arrived a little early and went into the
game room. I was very impressed when Dillinger, who was playing pinball, recognized Leroy
and got us to play pinball with him for half an hour or so! He gave us copies of
"Cocaine In My Brain" his current hit single…also saw Tapper Zukie at the
Music Machine - excellent.
"I think most of the punk scene didn't like
"Punky Reggae Party," not in an anti sort of a way - we thought it was a little
too commercial."
Regardless of any seemingly anti-Marley
sentiment, Bob in England in 1977 with the punks must have been an incredible time.
Another cool fact which I’ve always found
intriguing was that on Marley’s birthday in 1995 – when he would have been 50
years old – that same date marked the 100th birthday of Babe Ruth.
That’s always blown me away and I’ve felt that possibly someone born on that
date (February 6, 1995) could ultimately achieve legendary icon status as Bob and Babe
have. You never know, stranger things have happened.
We also talked that day about our favorite Marley
albums. A case could be made for any of them, but personally, my all-time favorite is
"Survival," released in 1979. There’s something about its arrangements and
musicianship and lyrical depth which totally captivates, especially on the heels of the
softer "Kaya," released only one year earlier.
I also remember being in Jamaica at the turn of
the century and quizzing some youths about Marley. Basically just asking them if they knew
the year in which he died. They were so wrapped up in the current dancehall scene that,
seriously, 9 out of 10 had no idea. I found that to be very telling. But Marley’s
music and message have obviously spread far and wide outside of his native land.
Nasio Fontaine from Dominica (who is an
incredible talent and whose style reminds many of Bob), Ossie Dellimore from St. Vincent
and Midnite, hailing from the island of St. Croix, are all strictly roots and on the verge
of big things to come.
There are also some groups and artists from
Jamaica carrying on the roots tradition (such as Morgan Heritage, Warrior King, Abijah and
Queen Omega), so maybe Jamaica is slowly coming back to the roots. One can only hope. If
not, though, Marley’s incredible legacy will continue to entertain and inspire
generations to come. Thanks for the memories, Bob. Thanks for everything.
