Secret History of Rock. The Most Influential Bands You've Never Heard
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DJ Spooky (Paul Miller):
Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound stuff had a big impact compositionally. There’s a more stark edge to the music, it sounds harder and iller [than other dub]. I grew up around the punk scene, so I have distorted guitars and bass as some of my earlier memories of social music. There’s certain seminal people, and Adrian Sherwood realty hit this core resonance of what music is about.
Adrian Sherwood first became obsessed by reggae as a teen in the early ‘70s. In particular, he loved the eccentric studio effects of dub producers like King Tubby and Lee Perry. By 17, Sherwood was already importing and distributing Jamaican music to the U.K. through his company, Carib Gems. Though he’d soon go bankrupt, the experience provided Sherwood with contacts in reggae that he soon developed as an artist as well as a businessman.
In 1977, as punk rock ruled London’s music scene, Sherwood started his own live dub reggae collective called Creation Rebel, whose debut album Dub from Creation he released on his new label Hit Run. Along with a second outfit called Prince Far I & the Arabs – which featured many of the same personnel – Sherwood formulated a core group of musicians and associates that would be behind most of the music throughout Sherwood’s career. This included drummer Lincoln “Style” Scott, saxophonist Deadley Headley, bassists “Lizard” Logan and “Crucial” Tony Phillips, percussionist Bonjo Lyabinghi, keyboardist Dr. Pablo, and singers Bim Sherman and Prince Far I.
Early on, punk rock bands had voiced solidarity with the politically conscious reggae subculture in the U.K. (as in Jamaica) and were drawing inspiration from the music. Though Creation Rebel practiced a fairly traditional brand of dub reggae, Sherwood’s posse was never very far from the punk scene, and the Clash invited the group to open for them on tour. By the early ‘80s, connections had been made with members of post-punk bands such as the Slits, the Raincoats, and Public Image Limited, and Sherwood’s circle of collaborators had widened considerably.
King Coffey, Butthole Surfers:
He pioneered the modern form of dub. There’s no doubt the On-U label has been incredibly influential. At the time, every On-U record I could get my hands on seemed like a revelation. I just thought Adrian Sherwood was a god. He was challenging the very idea of what music is, using the actual studio and mixing board as an instrument. I recall when we were doing mixes of our first album, I said, “Damn, we should really do a dub remix of this stuff.”
In the late ‘70s new combinations of musicians formed a crop of groups around Sherwood, most notably New Age Steppers and Singer & Players, that combined post-punk’s noise and roughness with dub’s rhythms and studio processes. To anticipate the change in directions, in 1980 Sherwood – along with his wife Kishi Yamamoto and several partners – evolved Hit Run and other labels he’d been operating into a new umbrella label and organization he named On-U Sound. Between 1981 and ‘82, the label introduced no fewer than five of its major acts: In addition to New Age Steppers and Singers & Players, there were debuts by African Head Charge, London Underground, Dub Syndicate, and Playgroup, plus solo releases by Deadley Headley, Bim Sherman, and former Brian Eno collaborator Judy Nylon.
New Age Steppers’ self-titled debut merged the On-U regulars with people like Slits vocalist Ari Up and Raincoats violinist Vicki Aspinall, as well as the Pop Group’s Mark Stewart and members of Crass. Singers & Players’ War of Words (released in the U.S. on minimalist funk label 99 Records) paired the seminal post-punk guitarist Keith Levene (of Public Image Limited) with On-U singers Sherman and Far I. Both releases proved dub could to be remarkably inclusive and flexible. By incorporating rock sounds and arrangements into dub, these records set an example that informs dub-influenced post-rock groups of today such as Tortoise.
John McEntire, Tortoise:
There’s a certain vocabulary that those guys use [in dub]. Adrian Sherwood has taken that vocabulary and developed it into something entirely new and exciting. It’s inspiring, in terms of how far he’s been able to push things.
With African Head Charge, Sherwood and a group led by vocalist/percussionist Lyabinghi pursued their interest in fusing non-Western folk rhythms and African chanting (particularly African) with dance music. Inspired by the similar Brian Eno / David Byrne collaboration My life in the Bush of Ghosts that had appeared earlier in the year, Sherwood titled AHC’s debut My Life in a Hole in the Ground. Both records proved to be seminal works in the development of the ethno-techno/trance music of groups such as Banco de Gaia and Loop Guru in the ‘90s. While the “Style” Scott-led Dub Syndicate pursued more reggae-oriented dub, collaborations with Sherwood’s eccentric hero Lee “Scratch” Perry ensured a requisite degree of madness in the music.
In the mid-‘80s, Sherwood embarked on a new round of genre-hopping when he recruited the former house band at New York’s premier early rap label, Sugar Hill Records. Guitarist Skip McDonald, bassist Doug Wimbish, and drummer Keith LeBlanc (whose earlier hit, “No Sell Out,” introduced Malcolm X’s rhetoric to hip-hop) had played on hits by Grandmaster Flash and the Sugarhill Gang and were ready for new musical adventures. The group’s first On-U project, Mark Stewart and the Maffia, had them backing ex-Pop Group singer Stewart. Together with Sherwood and British M.C. (“chanter”) Gary Clail, they constituted the On-U Sound System, or Tackhead Sound System; later, with the addition of vocalist Bernard Fowler, they were simply Tackhead. At its best, Tackhead combined the scorching elements of a hard funk musicianship with hip-hop beats and industrial effects. While dub was still an operative process in the music, the traditional reggae sounds were all but gone.
Chris Connelly, the Bells / Ministry / Revolting Cocks:
Al [Jourgensen of Ministry] and I really bonded on things like Mark Stewart and the Maffia. As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade, that’s a noisy ass record. However, it was a rhythmic record, and that really appealed to me. Sherwood came from a more reggae background, but the records I really liked were the noisier ones. And I know Al learned a lot from him when [Sherwood] produced [Ministry’s] Twitch.
In the early ‘90s some of Sherwood’s groups broke away from On-U completely, but Sherwood has continued to work both as a remixer for well-known artists and with newer On-U acts such as Revolutionary Dub Warriors and the techno-oriented Tribal Drift. His live dub collective, the On-U Sound System, continues to perform, carrying out its mission to bring the spirit of Jamaica’s original sound systems into the next millennium.
DISCOGRAPHY (SELECTED)
CREATION REBEL
Dub from Creation (Hit Run, 1977); Sherwood’s earliest, pre-On-U, release.
Rebel Vibrations (Hit Run, 1978).
Close Encounters of the Third World (Hit Run, 1979).
Starship Africa (On-U Sound, 1981).
(w/ New Age Steppers) Threat to Creation (1981; Cherry Red, 1991); a joint release with another Sherwood project.
Lows & Highs (1982; Cherry Red, 1991).
Historic Moments Vol. 1 (On-U Sound / Restless, 1994); a compilation of this earliest Sherwood project.
NEW AGE STEPPERS
New Age Steppers (Statik, 1981); a striking debut mixing dub and post-punk sounds, with an all-star cast.
Action Battlefield (Statik, 1981); a follow-up featuring the Slits’ Ari Up on vocals
Foundation Steppers (On-U Sound, 1992).
Massive Hits Volume 1 (On-U Sound / Restless, 1994); a compilation from the group’s three studio albums.
SINGERS AND PLAYERS
War of Words (99 Records, 1981).
Revenge of the Underdog (On-U Sound / Situation, 1982).
Staggering Heights (On-U Sound, 1983).
Leaps & Bounds (On-U Sound, 1984; 1991).
Golden Greats Volume 1 (On-U Sound, 1989); a compilation of the project’s best material.
AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE
My Life in a Hole in the Ground (On-U Sound, 1981); an Eno-inspired debut of world music in dub.
Environmental Studies (On-U Sound, 1982).
Drastic
Season (On-U Sound, 1983).
Off the Beaten Track (On-U Sound, 1986).
Great Vintage Vols. 1 & 2 (On-U Sound, 1989); a compilation of this group’s earlier material.
Songs of Praise (On-U Sound, 1990, On-U Sound / Restless, 1994); features samples of religious music from around the world, with African percussion and dub effects.
In Pursuit of Shashamane Land (On-U Sound/Restless, 1994).
DUB SYNDICATE
Pounding System (On-U Sound, 1982).
One Way System (ROIR, 1983); a cassette compilation of the group’s early material.
(w/ Dr. Pablo) North of the River Thames (On-U Sound, 1984).
Tunes from the Missing Channel (On-U Sound, 1985).
(w/ Lee Perry) Time Boom X de Devil Dead (On-U Sound, 1987); the first of two collaborations with Perry.
Strike the Balance (On-U Sound, 1989).
Classic Selection Vols. 1-3 (On-U Sound, 1989; 1991; 1994); a series of compilations bringing together this group’s choice cuts.
(w/ Lee Perry) From the Secret Laboratory (Mango, 1990).
Stoned Immaculate (1991; On-U Sound / Restless, 1994).
Echomania (On-U Sound, 1993; On-U Sound / Restless, 1994).
Ital Breakfast (On-U Sound, 1996).
Research & Development (On-U Sound, 1996).
MARK STEWART & THE MAFFIA
Learning to Cope with Cowardice (On-U Sound/Plexus, 1983); industrial-style dub from the former member of the Pop Group.
As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade (Mute, 1985).
Mark Stewart & Maffia (Upside, 1986); a U.S. compilation of the two earlier releases.
Mark Stewart (Mute, 1987).
Metatron (Mute, 1990).
GARY CLAIL
(w/ Tackhead Sound System) Tackhead Tape Time (Nettwerk, 1988); the debut by Tackhead with British MC Gary Clail on vocals.
(w/ On-U Sound System) End of the Century Party (On-U Sound, 1990).
TACKHEAD
Friendly as a Hand Grenade (TVT, 1989); Tackhead with singer Bernard Fowler in place of Clail.
VARIOUS
Pay It All Back (On-U Sound/Restless, 1994); a compilation featuring 13 different On-U acts and configurations.
Reggae Archive (On-U Sound/Restless, 1994); an On-U compilation heavy on Bim Sherman, but also featuring a variety of other Sherwood projects.
ORIGINAL RAPPERS
Since rap music emerged as a musical genre nearly two decades ago, the question of where it came from has been much debated. But while the discussion is fascinating and informative, it’s unlikely to produce a definitive answer. Suffice it to say that rapping is just the latest manifestation of a rich African and African-American tradition that includes all these and more: West African griots, the field hollers of slaves, the talking blues, church sermons of black preachers, schoolyard rhymes and backstreet toasts, the poetry performances of the Harlem Renaissance, the cadences of bebop that inspired the jazz poetry of Archie Shepp and the Beat poetry of Amiri Baraka, and, of course, the colorful boasts of Muhammad Ali.
The musical (and literary) figures included in this chapter are just a few of the most often cited precursors to the styles and attitudes we’ve come to know as hip-hop culture in general and rap music in particular. There is a traceable line from U-Roy’s talkover music to the DJs and MCs a decade later in the South Bronx, who added chanted vocals to already recorded music. The violent portrayals of criminality found in gangsta rap have their roots in Iceberg Slim’s work. And in the music of the Last Poets (in the East), the Watts Prophets (in the West), and Gil Scott-Heron are recognizable precedents to the black consciousness and protest lyrics that have traditionally informed hip-hop music and culture.
Michael Front, Spearhead:
There was a kind oft watermark stamped on hip-hop that said no matter where the music goes there has to be some kind of consciousness of black people – of liberation – in the music. Even though right now we’ve gone from a period where it was once “A Nation of Millions” to “How can I get millions?” I still believe that the moral foundation that those godfathers set out for all of us is something we all, at some point, have to answer to.
Of course, hip-hop/rap culture, unlike rock, is still something that can be viewed as both artistically and socially revolutionary (until quite recently it seemed to be developing new manifestations and colorings at a dizzying pace), and its artists have had little interest in uncovering and championing little-known artists from the past. Until quite recently, nearly all of the best and most influential hip-hop has been commercially successful, making it technically ineligible for inclusion as “the most influential... you’ve never heard.” However, while it would be wrong to claim that most of today’s rappers have been directly influenced by the figures in this chapter, for setting precedents – and for inspiring those rhymers who influenced the rappers who taught the MCs of today – these musical precursors are worth taking a look at.
U-ROY
Super Cat [from Reggaematic website]:
All ah we come from where Daddy Roy live, you know. Josey Wales is living in Kingston, you know. So is Super Cat, so is Bounty Killa, so is Beenie Man, so is Admiral Baity, so is Early B, so is many many more who come from that era there, you understand. Daddy Roy was the founder in the corporate metropolitan Kingston area in that time. So all the little youths who ah go to school, who love music and respond to musical vibes, was inspired by [him].
While rap music can be tied to a long and varied line of African-American oral tradition, the specific style of rapping that developed in hip-hop music – with spoken rhymes over prerecorded dance music – can be most directly traced to Jamaican talkover music, where a disc jockey rhymes along to the records he spins. The first DJ to popularize talkover was U-Roy, whose audience – rousing rants and amusing shout-outs to the popular songs he played at parties – and eventually released commercially – defined the art of deejaying that young Jamaicans like Kool Here brought with them to the Bronx in the mid-‘70s. And in applying U-Roy’s talkover style to American funk music, these immigrant turntable showmen essentially became the first rappers.
DJ Spooky (Paul Miller):
U-Roy was the first hip-hop MC, really. He was a huge influence. Especially I loved his vocal inflection and the way he rhymed, the rhythm patterns and the way he mixes his voice into that.
Though most current rappers are too far removed from U-Roy to be aware of their debt to him, makers of rap’s Jamaican equivalent (actually a precursor) – a style called dancehall – openly acknowledge U-Roy as “The Originator” of their toasting style. Popular dance-hall stars such as Shabba Ranks, Buju Banton, and Super Cat, as well as reggae-flavored American rap groups such as Spearhead and the Fugees, have been directly influenced by U-Roy’s vocal style. And U-Roy’s earliest recordings – which are essentially previous hits with U-Roy’s vocal track added – provide a clear historical context for notorious hip-hop recyclers like Puff Daddy.
U-Roy was born Ewart Beckford in 1942 and grew up in a Kingston, Jamaica, shantytown. By his late teens, he had become involved in the world of sound systems, the popular mobile DJ setups that traveled the Jamaican countryside playing the latest R&B and ska records. These sound systems would announce locations where they were setting up outdoor dances (not unlike the more recent raves), and it was the DJ’s job to offer the best mix of music while he entertained and inspired audiences to dance with funny, often rhythmic, banter known as toasting. Jamaican DJ toasting, introduced in the ‘50s by Count Machouki, was an outgrowth of the flamboyant announcing styles of radio DJs in the southern U.S.
Wyclef Jean, the Fugees:
For me, U-Roy was definitely one of the founders of that toasting style. I grew up with all that stuff, because my uncle had a sound system. I’m not Jamaican, but I grew up with Jamaican music.
As a DJ during the ‘60s, U-Roy developed his toasting style with sound systems such as Dickie’s Dynamic, Sir George Atomic, and the popular
Coxsone’s Downbeat Sound System. With King Tubby’s prestigious Home Town Hi-Fi sound system in 1968, U-Roy developed a reputation for a toasting style that was more clever and inventive, as well as faster, than any other DJ around. By 1969, when U-Roy entered Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle studio to record his toasts, popular DJs such as King Stitt had already released their own talkover recordings. It was U-Roy’s string of hits in 1970, though, that made talkover a commercially viable style that would spawn numerous U-Roy imitators and evolve into both dancehall and rap. His Rule the Nation, Wake the Town, and Wear You to the Ball – all recorded over King Tubby dubs that removed vocals from popular songs – simultaneously occupied the top three positions on the Jamaican music charts.
Michael Franti, Spearhead:
U-Roy was probably one of the first people to every really rap on a record. To take a dub plate and put his own lyrics on it, and put it out as another record. Which is what people are doing today with sampling. Wake the Town is a wicked track.
U-Roy’s huge popularity can be attributed, in part, to his use of familiar backing tracks. But more, U-Roy built on the nonsensical scatting of previous DJs with eccentric catchphrases like “This station rules the nation with version” (familiar to American pop audiences through its adaptation on Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie”) and humorous running commentary to bits of the original lyric (such as “did you hear what the man says, baby? Dig my soul brothers and soul sisters!”). As younger toasters such as I-Roy and Big Youth emerged to further advance the style he’d introduced, U-Roy became known as Daddy Roy, or simply “the King.”