Andrea Harris hates reggae:
I don’t hate Marley as a person — for one thing, he’s dead, so it would be pointless. But I hate the people who keep flogging him as some sort of Jesus of music. That song, “No Woman No Cry”? Hey, how about not getting stoned on weed and sitting around like a stinky lump. Also she’s tired of you stealing her brassieres, Mr. Pot-Made-My-Moobs-Grow.
The reason so many white people like reggae is because most white people live well above the Tropic of Cancer and thus think of reggae and other genres of “island” music as “exotic” and a promise of an escape from driving down icy streets every day to a nine-to-five job or shoveling snow. I sympathize, but since I actually grew up in the tropics I also know that living year-round with humidity in the 90s coupled with temperatures in same, every insect on earth, and a yearly threat of hurricanes isn’t exactly a vacation, and the prevalence of music where every single song has the same drunken-donkey-walk rhythm and must always be sung in high, whining tones doesn’t help. It’s almost as bad as salsa.
Yes, living in Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean in general, was hell for me, musically.
Not to mention, almost everyone who loves reggae seems to think that you also have to have dirty hair full of mud (I don’t care if the mud came out of a forty-dollar jar you bought at your stylist’s — your dreadlocks look like you went outside after a good rain, scooped up a wad of dirt from the back yard, and rubbed it into your hair) and smoke pot. Marijuana smells worse than the stinkiest cigarettes, and I’m pretty sure all the second-hand pot smoke I inhaled at too many concerts contributed to the destruction of my sinuses.
You may or may not be surprised to learn that she doesn’t like ska, either.
[Update a few minutes later]
I should add that technically, Miami (which I think is where she grew up) is not the tropics, but it’s miserable enough to seem like it.
I don’t reggae music either. I don’t like it simply because I think its boring.
…so there’s NO possible way that I can just LIKE reggae, the same way I like doo wop, or what’s now called classic rock?
I guess I musta been too high to get the memo. (mon)
I know Miami is technically the “sub-tropics,” which doesn’t mean some place even below the hell that is the tropics though in Miami’s case it should. And yes I was born and raised there and only managed to escape ten years ago. I’m in the Orlando area now which is like a whole other part of the world. Only… instead of Cuban merengue the Latino music of choice up here is Puerto Rican and Columbian stuff, which seems to feature a lot of accordions. There isn’t enough liquor in the world to make accordion music sound tuneful. I will admit I am very picky about my music, and it’s only gotten worse as I’ve gotten older and crustier.
And of course you should hate all the music I do. Don’t you know the world revolves around me and my likes and dislikes? Well, you will soon! 😈
I love reggae, but do not even like tropical climate, dreadlocks. Next we need a rap / hip-hop thread.
I like reggae. Bob Marley, Inner Circle, UB40 come to mind.
Then again, I also like Morrissey.
It is interesting to contrast Marley’s “Sun is Shining” with Morrissey’s “Everyday is like Sunday”.