Roots Archives Forum

Tell us the story of how you came to reggae music.

you go first...

i listened to police n thieves by junior murvin on a schoolmates cassette player..high storrs school sheffield, 1978..wondrous

i was about 13. was into the specials etc and after reading about their influences i started to seek out the originals of guns of navarone etc. so i was listening to the original stuff too, and loving it, when one day we went to nick some records down the local shop,[they used to leave the records in the sleeves bless 'em] and i swiped some roots reggae LPS by mistake. i was gonna throw them over a wall but decided to keep them. wise move. wasnt long before i was buying reggae on a regular basis, [yes, buying, as the other shop closed down] and now at 39 i still buy records regularly, still have my two tone records too, well they were the start of my journey so must keep them. still get a buzz from hearing new sounds for the first time and of coure my favourites from over the years.

ites

ital kemar

believe it or not it was bob marley&the wailers
then starting johnny clarke barry brown jacob miller pablo moses yabby you jah stich twinkle brothers a bit of the dancehall super cat superbeagle

until i heard a jah shaka dance on a recordingtape

and then life

my mind was set

soundsystem is the way to go

the path was set

The Clash, the Specials, Doe Maar.
Then on to Bob Marley, Desmond Dekker.
Then on to Culture, Phillip Frazer etc etc

damn, all you old guys are making me feel young haha. The one and only robert nesta got me hooked, than i got into culture, midnite, black uhuru, and many more, i also used to live next to a band (soja, soldiers of jah army, if you guys are familiar) and loved to listen to them play/practice and go to their gigs, and well its just a runaway train from there, and man, im looking forward to many years of listening pleasure!

My friend and neighbour had a French fancy car, a 1973 green-metallic citroen ds 23i pallas.
While washing it he had a tape playing with tunes like Chase The Devil, One Step Forward, Roots Rock Reggae, Pick Myself Up, Croaking Lizard etc.
I was impressed bout the music cause this was different to all what I had ever listened to before....
I remember I asked him what kinda music it was. He answered...reggae...and I wanted to know if reggae was a singer or a band or what else...
He meant...the whole music thing is reggae...

I was 9 yrs old in those days and couldn´t understand the lyrics. But the music really got me...loved it.
It was a long way to find out what it was all about and encouraged me to pay attetion to my english lessons at school. Altough this didn´t help in patois questions )))
It was exciting to puzzle it all together.

Now it´s 30 yrs later and I´m still happy I found MY music which I din´t regret 1 second...

Play on....

Irie....

Well, Bob Marley & The Wailers awesome compilation did it for InI!!
Im talkin about "Songs of Freedom". Released back in ´93 I think?

The track "Soul Rebel" made my jaw drop! The base-line in that tune made my kidneys switch places!
(Hmm... and the windows in my room allmost cracked, and my parents wasnt so happy, u know?)
And then I was hooked to them sweet, sweet reggae-vibez!:D

Harder They Come soundtrack in 75.
First concert, Marley's Rastaman Vibration tour 76