I Don’t Like Them As Much As I’m Supposed To: Bob Marley

I Don't Like Them As Much As I'm Supposed To

A large portion of my family is Caribbean, so as you can well imagine, reggae played a bit part in my life. So did Blackpool Milk Roll but that’s besides the point. The tales of the older members of my family were both brilliant and heartbreaking. From tales of being thrown on a boat to do labouring jobs, to stories about dancing for two days straight to Bluebeat and Calypso. Man, sometimes I wish I was oppressed, repressed… instead of just pressed. With that came an early fondness for the sounds of JA… Toots and the Maytals, Prince Buster, Sister Nancy, Horace Andy… but one act that never set my heart alight was The Wailers, and, specifically, the solo work of Bob Marley.
Growing up, I saw my peers learning how to skin-up and make slapshod bucket bongs to the sounds of Baab, and was often left cold. In fairness, when I get stoned, my extremities go cold, but that’s not what I’m talking about. The rich basses and intricate drum work of truly great reggae always makes my hair stand on end (leaving me looking like a cross between Don King and Kid from Kid ‘N’ Play… only white), but Bob’s output sounded… too white.

Of course, I understand Marley’s cultural importance. I mean, if it weren’t for Bob and his free associating consciousness, most people wouldn’t have found reggae at all. Millie may have set everyone on the right road with “My Boy Lollipop”, but Bob really grabbed people by the collar and made then get up… stand up. However, There are many acts that have blazed a trail in pop consciousness and they don’t get the same reverence that Marley gets. To start picking at that would be churlish… I’ll just stick to the sounds thanks.
There’s no doubt that Bob has written some incredible songs. “No Woman No Cry” is a phenomenal pop record that is as breathtaking as anything from the canon of The Beatles or whoever else is universally loved. That said, in my mind, Bob’s back catalogue is filled with great tunes produced badly. The dub influences that could be found in great works by Tenor Saw or Toots never really translated into Marley or The Wailers. Everything seems so… straight.
Unfortunately for Marley, he’s also been misrepresented by cheap and tacky merch, like weed tins for UFO believers and huge posters with airbrushed ganga leaves and peace symbols. Peace symbols? Surely not for a man who had strong ties with the underworld, had people beaten and wanted to burn down churches. Sadly Marley, the Elvis of reggae, has been reduced to a cartoon, leaving me unable to look at his work even-handedly.
The very fact I don’t like Marley as much as I’m supposed to is not his fault, but rather, those that have taken his legacy and turned it into Disney. He was truly brave and political, probably moreso than his peers, but he’ll forever be remembered first and foremost as that bloke who liked a toke.