Early Reggae
The transition from rocksteady to the reggae rhythm — organ bubbles and one-drop emerging.
Early reggae marks the shift from rocksteady's sway to the reggae feel: organ stabs, tighter drum patterns, and growing Rastafarian themes in lyrics. Studio One, Treasure Isle, and the new generation of singers define the period before roots reggae fully crystallises.
Note: Genre boundaries between early reggae and roots overlap in the early 1970s.
- Transition from rocksteady
- Organ-forward arrangements
- Rastafarian themes grow
Key artists
12Producers
2Labels
2Riddims
12Listen — albums & songs
12Island Chronicle
8- “Red, Red Wine” is a song written and performed by Neil Diamond in 1968. Tony Tribe covered the song in 1969 in a reggae
- The word Reggae first appeared in print in 1968 hit 'Do the Reggay" by Toots & The Maytals.
- When Coxsone Dodd, the STUDIO 1 owner, traveled to England in 1968, he brought some gadgets with him, among them an elec
- In 1968, Jimmy Cliff released his debut album, Hard Road To Travel, and won the International Song Festival with "Waterf
- In 1968 The Ethiopians recorded "Everything Crash", their first big hit. The song criticised the political situation in
- The Techniques performing ‘Run Come Celebrate’ at the National Arena, a song which earned them a third-place finish in t
- Jacob Miller was just 13 years old in 1968, when he had an electrifying start at Studio One, with a powerful rocksteady
- The Techniques 1968 hit “There Comes A Time” was not actually sung by The Techniques.The song was written by Hopeton Lew
This Day in Jamaican Music
4News & culture
6- The Crown Prince of Reggae: Bob Marley’s Favourite Singer and a Title That Stuck
- Ivanhoe Martin on Screen: The Harder They Come Premieres at the Carib Theatre, 1972
- ‘Many Rivers to Cross’: The Spiritual That Carries Ivan — and Reggae — Across the Water, 1972
- ‘Funky Kingston’: Chris Blackwell Signs Toots and the Maytals to Island and Takes Reggae to the Rock Audience, 1972
- ‘Pressure Drop’: A Leslie Kong Classic Becomes a Soundtrack Cornerstone, 1970
- Child Prodigy: Dennis Brown’s ‘No Man Is an Island’ Breaks Through, 1969
More links as the archive grows.
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