Punk: Punky Reggae Party

Bob Marley & The Wailers: Punky Reggae Party
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On the one hand, punk music and reggae don’t appear to have much in common musically—one is hard, fast, aggressive, and loud, the other, more laid back, slower, and mellow. I think that it is fair to point out that both styles arose as music of angry, rebellious, disaffected youth, making their philosophical connections more obvious than their musical connections. And yet we know that there has been a strong merger of the two styles, by bands like The Clash, the Two Tone bands, and in the ska-punk genre.

So, how did this marriage get arranged? Not having a clue, I turned to Google, which served me up this article that makes the case that the matchmaker was Don Letts.

Letts was born in England, of Jamaican heritage, and ran a London clothing store popular with musicians from both the punk and reggae scenes. He was able to meet Bob Marley after a gig, and they became friendly. When the Roxy nightclub opened, catering to the emerging punk scene, Letts became the DJ, and began to spin reggae and dub songs, along with punk music, in large part because the scene was so new, there weren’t that many punk records to play. Apparently, the punks enjoyed the music, including Joe Strummer of The Clash, and members of The Slits and The Sex Pistols.

Meanwhile, Letts convinced Marley, who appeared to have a negative feeling about punk based on sensationalist tabloid newspaper articles rather than from actually listening to the music, that it was worthwhile. According to Letts, he went to collect some money from Marley, dressed in punk bondage clothing, and Marley mocked him, to which Letts responded, “They ain't no crazy baldheads, they're my breddrin.” Shortly thereafter, inspired by the message and the music of punk rock (and by The Clash’s cover of the reggae song “Police and Thieves”), Marley wrote “Punky Reggae Party,” which referenced punk and New Wave, and namechecked The Clash, The Jam, The Damned, Dr. Feelgood (really more of a pub rock than a punk band, but whatever), as well as The Wailers and The Maytals. But even more importantly, Marley makes sure to point out that while all of those musicians would be at the party, “no boring old farts will be there.”

Letts went on to a career as a musician, most notably as a member, along with former Clash member Mick Jones, of Big Audio Dynamite, which mixed many genres of music, including punk and reggae where his role was, mostly, to supply audio samples to the songs. But he is best known as a filmmaker and video producer.

And the punk and reggae marriage remains strong to this day.

70s Motown: Tears of a Clown

The English Beat: Tears of a Clown

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This is the first song I thought of when I saw our new theme, but then I saw that “70s” sitting there. I considered sneaking it in anyway. I could have told you that the original and classic Tears of a Clown wasn’t released in England until 1970. That’s true, but pretty feeble since I am American. But when even your moderator has broken decade, it’s time to acknowledge that our theme has, unofficially at least, become just Motown. So I had a couple of ideas for more 70s material, but this is better. If others put up at least two or more posts before then, I may do a 70s mop-up post on Saturday, but right now, I’m going to get this out of my system.

The English Beat were part of the Two Tone explosion of British ska in the late 70s. This song established a tradition of new ska bands establishing their credentials with a cover of a classic soul or R&B tune. At the time, The English Beat were otherwise doing original material, and other Two Tone bands were doing a mix of originals and covers of 60s ska from Jamaica. But the term ska reflects the fact that the Jamaicans who pioneered the style saw the music as a mix of soul and calypso. That mix done differently would also later give the Soca style its name. Many of the Jamaican pioneers of ska did covers of the R&B hits of the day, with varying results. At any rate, I could probably find a ska version of any Motown hit by this time with a bit of work, but this was one of the first of the new wave of ska, and still one of the best. This song and the original Mirror in the Bathroom immediately put the English Beat at the top of the Two Tone ska world. And no wonder. Tears of a Clown is what a cover should be. If you know their style, this song is instantly recognizable as the English Beat. They truly made the song their own.

There may be some doubters out there, who don’t believe you could find a ska version of any Motown hit. For them, I offer this to close. It may not be the best ska, but I think goes a ways to prove my point: