| |
|
In De Gaulle's French '60s, Jamaica was only
renowned for its trend of wearing tennis
shoes with no socks, and for Harry
Belafonte's Calypso album, a late
'50s hit in France (Belafonte's mother was
Jamaican, and he sang several Jamaican mento
songs on it, including "Jamaica Farewell.")
With the rock revolution that finally hit
France in the late '60s, Jimi Hendrix
further symbolized the spirit of
liberation. Sexual freedom, women's
liberation, political awareness, struggle
against corporate industry, against polic
repression, against media manipulation and
struggle for peace were the order of the day
in the French May 1968 riots...
Read the special web-only prologue
to this article.
|
|
|
"Would you mind writing an article
telling Beat readers the impact of Bob Marley
that you have encountered on your travels?" Roger
Steffens asked me several months ago (thank you, Ras
Rojah!). Well, let's see, where do I begin? At the
beginning. But how far back? How about first a few
quick lines about several of my past incarnations in
this lifetime so you'll know who's spinning this tale.
I was a post-WWII, New York Jew who was raised in
the pre-civil rights south by a black woman, went to
a Catholic high school (when I wasn't traveling with
rhythm-and-blues legend Otis Redding), became a
college-educated hippie carpenter in the '60s and
fled the government's attempts to send me to 'Nam...
|
From the first ever reggae photo gallery, to Grammy
Hall induction for "One Love" and "Israelites",
including a new Marley Resort and Spa in Nassau,
Roger Steffens shares notes from his scrapbook on
all recent happenings related to Bob Marley and his
legacy.
|
| |
|
The Clash was first associated with reggae
music because their first single "White
Riot" was inspired by the rioting in August
1976 at London's Notting Hill Gate
Carnival. Strummer sung that while "Black
men don't mind throwing a brick," white men
stayed at school and "learned to thick". So
he demanded a "white riot" of his own. The
Clash also recorded Junior Murvin's Lee
Perry-produced "Police and Thieves," the
only song from their rough and
uncompromising first album that ever got
much airplay. They released a strong punk
single, "Complete Control," that was
produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry himself in
London around the time that he co-wrote and
produced Bob Marley's "Punky Reggae Party."
In this song, Bob sealed the rebels'
alliance between black dreads and white punks...
|
|
