They even recorded a number of tracks with Aretha Franklin's band in hopes of breaking through to the soul market, but American audiences didn't immediately take to the music's inside-out rhythms, its Motown soul-style backing notwithstanding.īy the end of 1971, Bob Marley was frustrated, broke, and marooned in England following another failed Wailers tour of the UK. They also tried but mostly failed to gain airplay in the U.S. They endured a miserable, freezing tour of Britain, attracting some support from the UK's emigrant West Indian community but mostly failing to reach white audiences. All three wrote songs and took over lead singing duties on different tunes.īy the end of the 1960s, the Wailers had established themselves as regular chart-toppers in Jamaica, but struggled to gain international acceptance or lucrative foreign record deals. And Marley, Tosh, and Livingston served as co-equal partners in a formidable harmony trio. In those early years, the band was not Bob Marley & The Wailers. "Simmer Down" established the Wailers as one of Jamaica's hottest ska bands, and the group remained popular on the island through the rest of the 1960s, successfully making the stylistic transition from ska to reggae by 1969. They recorded their first single-a Marley ska composition called "Judge Not"-in 1961, and scored a huge #1 Jamaican hit two years later with "Simmer Down," an infectiously uptempo call for an end to the violence already raging through Kingston's ghettos. Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Livingston-later known as Bunny Wailer-began playing music together as teenagers in the West Kingston slum of Trench Town. By the late 1960s, the running ska beat slowed down to a more mellow stroll and reggae was born.īy the time reggae conquered Jamaica's dancehalls and radio waves, the Wailers were established veterans on the local musical scene.
By the early 1960s, mento was mostly displaced by ska, a scorching uptempo style featuring prominent horns and a characteristic rhythm skank on the off-beat. Jamaican pop music came into its own in the 1950s and '60s as island musicians, combining local folk and gospel music traditions with the country and R&B influences being broadcast into the country via AM radio from Miami and New Orleans, created a distinct national sound.įirst came mento, which ruled Jamaican dancehalls in the 1950s and sounded a bit like Trinidadian calypso. The process by which Jamaica's beloved national music went "outernational" began to transform the music itself, making reggae-or at least Bob Marley's brand of reggae-perhaps a little bit less Jamaican even as it introduced Jamaican culture to much of the world. Like most such stories, it's one that contains more than a little irony.
Therefore, the story of "Concrete Jungle" is a story of cultural globalization.
So, this is arguably the song that launched the transformation of reggae music from a purely local Jamaican art form into a global pop phenomenon. And "Concrete Jungle," as the first track on the album, was the song that introduced listeners to Catch a Fire.
Catch a Fire was the album that introduced the world to Bob Marley, the first international reggae superstar.
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