Roots Archives Forum

i had a little knowledge of reggae but was not a head, until a friend and co-worker made me borrow Kieth Hudson 'playing it cool' LP and Scientist 'wins the world cup.' the former blew me away. shortly after i buoght King Tubby meets Vivian Jackson LP aka 'chant down babylon kingdom' LP, and that one was a life-alterer.
years later still one of my top 5 roots LPs ever. a bit after this i got 'Firehouse Revolution' LP and that was another mind-melter. never looked back after that...
-RB

My math tutor took me and a friend when we were 14 to a reggae festival - i had no idea of this out of the bob marley hits. This year we went there the sixteenth time together. I don´t know any reggae collectors, so the songs i heard were very limited for a long time. Since youtube i can't stop listening to reggae all day and discovered my love for dub. The songs i like most i try to purchase.
Thank you all for sharing!

My friend from Africa was always playing reggae in the 80s some of the stars that turn me on the most where yellowman, black uhuru and steel pulse at that time.

Through the umbilical cord

I was babysitting and the kids had gone to bed. I went through every XM station to find the one that resonated with me. There was no contest: I fell in love with Reggae. Since I'm kind of obssessive, it became my obssession. I gave up Bob Dylan for Reggae. And I credit it with keeping me alive.

The Clash and The Specials.

Mick Sleeper wrote:The Clash and The Specials.

There are plenty of 60's/70's milestones for me:

- Watching Prince Buster & Millie on READY STEADY GO
- Ditto Desmond Dekker & Ken Boothe lip-synching on TOP OF THE POPS
- Skinhead skanking to "Live Injection" etc. at the Guildford Plaza, Woking Atlanta, and Brighton Top Rank
- Symarip at the Guildford Civic Hall
- The Heptones at Oxford Poly in '75 (supporting Toots)
- [even G.T. Moore & the Reggae Guitars!]
- Steel Pulse, Anti-Nazi League/Rock Against Racism, Victoria Park ('78)
- Madness and The Specials at the Nashville Rooms ('79)
- Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Trinity, and Lloyd Parks/We The People in Negril, JA ('80)

BUT...WITHOUT A DOUBT THE MOST RANDOM: the discovery of DUB in January 1976.
My brilliant girlfriend [Carrie Smart] was Ents. Sec. at Bulmershe Teachers Training College. She booked the 101'ers. After the sound-check we spent an hour hanging out at the Student Union with "Woody" - later to be known as JOE STRUMMER of the CLASH. We quickly got onto reggae - he was no wanna-be dilettante, raving about his new find - KING TUBBY ("You've never heard anything like it!") He was right...I never looked back. Thanks Joe!

As a teenager in Los Angeles in the 90s, I spent most of my weekends going to local ska shows. Bands like Hepcat, Seespot, Ocean 11 (from L.A.) and The Slackers (from New York) quickly turned me from the bubble gum "third wave" ska in the direction of "traditional" ska. I discovered The Skatalites, and started seeking out old Jamaican ska records. From there it wasn't long before the reggae bug bit me hard, and it's been Jamaican music for me ever since.

Can't remember... just glad I did.

When I was 15 I was starting to smoke some weed. When we were high it was also a bit of cliché to listen to reggae music. So I/we did. I owned BMW Rebel Music and I bought African Herbsman picture disc. The latter helped me to become an adolencent and get me hooked on reggae. After that I borrowed allot of library reggae-stuff. Nowadays I quit the weed but still addicted to reggae-music.