Roots Archives Forum

I could go on about"little rich white boys and girls" statement....why bother,its a free speech forum.

Why hasnt it gone mainstream ?Probably because its a genre that doesnt have mass appeal ,like many,many,many,many,many,many other genres of music.Simple.

Leggo: Granted, most of it is poppy or mainstream friendly reggae, but no harm in it. Underground, hardcore, edgy (whatever you call it) stuff is nice for seasoned fans, but could not appeal to any 'outsider', especially the young one. Reggae in its 'pure form' is a kind of heavy ethno music, and an uncompromizing rasta centric message doesn't help. It's not a music suited for mainstream and it's not a Babylon, that mainstream overlook it.

hiya wrote: Why hasnt it gone mainstream ?Probably because its a genre that doesnt have mass appeal ,like many,many,many,many,many,many other genres of music.Simple.

With artists like Shaggy or Sean Paul, who are selling millions, it's simply not fair to say, that reggae is massively overlook. It's not.

Shaggy and Sean Paul are more like party reggae like UB40 or someone, thats why they get 'mainstream play'. Even if you play party's you get...'have you got police and theives, Irealites or Night Nurse'

Jonny Osbourne would be like Junior Mervin if Guy Richie did use Hanging Tree in is film Lock Stock.

Mainstream V's Non Mainstream!

Reggae artist always have to colab or come like 'club music' to sell records and get recognized!

Name me one artist that broke through top ten or whatever without the use of the Hip Hop or the R&B machine?
Im not talking about 70's or 80's top of the pop pass the duchy type music, i'm talking about the 7's you heard way back when.

Sir Marvin wrote:Leggo: Granted, most of it is poppy or mainstream friendly reggae, but no harm in it. Underground, hardcore, edgy (whatever you call it) stuff is nice for seasoned fans, but could not appeal to any 'outsider', especially the young one.

I disagree. I played heavy heavy dub and even nyabinghi music to my heavy rock 18 year old biker friends back in the 70s. Almost to a man they were tunred on to the reggae thing and love it still even 30 years later.

I don't see it as an age thing at all.

Just the same in dance music, I know youngsters who listen to ultra hardcore dance sounds.

Granted, many youths seem to listen to some kind of sugar coated music or another, but this I feel is a product of the mighty music marketing machine. But this doesn't mean they couldn't enjoy music with more gravitas if they were ever properly exposed to it.

hiya wrote:I could go on about"little rich white boys and girls" statement....why bother,its a free speech forum.

Why hasnt it gone mainstream ?Probably because its a genre that doesnt have mass appeal ,like many,many,many,many,many,many other genres of music.Simple.

I can't agree with this either.

Reggae does have mass appeal, it has a driving beat and is musically very sound. It isn't the music that stops it getting mass appeal, it is once again, the influence of the mighty music marketing machine. This machinery works best with compliant artists, and can never cope with rebellious reggae artists.

Sir Marvin wrote: With artists like Shaggy or Sean Paul, who are selling millions, it's simply not fair to say, that reggae is massively overlook. It's not.

Shaggy plays Ragga, not reggae. Sean Paul, I don't generally bother with stuff from this era and arena. It's not to my tastes and not what I would call reggae.

RootsDem wrote: Even if you play party's you get...'have you got police and theives, Irealites or Night Nurse'

All three of these are peerfectly bona fide reggae tunes.

Especially the 10 inch mix of Night Nurse which is an all time classic. I played it recently at a reggae gig and people came up to me afterwards asking me where that mix came from - asking "was that a dub plate?"

In fact, I think your statement actually confirms that reggae can have mass appeal!

leggo rocker wrote:
In fact, I think your statement actually confirms that reggae can have mass appeal!

I'm afraid that you may replace word reggae with name of any other genre and it will be true.

Shaggy and Sean Paul, they're coming outta reggae realm, they've produced series of genuine tunes, that scored at the dancehalls, they songs appeared on strictly the best or reggae gold series, they're not aliens like Matisyahu. And doesn't matter, whether you tagged them reggae or ragga, it's still jamaican music.

leggo rocker wrote:Granted, many youths seem to listen to some kind of sugar coated music or another, but this I feel is a product of the mighty music marketing machine. But this doesn't mean they couldn't enjoy music with more gravitas if they were ever properly exposed to it.

No Leggo, I mean something slightly different. Heavy roots music is often aimed at small group of people of particular ethnicity or from particular area. To accept it or enjoy it, you have to be very open-minded. Just because you like it doesn't mean that everyone has to do the same.

For myself after all theese years i still have no personal connection with Jah or Sellasie,still love the music and respect the beliefs and faith of others(sometimes i do wonder why I am listening of chants to Jah and praises to Sellasie when i dont connect with it???) .Perhaps this is part of the reason it will never have mass appeal or on mainstream radio,tv outside of jamaica ,where they do have videos on tv regularly and radio play,its hard to sell unique religous beliefs massively.Also lets not blame kids but rather the corporations that target kids,....one last thought,right wrong probably neither.