Roots Archives Forum

If Luciano were to record "Jumping Jack Flash," I would not consider him a rock artist, but a reggae artist who plays some rock.

Similarly, the Clash is a (great) rock band that played some reggae. Like the Police and others, they helped popularize reggae around the world, so god bless 'em.

And their non-reggae is first-rate too.

I'm with you on this one Mark. Although, in my opinion the best out of that genre of white artists playing (or trying to, depending on your view) and most authentic must be a band called The Ruts / Ruts D.C. These lads were actually the first release on the People Unite label asscociated with... Misty In Roots! And when they turned their hand to reggae, it sounded like reggae. No watered down culture club - do you really want to hurt me etc.. When they did a dub song, it sounded like dub. I do beleive that they even did an lp with The Mad Professor. Be warned though, not everything that they did was reggae, they were primarilly a punk rock band.

I saw the Clash twice back around 1980-or-so. I was not purchasing tickets to see a reggae band. They did a few reggae covers, but live these songs were even less reggae. The Clash were seminal punk/rock'n'roll band.

There was a band called Stiff Little Fingers late 70s - early 80s who also did some very good reggae covers (and some of their own). But they too were just a good punk/rock'n'roll band.

"The Ruts" were a very good punk band, but "Ruts DC" (same band) were also a good dub band. See Ruts DC & Mad Professor's "Rhythm Collision Dub". I think this album stays very true to 70s Jamaican dub.

So, to answer the original thread question, I'd say:

The Clash: No
Stiff Little Fingers: No
Ruts DC: Yes