Punk and reggae - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

drakonium
coucou

Location: More than one

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to ask something to those with a huge musical history knowledge : why did punk rock and reggae music, which seem totally opposed at first, had so much links between them at the end of the 70's?

I mean, The Clash wrote reggae songs, Stiff Little Fingers covered Bob Marley on their first album, Bad Brains where a reggae and hardcore punk band at the same time, and the principle of the 2 Tone movement in Britain was to mix the two genres to operate a kind of ska revival. There are probably many other example that I don't know.

My problem is that I don't see any link between the to genres. They were born at two different times in very different places, and basically share as many common points as Madonna and Bob Dylan, except for the fact that both somehow have a political/social dimension in their lyrics.

Is that a simple coincidence? I would be so disappointed if this was the case. There must be an explanation. Huge immigration movement? Development of Jamaican music industry? I have no idea. Please, if you know anything, share it here, I'm sure it's very interesting.

Anyway, have a good day Smile

Guest

drakonium wrote:

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to ask something to those with a huge musical history knowledge : why did punk rock and reggae music, which seem totally opposed at first, had so much links between them at the end of the 70's?

I mean, The Clash wrote reggae songs, Stiff Little Fingers covered Bob Marley on their first album, Bad Brains where a reggae and hardcore punk band at the same time, and the principle of the 2 Tone movement in Britain was to mix the two genres to operate a kind of ska revival. There are probably many other example that I don't know.

My problem is that I don't see any link between the to genres. They were born at two different times in very different places, and basically share as many common points as Madonna and Bob Dylan, except for the fact that both somehow have a political/social dimension in their lyrics.

Is that a simple coincidence? I would be so disappointed if this was the case. There must be an explanation. Huge immigration movement? Development of Jamaican music industry? I have no idea. Please, if you know anything, share it here, I'm sure it's very interesting.

Anyway, have a good day Smile

It was to do with a shared love of weed and house parties between the punks and the West Indian community in Britain (that's a major over simplification, but isn't actually far from the truth). I grew up in Birmingham, which has a significant West Indian population, and apparently the punks and the rastas were pretty cool with each other. There was a lot of racial strife in Britain around the time of punk (the fascist National Front was pretty popular) and the punks, being mostly left-wing, obviously sided with the West Indians against that. When you consider a lot of punks were working class, chances are that they'd grown up in the same areas as first generation West Indian immigrants, and had known ska and reggae from a young age. My dad actually lived in Handsworth in Birmingham around that time, and roadied for Steel Pulse, and he said the two communities were pretty cool together. Punks obviously couldn't jump around to punk music all the time, so they'd use reggae music as a chill-out, and even go to all-night reggae soundsystems (in fact, they were still pretty popular last time I was in Birmingham, particularly one place of dubious legality called The Unit that blasted dub and reggae until 6 or 7 in the morning and sold nothing but Red Stripe, not too mention smaller nights like the brilliant Jam Jah Sound in the bohemian Moseley area of Birmingham). Basically, many West Indian immigrants came to Britain in the early '50s, which meant that their children (the second generation immigrants) were roughly the same age as a lot of punks. It was a natural meld, and lead to much great music that I am extremely grateful for.

drakonium
coucou

Location: More than one

Thanks a lot! Great explanation Smile