DM mentioning reggae on the 4:20 thread reminded me that I forgot to mention some things in this book.
Many of the musicians quoted in the book mention reggae, and often dub. (Most of them lived in the seedy/cheap parts of town where the Caribbean immigrants lived; several people mentioned going to sound system parties.) And much like in reggae, a lot of the post punk bands gave the bass a more prominent role than punk or traditional rock bands. (I'd give the Cure or New Order good examples - the bass is usually pretty prominent.) Also this was when remixing really got going, and dub was the example for that. The most explicit reggae connection is when John Lydon formed PIL, Jah Wobble (bassist) taught himself to play by playing along to dub records. He later played on a bunch of the Bill Laswell's dub projects, and on the Orb's U.F.Orb album - you might remember "Blue Room" from that. (He's also one of my favorite bass players.)
John Lydon is/was a huge reggae and dub fan, and was a collector of dub records. When he Sex Pistols infamy was at its height, he was being routinely accosted in the street and wanted to get out of the UK. Chris Blackwell was trying to start Island Records at the time, so he took Lydon to Jamaica with him to help him find bands for the label.
Many of the musicians quoted in the book mention reggae, and often dub. (Most of them lived in the seedy/cheap parts of town where the Caribbean immigrants lived; several people mentioned going to sound system parties.) And much like in reggae, a lot of the post punk bands gave the bass a more prominent role than punk or traditional rock bands. (I'd give the Cure or New Order good examples - the bass is usually pretty prominent.) Also this was when remixing really got going, and dub was the example for that. The most explicit reggae connection is when John Lydon formed PIL, Jah Wobble (bassist) taught himself to play by playing along to dub records. He later played on a bunch of the Bill Laswell's dub projects, and on the Orb's U.F.Orb album - you might remember "Blue Room" from that. (He's also one of my favorite bass players.)
John Lydon is/was a huge reggae and dub fan, and was a collector of dub records. When he Sex Pistols infamy was at its height, he was being routinely accosted in the street and wanted to get out of the UK. Chris Blackwell was trying to start Island Records at the time, so he took Lydon to Jamaica with him to help him find bands for the label.
the hands that guide me are invisible