Before Bob Marley showed up in London in 1972 and recorded his first reggae album for Chris Blackwell at Island Records, ska was a popular music form. Ska was around as early as 1964 when Millie Small had a big hit with “My Boy Lollipop”. But at the end of the 60s we danced to the likes of The Harry J Allstars, Dandy Livingstone, The Pioneers, The Upsetters, Desmond Dekker and Dave and Ansel Collins at the Con Club in North Finchley for a short period. When we dared to dance, that is, which wasn’t often. Ska was mixed up with soul and pop at the Con Club and the music was mostly OK, even if it was mostly pop.
Occasionally there was even a live band, usually one with a current hit on the charts – though it should be said, never anyone memorable. It wasn’t the music that interested us anyway, it was the possibility of meeting girls. But of course, that only ever remained a possibility as we were basically too shy. Finally, I realized that putting on a suit and getting beaten up on the way home was simply not my scene. I was very glad to leave it behind me when we stopped going. And then I forgot about ska for ten years.
Simply put, ska was a progression from calypso music, reggae was a further progression from ska. In 1972 Nige introduced me to another of his friends, Tony De Meur, who later started a band, The Fabulous Poodles (John Entwistle from the Who produced a couple of their albums). One evening Tony and some friends were going to the Greyhound pub in Fulham to see a band new to London: Bob Marley and the Wailers. Somehow, I managed to wangle going with them to the gig. The crowd at the Greyhound was massive and I don’t recall experiencing a crowd like that since then. People were packed in so tightly that it became truly scary and today’s fire regulations would probably make a squeeze like that impossible.
After about an hour of Marley’s music I was on my knees on the balcony above the stage, crawling under tables and between legs to get closer to the door. I can’t remember any of the songs that Marley played, but I had never heard anything by him before that gig. The band were great, but my eyes were only on Bob, with his magnetic stage presence. Bob still holds the audience record of 32 000 people at Gröna Lund in Stockholm on July 11th, 1980. That will most likely never be broken (safety regulations). There were soon plenty of good reggae bands around in the UK, both Jamaican and British (like Steel Pulse and Aswad. And UB40?). None with Marley’s songwriting skills, however.
Then in 1979 along came a ska revival and I was given Madness’ first album as a present when I passed my driving test. But the bands I liked best were the Selecter and particularly the Specials and of all the ska revival bands, it’s the Specials I still listen to sometimes today. They’re currently on tour (2019) but are unfortunately not coming to Sweden. They’re also touring without songwriter, keyboard player and founder Jerry Dammers, with his eye-catching missing two front teeth. Ghost Town came out in June 1981 and was an instant hit. It reflected the hard times people were experiencing in the UK recession at that time.