Not only did the Skatalites play on every record in the ska era, they most certainly would have barely been paid much at all. As highlighted in the film The Harder They Come, Jamaican musicians were often much neglected and the record label would most often be corrupt. For a young up-and-coming musician, life was tough. They were barely paid, and the music was a big part of Jamaican life and culture. In fact, the statistic of people emigrating to England from Jamaica, a fair selection of them wrote down as their profession being a musician. It is probably something like one in four people, a huge number. But then Jamaica is a third world country. Reggae in England is often synonymous with the punk scene, as punks in England had not recorded any music up until nineteen seventy-six or thereabouts, so the music they listened and played along to was, in fact, reggae music, thus The Clash having this massive reggae edge.
No comments:
Post a Comment