Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Category: Ska

Bob Marley +/- the Wailers
Zeroto180

Early Wailers: Pre-Island Years

Thanks to the local public library, I am no longer the same person I once was after reading Roger Steffens‘ comprehensive and thoughtfully organized oral history of Bob Marley and, by extension, The Wailers, from their earliest days.  Halfway through the book I felt compelled to take notes about a

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"Guns Fever"
Zeroto180

‘Sticky’: “Guns Fever” Vocalist?

Thanks to Harry Hawks‘ biographical portrait of master percussionist (& sometime vocalist) Uziah ‘Sticky‘ Thompson for Reggae Collector’s Artists Hall of Fame, we learn that (1) ‘Sticky’ gets a shout-out in the intro to Baba Brooks’ “Girls Town Ska” from 1965 [Q: “Hey Sticks, where you going tonight?”  A: “I’m

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"Ball of Fire"
Zeroto180

“Sticky”: Mouth Percussionist

David Katz‘s biography of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, People Funny Boy, provides some very useful biographical details about master percussionist, Uziah ‘Sticky‘ Thompson: For the rest of [1967], Perry worked closely with a variety of artists for [Joe] Gibbs, including future percussionist, [alternately spelled] Uzziah ‘Sticky’ Thompson, then a popular deejay known

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"Play My Record"
Zeroto180

Won’t Someone Play This Record?

One of the original “fully fledged” 1960s mod ska participants, Arthur Kay, played on a number of reggae hits for the Trojan label at London’s Chalk Farm Recording Studios, founded by his manager, Vic Keary, and Bluebeat label head, Emil Shallet, in 1968.  Chalk Farm would gain renown for being

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Ska
Zeroto180

1960s Ska in the US Market

Thousands of thanks to 45Cat chatboard contributor, OldOak, who freely offered up this bit of research related to the topic of U.S. Reggae 45s  — I have simply added links to YouTube streaming audio and/or filmed performances of the artist and song in action: “Ska was one of the dance

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"Ten Commandments (From Woman To Man)"
Zeroto180

King Records Goes Ska – Prince Buster & Byron Lee

<Spotify LINK to Prince Buster Mix> Previous Zero to 180 posts have highlighted the strong cultural connections between Kingston Jamaica and Cincinnati, Ohio, as evidenced by — (a) the radical rocksteady funk of Prince Buster‘s 1966 tip of the hat to “The Cincinnati Kid” himself, James Brown, as well as

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"Flaming Rock Steady"
Zeroto180

“Flaming Rock Steady”: It’s a Scorcher

In 1966 legendary session guitarist, Ernest Ranglin, released a fun and breezy set of instrumentals in Jamaica on the Federal label entitled, A Mod A Mod Ranglin. The original 12-song LP has since been reissued on CD with six additional tracks – including this one, “Flaming Rock Steady“:~ “Flaming Rock

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