Bob Marley: Crap / not Crap
- Thread starter Firky
- Start date
sojourner said:
I can take a stab at 'fuck all'
In the Uk at least, most reggae sales go on 70s classic represses and the like - Blood & Fire and Pressure Sound reissues, Virgin classics from Culture, Mighty Diamonds et al. Later releases by the old 70s warhorses like Burning Spear and the like just don't sell.
I think there's a real dichotomy between the dancehall / ragga scene - primarily Anglo-Jamaican etc, primarily 7"s - and the 'roots' market which in sales terms is dominated by people like.. erm.. me.
DeadManWalking
Active Member
Burning spear was never that popular as his songs were mainly rasta as oppposed to Bob who wrote a lot of love song which were more accessible to the record buying public (non-rastas).
Oh and the second biggest selling reggae album ever was The harder the come soundtrack. (maybe a bit out of date though, not sure whether Damien Marley has made a difference)
Oh and the second biggest selling reggae album ever was The harder the come soundtrack. (maybe a bit out of date though, not sure whether Damien Marley has made a difference)
Now come on, if it was fuck all, he wouldn't still be releasing albums and doing 4 month tours would he?Dubversion said:I can take a stab at 'fuck all'
In the Uk at least, most reggae sales go on 70s classic represses and the like - Blood & Fire and Pressure Sound reissues, Virgin classics from Culture, Mighty Diamonds et al. Later releases by the old 70s warhorses like Burning Spear and the like just don't sell.
I think there's a real dichotomy between the dancehall / ragga scene - primarily Anglo-Jamaican etc, primarily 7"s - and the 'roots' market which in sales terms is dominated by people like.. erm.. me.
What's your source for the second point? I'm not hugely disputing it like, I just would like to know
The dichotomy you mention...are you saying that roots outsells dancehall/ragga? Or tother way round?
sojourner said:Now come on, if it was fuck all, he wouldn't still be releasing albums and doing 4 month tours would he?
1) people will go see Burning Spear live to see if he does Marcus garvey - I know I did. and he probably sells enough albums worldwide to earn a decent living, but i bet he's lucky to sell more than a few thousand in the UK
sojourner said:
From seeing what goes on around me, from working in the music biz for ten years, from being a (fairly rubbish) reggae DJ and knowing a few reggae artists / DJs. An educated hunch, i guess
#sojourner said:
Don't know, actually. But a fairly split market, I think.. .
I won't labour the first point. That it's not actually fuck all.Dubversion said:
2nd point fair enough re the music biz (although that would depend on which part, and I don't know that), but are the buying patterns of dj's accurately reflecting the general public's interests? Couldn't that be a mixture of completism, and buying stuff for a targetted audience?
3rd point - so, the point of mentioning it is that you see a definite division now between roots and ragga fans? Whereas before perhaps, we were buying both?
Burning Spear still sells plenty - gets grammy's and the like.
Yes, there's at least one reggae bar in China - or there was anyway - in Chengdu (a few years ago)(photo on this board in fact:http://www.bloodandfire.co.uk/db/viewtopic.php?t=10977&highlight=chengdu). There's definitely reggae nights if not reggae bars in the big cities, Shanghai, Beijing, aswell. And there's of course reggae bars (or Bob Marley bars to be more accurate) in any country that has a few backpackers visiting.
As for Bob, I very rarely listen to him these days, but even after signing to Island, he would still come out with some pretty heavy, militant songs - War, Natural Mystic, Heathen, Crazy Baldhead, etc, etc. Play these on a proper sound and it ain't pop beach reggae.
I think by dichotomy he means they are to a certain extent separate markets - different people often tend to stick to one or the other (with some overlap obviously). Dancehall probably outsells roots I would have thought, certainly internationally speaking. When was the last time you saw a roots video, old or new, on MTV?
Yes, there's at least one reggae bar in China - or there was anyway - in Chengdu (a few years ago)(photo on this board in fact:http://www.bloodandfire.co.uk/db/viewtopic.php?t=10977&highlight=chengdu). There's definitely reggae nights if not reggae bars in the big cities, Shanghai, Beijing, aswell. And there's of course reggae bars (or Bob Marley bars to be more accurate) in any country that has a few backpackers visiting.
As for Bob, I very rarely listen to him these days, but even after signing to Island, he would still come out with some pretty heavy, militant songs - War, Natural Mystic, Heathen, Crazy Baldhead, etc, etc. Play these on a proper sound and it ain't pop beach reggae.
I think by dichotomy he means they are to a certain extent separate markets - different people often tend to stick to one or the other (with some overlap obviously). Dancehall probably outsells roots I would have thought, certainly internationally speaking. When was the last time you saw a roots video, old or new, on MTV?
ska invita
back on the other side
Dubversion said:
Reggae has every right to be more commercial than it is - what stops it?
A disinterested white music industry...
For example, Beres Hammonds big hit last year "There for you" could have easily been a top 20 hit in the UK, but got not a drop of airplay from commercial radio - its a great "pop" song, and respected on the scene.
But when Boy George came out a couple of years back with a reggae track that had authentic modern reggae production it got played on radio 2! Or when matey from Simply REd wants to do a reggae cover, it gets played everywhere.
THere are reggae tracks that could easily crossover today, with industry support - Chris Blackwell was rare in that he was willing to support it.
----------
RE: Bob, I think my favourite album is Survival, that I can still listen to - everythign else is played to death.
What is amazing about BM is that you know everyone of his tunes, and even when you dont, you feel you do! A great song writer...
arty said:
I don't, any more. 10 years as a music journalist first (ended up at Music Week) and then a spell in PR..
some of the points re: the roots / dancehall dichotomy covered very amusingly here
http://www.uncarved.org/blog/
http://www.uncarved.org/blog/
DeadManWalking
Active Member
Think Sean Paul has done the most for reggae in the last few years, maybe Shaggy too, even if some is verging on R&B
ICB said:
I think Sean Paul would consider himself a reggae artist. Reggae is a broad church.
It's like Miles Davis denying he's jazz because he's playing hardbop or something
Dubversion said:
Perhaps he would, but he'd also be aware of what I'm on about.
Jazz isn't really comparable as there's not the equivalent two senses, a tighter definition of jazz along with the broad one, whereas there's reggae in the sense of all Jamaican music, or in the sense a of relatively slow tempo, with a back beat on the half note and usually a one drop bass, aka roots when the broader term is in use. [/pedancy]
ICB said:
i think your pedantry is misplaced. i would rarely refer to reggae to mean anything specific, because I know how misleading that would be. I'd refer to roots, or dub, or dancehall, or DJ, or rocksteady or whatever...
ICB said:Yeah, you're probably right mate, I'm only taking this line cos it's one that was used on university challenge, where they kept saying "reggae" and got 1 out of 3
a perfectly good reason
Similar threads
