Reggae is world music, not just in the sense that it has origins in a non-western country, but also because it has penetrated other musical genres and cultures around the world including America, Africa, Europe and various island nations. Its universally applicable messages of world peace, political criticism and love have all assisted in this international dispersal.
Originating on the Caribbean island Jamaica, reggae has roots in ska, a genre that defined the youth of the nation in the 1950s after it gained independence in 1962. While ska was a Caribbean take on American Motown, jazz and rhythm and blues, reggae downplayed its predecessor’s American influences in exchange for the Afro-Caribbean feeling so apparent in its percussion instruments, its laid-back island rhythm and its lyrical themes.
The creation of reggae happened somewhere around 1968 when ska musicians began to slow down their songs substantially and add more intricate, syncopated bass lines under the music. Bob Marley and The Wailers then entered the scene and solidified reggae as we know it today. Originally a ska band, The Wailers’ first songs are markedly different than their better-known material. The transformation is obvious when comparing the heavily ska-sounding album “The Wailing Wailers” with its faster-paced, larger band and more youthful, joyous subject matter of their classic albums such as “Exodus” or “Burnin’.”
In the 1980s reggae became more commercialized and international. British subcultures such as the skinheads and the mods became aware of the genre and began to incorporate it into their own music and culture. U.K. musicians such as The Police showed their propensity to play the music with songs such as “Walking on the Moon.” The Clash also adopted the music in “Rudie Can’t Fail” and other songs off their “London Calling” album. In London, black bands also released their own takes on reggae, which yielded songs such as Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie” and Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue.”
During the beginning of the 1990s, reggae didn’t go through many changes. Then Californians grabbed the torch. Beginning with Bradley Nowell’s “Sublime,” reggae was adopted into the West Coast skate and punk scenes, where it was regurgitated into what it is today. “White boy reggae,” as some critics call it, is a mix of punk, reggae, rock and even some hip-hop. Bands like Rebelution, SOJA and The Expendables are some of the main figureheads of this movement. Each band takes influences from various reggae artists, songs and eras that came before them, but the classic characteristics of the genre––the calm, prevailing emphasis on the upbeat, the lyrics that range from spiritual discussions to political commentary and the enjoyment of life––are still there.
