How did you first get into reggae music?

[topcontrol]

Well I probably discovered reggae in the lamest way possible:

Back in grade 7 I listened to your regular crap pop punk: blink 182 etc. I then saw the movie Baseketball, which featured the 3rd wave ska-punk-pop band Reel Big Fish.....i liked the music and wanted to find out more

One day I saw an EP "Keep your receipt" by them at a thrift store, and got it.

Spent a long time looking into other 3rd wave bands, and for the most part didn't find much that was so great.. other popular bands like mu330 and mustard plug never grabbed my fancy. eventually (several years later) I found out about Catch 22 and the Aquabats, which I grew quite fond of.

A friend one day advised me that I should try out the Specials -- the first 2 tone band i heard. Instantly loved them -- and it set me off on a mission to find more good 2 tone bands. Eventually found bad manners, mr. review, etc... like with 3rd wave a lot of crap bands to sift through

Eventually I heard about Desmond Dekker.. and got some tracks. I thought "this is too boring --- too slow"... I guess they were the wrong tracks because later when I listened to some more i loved it and it was what got me into earlier ska.

Randomly picked up a Toots and the Maytals album, which solidified this interest. And not long after a King Tubby album. But a LOT of downloading crap in between

I am jealous of the people who's first albums they heard were gems like Heart of the Congos ... it probably took me 8 years after starting to listen to ska before i found out about it, lol.

But I think a lot of my problem is for the longest time I didn't really check out Bob Marley. I thought "since he's so popular he must not be very good" or something... looking back i smack myself

There is really SO much crap in all these genres without the internet or reggae-listening friends its very tough to find stuff thats any good.

Anyway that is how white children get into reggae

[Marky Dread]

"Jamming" by Bob Marley in the car with my parents around 1978... but it took me truly until Mikey Dread / The Clash opened my eyes to the wealth and width of the genre (with "Bankrobber" in 1980)... first LP: Gregory Isaacs "Mr. Isaacs", first show: Black Uhuru / King Sunny Ade here in good ol' Boston MA... i was sporting a foot high mohawk at the time, and it was one of the first times i was in a group of people (looking like i did at the time) that i was NOT ostracized, made fun of or pushed from behind... forward ever from that point on!

[mber]

through the Bad Brains...their dubby reggae songs really made an impression on me early on..

[Norbu]

it was a cassette tape with steel pulse's macka spliff (live)..feeling high high high...then later on bob marley..now more into heptones, toots, lee perry..you know the rest. I've completely stopped listening to other genres..for me only reggae and it's sub genres.

[74]

My oldest sister,Faith, had Bob's Songs of Freedom set laying around her house, it was her girlfriends and I pretty much jacked it for a few months. I remember 'Africa Unite' especially...and the first disc. That was my introduction..

Later on in 1998 and I'm a Marine stationed in Hawaii. Met another maroon and we hit it off with the musical tastes..One night we cruised to Anna Bannanas to catch a dose of Ooklah The Moc..after the show we offered to help Jah Gumby carry his rig downstairs..we drove Gumby not far to his house and he invites us inside where we spent a good few hours just talking and listening to records..so nice.
That night really tripped me out and opened my mind to the gold inside reggae, we took alot with us, and reggae became my cup of tea....

[mr mountain]

all thanks go to The Clash

[Yardie]

I have always loved Reggae music. One of the first songs that I remember is "No Woman, No Cry". My father bought me the "Wailers" "Natty Dread" cassette and that present, which is now unfortunately lost, maybe got some sort of imprint in my ears. Even if this could sound a little bit too much nostalgic, this is really what happened. Growing up I got involved with every kind of sounds: from jazz (my father is responsible again) to rock. But I would say that Reggae was there waiting in the background. It came to light with "The Wailers" again. That time it was the "Live" set. In the mean time my ears were even more hungry for this music: Reggae.

...the rest is I-story!

Irie Ites!!!

[chemmy]

new years eve 2000/01.... had a heavy drinking and smoking session at a friends house and after everyone else crashed another friend put on one of those trojan dub boxsets (i think it was the grey one) and i just got lost in some of the most original music i'd ever heard.... afterwards i lapped up everything i could find though i remember listening to a toots and the maytals lp and that clinched the deal.

[=Nilo82=]

I picked up the probably most-buyed reggae cd ever when i was 13 or 14: Bob Marley - Legend. I considered it great but it never crossed my mind that there might be more stuff like that out there besides your avarage summer hit (how naive ).
Some years later i chilled at a friends place and he played the "Macka B - Live" CD. It was than that i realized, that there was an entire scene and countless good reggae out there.
So i started listen to Culture, early Sizzla recordings, bushman and stuff like that. What hooked me up completely was a teacher at my school who somehow realized, that i liked modern roots. He gave me the "story of jamaican music" 4Disc Set and that was the trigger. Since than i'm studying reggae music and got so much into vintage sound that i don't even like modern roots much anymore.
Started to download everything i could get. Switched to buying records 3 years ago. Spent most of my money for them since. Started a podcast. Gonna play my first rocksteady & ska set in november.
Guess i should send that teacher an invitation.

[Sean D]

Back in the early 70s I used to spend the summer holidays with relatives in Lewisham (we lived in Southampton at the time). For those that can remember where the Lewisham shopping centre is now used to be a warren of little shops and market stalls. I can remeber walking through there one day and seeing a bunch of guys stood outside a shop listening to reggae pumping out. The blokes looked pretty cool, and the music was hypnotic, and I've been hooked ever since.