It’s Reggae, Mon!

Understanding The History And Styles of This Caribbean Music

Rumor has it: the reason Reggae music has emphasis on beats “1” or “3” is that when pop music from the U.S. was first heard by Jamaican musicians back in the 1960s, broadcasts would fade in and out due to the long distant AM (at the time) signals. Ergo, they were hearing the music differently than we did in the States. Instead of the prominent backbeat (2 & 4) we’d hear, they were getting something akin to a Doppler effect.

Whether or not this is simply conjecture is moot since Reggae has found its place in our musical lexicon. Using the same basis instrumentation of 1960’s pop bands—guitar, bass, drums and oftentimes organ and horns—one does have to wonder how the similarities came to pass, especially since Reggae was created in the late 1960s.

At CSS Music we have a complete category dedicated to Reggae that you’ll find on our Hand-Picked Genres/Hot List menu.  There are kissing cousins to Reggae that include Ska—a more upbeat, jazzy/R&B style—and Reggaeton which is Reggae on steroids with fast tempi and solid backbeats.

When would you use Reggae music? Obviously if you were creating a travelogue, sure, but the inside baseball fact is that Reggae is often associated with smoking “ganja,” marijuana to us less hip. So maybe you have a scene where someone appears—or is--stoned. What would be funnier than laying in a little Reggae music under? Or if there was a scene with smoke coming from an unlikely place, you could enhance the scene with a tongue-in-cheek send up.

We want you to know that CSS Music doesn’t endorse using marijuana although it’s rapidly becoming legal in a number of states, including our own home state of California. But if you can use some of our excellent Reggae in one of your shows, we’re totally on board! Likkle more, Mon! J