The Different Forms of Reggae Music

Reggae music has many different forms. This blog post explores the different types of reggae music and how they are each unique.

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term reggae is derived from the word “raggedy”, which was used to describe the poor quality of the clothing worn by Rastafarians. Reggae is a style of music that is usually slow and has a strong bass line. The lyrics are often political or religious.

Origins in Jamaica

Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, “Do the Reggay” was the first popular song to use the word “reggae”, effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican danceable music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.

Reggae in the UK

The 1970s saw the rise to prominence of reggae in the UK, with artists such as Bob Marley, Aswad and steel band Misty in Roots leading the way. Reggae’s popularity was given a further boost by the release of the films Rockers and The Harder They Come, which helped to spread awareness of Jamaican music and culture.

In the 1980s, UK-based reggae artists began to experiment with other genres, resulting in the development of new subgenres such as lovers rock, dub, jungle and drum & bass. These new styles continued to evolve in the 1990s and 2000s, ultimately leading to the rise of grime – a genre that would come to dominate the UK rap scene.

Dub

Reggae music has many different forms, one of which is dub. Dub is a subgenre of reggae that developed in the 1970s. Dub music is created by Jamaican record producers who remove the vocals from existing reggae tracks and create new instrumentals to replace them. This new instrumental music is then mixed with the original reggae tracks to create a new song. Dub music has a heavy bass sound and often includes sound effects and echo.

What is Dub?

Dub is a form of Jamaican music that evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Originally, it was simply a instrumental version of reggae tunes, meant to be played along with the “vocals” (the lead singer and/or MC).

But as time went on, dub began to develop its own sound and identity, with producers adding their own touches to the music, such as echo and delay effects, reverb, and manipulated guitars and drums. These days, dub is its own distinct genre, with its own fans and sub-genres.

The influence of Dub

Dub is a subgenre of reggae music that evolved out of the 1960s and early 1970s. The original intention of dub was to create an instrumental version of a song that would be more easily playable on the radio. The first dub tracks were simply instrumental versions of popular reggae songs with the lead instrument dropped out. This lead to a more experimental style of dub where producers began playing around with the tracks, adding echo, reverb, and other effects. This new style of dub became very popular in Jamaica and quickly spread to the UK and Europe. By the late 1970s, dub had become its own distinct genre of music with its own distinct sound and style.

Ska

Ska is a form of reggae music that developed in Jamaica in the late 1950s. It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. Ska is the predecessor to rocksteady and reggae.

What is Ska?

Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. In the early 1960s, ska became popular with Britishmods. By the mid-1960s it had spread to other parts of the world, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Puerto Rico, Japan, Lebanon, Portugal, Spain,, South Africa, Uganda,, and Zimbabwe.

The influence of Ska

Originating in Jamaica in the late 1950s, ska was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off-beat. Ska developed from a combination of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. The first ska recordings were made in Jamaica in 1959.

The popularity of ska music in Britain began with the success of Millie Small’s 1964 single, “My Boy Lollipop”. Small, who was only 13 years old at the time, became an overnight sensation. The song reached number two on the UK singles chart and helped to spark a ska craze in Britain that would last for several years.

Many British bands began to incorporate elements of ska into their own music, including The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, and The Beat (later known as English Beat). These bands would go on to have great success in both Britain and the United States.

In the 1980s, there was a resurgence of interest in ska music with the formation of new bands such as Madness and The Specials. This new wave of ska would be known as 2 Tone, named after the record label that released many of the biggest hits of the time. 2 Tone bands often had multiracial lineups and incorporated elements of punk rock into their sound.

Ska continues to be popular today with newer bands keeping the sound alive. Notable current day ska bands include Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, and Sublime with Rome.

Rocksteady

Rocksteady is a form of reggae that was developed in Jamaica in 1966. The style is said to be a transitional phase between ska and reggae. It is characterized by a slower tempo than ska, as well as more focus on the bass and drum instruments. The lyrics are often about love and other personal emotions.

What is Rocksteady?

Rocksteady is a Jamaican musical genre that developed from ska and R&B in the late 1960s. The style is characterized by its slow tempo, offbeat accents on the second and fourth beat, and sometimes a guitar chop on the off beats. The lyrics are often about love, with sexual overtones.

Rocksteady differs from ska in that the emphasis is not on the upstroke, but on the downbeat. The guitar chop is also more pronounced, and the horns are sometimes replaced by a melodica or keyboard. The bass lines are generally simpler than in ska, and often make use of seventeenth notes rather than thirty-second notes.

The term rocksteady comes from a 1968 single by Alton Ellis, “Rock steady”.

The influence of Rocksteady

Rocksteady is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1960s. The term rocksteady comes from a style of danceable Jamaican popular music that was created out of the ska and R&B rhythms prevalent in Jamaica at the time.

Rocksteady developed out of the earlier ska style, and is considered to be its direct successor. Ska had been the dominant music genre in Jamaica since 1962, and rocksteady was an attempt to slow down the tempo and focus more on the vocals.

The first rocksteady hit was Alton Ellis’s “I’m Still in Love with You”, which was released in 1967. The genre reached its peak in popularity between 1968 and 1970, with songs like The Paragons’ “The Tide Is High” and The Heptones’ “It’s All Right Now” becoming international hits.

Despite its popularity, rocksteady began to decline in the early 1970s as newer styles like reggae and dub became more popular. However, it has experienced something of a revival in recent years, with several new artists emerging from Jamaica who are keeping the rocksteady sound alive.