Reggae Stereotypes

[ranking trevor]

God bless Rob and diego

And all Roots Archive. I love all you guys.

Lets try and avoid these sterotypes together

God bless

[Ranking Toyan]

I don't know if you consider it a stereotype or just a generalization.
When I tell people I collect or listen to reggae, the first thing they bring up is "Bob Marley, Steel Pulse, Gregory..."
Nothing wrong with it, but there's so much out there that they don't know about but I try to tell them about other artists. I do like keeping reggae underground but I'm glad to meet others who really collect the music.

Oh I don't like when people think I'm a pot smoker either, not that have anything against it but for work reasons. College that was different story;)

[dmille]

Hey ranking,

Better they first bring up Marley and Steel Pulse rather than Clapton, UB40 or the Police.

[dmille]

reggae stereotype = "Yeah, I love Regggae! Have you ever heard 'I Shot The Sheriff' by Eric Clapton?"

[mr mountain]

the whole world is filled with stereo types
its just a point of reference for people as well.
ignorance and lack of understanding from those outside of a certain group. you know?
same goes for Christians, whats the sterotype there?
maybe hypacrites? all Christians hate gays?
the list can go on.

Its up to those in the light not to misrepresent themselves or others who believe the same way.
if people are skepticle as it is, and there is a misrepresentation, they will cease the opportunity to be foolish and exploite the situation in their favor.

[Collie]

Stereotyping a convenient way for people who are too stupid to understand what they see or hear.
They find it much easier to compartmentalise people, views, beliefs they have no knowledge of. This does not take much intelligence, Me I'm Irish so I must spend my time drinking, fighting and "riverdancing"....right ?

It is unfortunate that all the "gimmicky" acts reggae or otherwise get more media exposure and provide have wits with a nice stereotype box to fit.

Long live individualism for it is what makes the world an interesting place to be

[rootsmanx]

Fact is that one of the greatest pop music is reggae and one of the worst is reggae as well. The problem is that the less interesting stuff is reaching the pop charts. So people not knowing the genre have a complete different view than we do.

Another problem is that for enjoying reggae you need to be quiet open minded as lyrics wise some songs are completely insane and musically it is also difficult to understand. Reggae craftsmanship is completely ununderstandable as the more basic and simple rhythms are, the more I seem to like it. The music comes from the belly, not from the mind. A Dub mix enhances that effect.

A lot of people listen to music at a low volume on inferior equipment, missing the point on what reggae is all about anyhow. If family members are sitting in my car and I don´t play the dub loud it does not make sence anymore to me either as I cannot feel the bassline. The `belly effect`gets lost as well as the charm of it.

So in many cases it is completely understandable...

[Francesco]

A lot of people listen to music at a low volume on inferior equipment, missing the point on what reggae is all about anyhow. If family members are sitting in my car and I don´t play the dub loud it does not make sence anymore to me either as I cannot feel the bassline. The `belly effect`gets lost as well as the charm of it.
So in many cases it is completely understandable...

You're totally right!!

[selecta bing]

I think there are draw backs ( no pun intended ) to Reggae being linked to Ganja because whenever I speak about DJing Reggae people say " So do you smoke ? "
and I do NOT.
So that is what people instantly associate Reggae with.

Then, what is even worse is when I approach venue managers about doing a Reggae event at their venue they always say " A Reggae event,Oh yes, That would be cool! How about on Sunday afternoons in the Beer garden? "
( in Australia a beer garden is an outdoor / back of the venue drinking area)
But when I say "No. Inside on a Friday or Saturday night "
They say "maybe not"
That is worse because I want to do an event that is for dancing,
not sitting around drinking.
Do any of you get the same response ?

[seanmd]

I get quite frustrated when reggae is used on TV in conjunction with some tropical backdrop.

Also in the past when I've spoken to landlords over here about putting on a reggae night, and they talk about turning the pub into a sort of beach bar that Tom Cruise worked in Cocktails. As a result I gave up and hired private halls, and got people to bring their own beer etc. Although to be honest I've not done anything like that for a while now.

I dont think Inner Circle or Chakademus and Pliers helped with their videos.