Reggae was actually preceded by two other Jamaican genres-ska and rock steady. During the 1950’s, while the rest of the Caribbean was in love with calypso and the U.S. was crazy over Harry Belafonte’s “The Banana Boat Song”, many Jamaicans were listening to American rhythm and blues music. The sounds coming out of Memphis, New Orleans and Miami were especially popular with groups such as the Jamaican Sound Systems. Musicians mixed R&B with mento-Jamaican calypso, to create ska music.
There is controversy surrounding the actually beginnings of ska music, with several artists claiming to be the first ones to produce this sound. Some people consider the 1959 recording by Theophelus Beckford called “Easy Snapping” to be the first ska recording.
A 1960’s group known as Don Drummond and The Skatalites brought reggae to the forefront in Jamaica, producing hundreds of records despite being together for little over a year. They eventually reunited in the 1980’s. Reggae legends such as Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals, and the immortal Bob Marley and the Wailers all started their careers performing ska.
Ska gained international prominence with the release of “My Boy Lollipop” by Millie Smalls in 1964, and has remained popular in many countries to this day, with American groups such as No Doubt putting their own twist on the genre.
Rock Steady
Rock steady slowed the music down and brought the lyrics to the forefront. The instrumentals moved to the background, and lyrics about everyday life and social injustice became the focal point of the music. Hits included “Judge Dread” by Prince Buster, who also claimed to have invented ska, and “I’m Just a Guy” by Alton Ellis, known as “The King of Rock Steady”. Desmond Dekker and the Aces took rock steady international with “007 (Shantytown)” and “Israelites”.
Unlike ska, which dominated the Jamaican music scene for most of the 1950’s and 1960’s, rock steady was only popular from about 1966 to 1969.
Reggae Takes Over
No one can quite agree on the origin of the word term reggae. Some say that it comes from the Jamaican dancing style known as “ray gay” while others attribute it to a 1968 recording by Toots and the Maytals called “Do the Raggay”.
What is undisputed is the fact that reggae took off in the late 1960’s and still remains one of the most popular genres of world music. Jimmy Cliff brought international attention to the music with his lead role in the 1972 film “The Harder They Come”. Cliff performed several hits on the powerhouse soundtrack, including the title track, as well as “You Can Get It (If You Really Want)”, and “Many Rivers to Cross”.
Bob Marley took the foundation that Cliff laid and built on it with his unique style of roots reggae, which dealt with love, social injustice, politics and Rastafarianism, the Afro-Caribbean spiritual movement of which Marley was a devoted follower. Anthems such as “Get Up, Stand Up”, “Buffalo Soldiers” and “War” made pointed political statements, while “Turn Your Lights Down”, “Waiting in Vain” and “Is This Love” showcased the mellow, romantic side of Marley and his group, The Wailers.
Ironically, Bob Marley did not receive as much acclaim for his music while he was alive as much as he has since his death from cancer in 1981. Since then, however, he has become the most well known name in reggae and his songs have been responsible for introducing many to the genre.
Reggae’s Transformation
In the 1970’s, producers such as Lee Perry and King Tubby began adding electronic sound effects to the music and DJ’s began “toasting”, or talking over the music to create what is known as dub music. Dub music is recognized by many as the basis for rap and hip-hop in New York.
While DJ’s and producers were speeding the music up, crooners such as Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown and Freddie McGregor arrived on the scene to slow things down with lover’s rock, a soulful style that deals with love and relationships. Today, the lover’s rock tradition has been kept up by artists such as Pressure, Jah Cure and Beres Hammond.
Dancehall reggae, characterized by fast tempos and raw lyrics, was popularized in the late 1980’s and 1990’s by artists such as Yellowman, Shabba Ranks, Buju Banton and Beenie Man. Patra, a female dancehall artist, proved that she could hold her own with the males with hits such as “Romantic Call” and “Queen of the Pack”. Dancehall remains popular today, especially in American clubs but has been the subject of controversy surrounding its sometimes explicit lyrics that deal with sex and gun violence.
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