When Rock Met Reggae

How the Cultural Crossover of Bob Marley, The Clash, The Specials and More Changed the Face of Rock Music

By: Steven Blush

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Paperback | 17 September 2024

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233 Pages

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22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7

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In When Rock Met Reggae, Steven Blush takes a spirited, cross-genre perspective in this "illuminating chronicle" (Booklist) of the crossover of Jamaican, British, and American sounds that changed the face of popular music. Library Journal notes that "Blush's nimble outline of the interplay between reggae and British punk will appeal to music fans."
Bringing the same incisive, cross-genre perspective he offered in When Rock Met Disco, Steven Blush gives a spirited survey of the crossover of Jamaican, British, and American sounds that changed the face of popular music in When Rock Met Reggae. The inspiration of ska, rock-steady, dub, and reggae—heard on independent recordings played on "soundsystems" from Kingston and Brixton—created a new rock tonality and attitude, spanning from Eric Clapton to The Clash. Meanwhile, the "Two Tone" sounds—traversing The Specials, Madness, and UB40—fueled the '90s ska revival of Sublime, No Doubt, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and beyond. Attentive to the racial, political, and artistic aspects of this intricate story, Blush gives a memorable account of one of the most fertile cross-pollinations in pop music history.

Industry Reviews

Reggae may have started in Kingston, Jamaica, but according to Blush, it didnât truly spread around the world until waves of Jamaicans began emigrating to England in the late 1950s. Reggae, he maintains, âspoke in a language that upstart youth could identify with: fierce lyrics, anti-fashion, DIY attitude, and a radical fight for freedom.â Blush discusses the roots of reggae before turning to the many sounds of Bob Marley, Millie Small, Prince Buster, Lee âScratchâ Perry, Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals, and Desmond Dekker. He then tackles the various forms of reggae, including dub, rock-reggae, and punk-reggae, the latter perhaps best exemplified by the Clash (Joe Strummer and Mick Jones went to Jamaica to write the songs on their second album, Give Em Enough Rope). As musicians on both sides of the Atlantic experimented with reggae, including the Police, Blondie, and Elvis Costello, such 2 Tone label artists as the Specials, the Selecter, the English Beat, and UB40 blended punk, rock, reggae, and ska into a unique sound. Blushs illuminating chronicle ends with an annotated playlist featuring the backstories of classic recordings.
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