Which British New-Wave Musicians Blended a Strong Reggae Influence Into

Which British New-Wave Musicians Blended a Strong Reggae Influence Into Their Music?

British New Wave

The British new wave was a musical movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was a reaction to the punk rock music that was taking over the country. The new wave musicians blended a strong reggae influence into their music. This new sound was fresh and exciting. It quickly became popular with the British public.

What is British New Wave?

British New Wave is a musical movement that occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It’s a subgenre of new wave music that blended a strong reggae influence into the punk and new wave styles of the time.

Originating in the United Kingdom, British New Wave was hugely popular in the UK and Australia, and had a smaller but significant following in the US. The movement was led by bands such as The Clash, The Police, The Jam, and Elvis Costello & The Attractions.

The sound of British New Wave was characterised by its heavy use of Jamaican-style dub reggae rhythms, as well as its focus on anti-establishment themes. Lyrically, British New Wave songs often tackled subjects such as police brutality, race relations, and poverty.

Musically, British New Wave was heavily influenced by punk rock, but also incorporated elements of ska, reggae, and pop music. This blend of genres helped to create a unique sound that was fresh and exciting at a time when popular music was starting to become increasingly predictable.

Although it only lasted for a few years, British New Wave left a lasting impression on popular music. Many of the bands that spearheaded the movement went on to have hugely successful careers, and their influence can still be heard in modern music today.

Where did it come from?

The answer, as with so many things in pop music, is both “everywhere” and “nowhere”. You could say that the British new wave emerged from a confluence of influences – from the US (Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys), from France (Jacques Dutronc, Serge Gainsbourg), from Jamaica (Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae) and from the UK itself (the Beatles, the Kinks). All of these sounds can be heard in the music of the British new wave. But if you had to pinpoint a single moment when the new wave began, you could do worse than cite July 1976. That was when two important things happened:

Reggae Influence

The late 1970s and early 1980s saw a new wave of British musicians who blended a strong reggae influence into their music. These include The Clash, The Police, and UB40. Reggae music originated in Jamaica in the 1960s. It is a style of music that is based on the ska and rocksteady genres. Reggae is usually slower than ska and has a more pronounced rhythm.

What is Reggae?

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 broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues, especially the New Orleans R&B practiced by Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint.

Where did it come from?

The roots of reggae music can be traced back to the ska and rocksteady sounds of Jamaica in the 1950s and 1960s. Reggae music was further popularized by artists like Bob Marley, who helped to bring it to a global audience in the 1970s.

During this time, many British new-wave musicians began blending a strong reggae influence into their own music. This led to the development of the 2 Tone and lovers rock genres, which were particularly popular in the UK.

In recent years, reggae has experienced something of a renaissance, with a new generation of artists taking influence from the original sounds of Jamaican reggae and giving it a modern twist. This has resulted in some truly unique and innovative recordings that are still being made today.

British New Wave Musicians Who Blended Reggae

The British new wave scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s produced some unlikely but significant reggae-influenced crossover hits. Musicians such as Elvis Costello, The Police, and The Clash all had songs that blended new wave and reggae influences. This article will explore some of these crossover hits and the artists who created them.

The Specials

The Specials, also known as The Special A.K.A., are an English 2 Tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. The band wears mod and socialist skinhead-style clothing. They were one of the most successful bands of the 2 Tone movement, and had ten top-10 singles on the UK Singles Chart between 1979 and 1981, including “Too Much Too Young” and “Ghost Town”, both of which reached number one in the UK.

After a period of decline in the mid-1980s, The Specials’ reformation in 2009 has been hugely successful, with them embarking on an ongoing world tour that has seen them play to large audiences across Europe and North America. The band was formed by songwriting duo Jerry Dammers (keyboards) and Terry Hall (vocals), who had previously played together as part of Bureaucrats (UK punk band) and pub rockers Kix.

The Clash

Formed in 1976, The Clash was a British punk rock band that blended a strong reggae influence into their music. The band’s hit song, “Rock the Casbah,” helped to bring reggae to a wider audience.

The Police

The Police were a British new wave band formed in 1977. For most of their history the band consisted of Sting (lead vocals and bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and are generally regarded as one of the first new wave groups to achieve mainstream success, playing a style that blended pop, punk and reggae. They are also considered one of the leaders of the Second British Invasion of the US.

During their initial run from 1977 to 1983, they released five chart-topping albums and amassed singles including “Message in a Bottle”, “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”, “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take”. They disbanded in 1986 and accomplished much subsequent individual success. In 2001 they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.