This is the first reggae tune I ever heard and probably the song that instilled a lifelong love of dub production. (more…)

U-Roy is one of the great toasters of Jamaican music, prefiguring the rappers who came along more than 20 years later. Here’s The Originator teaming up with John Holt. (more…)

Bob and Marcia took Nina Simone’s prototype Black Lives Matter anthem to the top five of the UK charts in April 1970. It’s just as relevant 50 years later. (more…)

Glam didn’t *quite* begin with Ride A White Swan but Marc Bolan was the first to lay down a marker with Ride A White Swan. (more…)

Skinhead favourite Liquidator, now synonymous with football, started life as a reggae instrumental by Harry J Allstars, becoming a top ten hit in 1969.
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Count Matchuki was the original deejay. The founding father of toasting – and, by extension, the forefather of rap. (more…)

Talk about being ahead of your time – this anthem was released more than 50 years ago and has never been more relevant.

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Here’s how reggae riddims evolve: nine versions of the same rocksteady riddim, from Roy Shirley to Ken Boothe via Big Youth and I-Roy. (more…)

This was probably the first Jamaican tune I ever heard – I was nine when it came out – and this amazing film, apparently, is the first music video to appear on Top of the Pops.
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Alton Ellis sings the original rocksteady version of the song that grew into multiple hits for artists from Althea & Donna to Sean Paul, way back in 1967. (more…)