Top 5 Reggae Songs Ever

Because I’m so unqualified to even have an opinion. But partly also because I think it’s important that the world know that I don’t like Bob Marley as much as everyone else in the world does. So there.

And I don’t get what anyone sees in Peter Tosh. Probably need to smoke weed to truly understand. And I really didn’t care much for reggae until I started listening more to the earlier variants. And my Top 5 are all on the Harder They Come soundtrack. (Not really, but it feels like it.)

I also don’t know the difference between rock steady, ska, and reggae. I mean, I’ve *read* the difference, but it doesn’t seem like a difference worth discerning, let alone discussing. Which is why I’m discussing it.

I also understand that the fact that I found these songs within the last 12 months takes nothing away from the fact that most people listened to and became sick of same between their freshman and sophomore years of college.

My only rules here were to not include the same artist twice in the top 5. That seems gauche. But I cheated sort of.

1.  “Pressure Drop” — Toots & the Maytals
2. “The Harder they Come” — Jimmy Cliff
3. “Build Your Love on a Solid Foundation” — Dandy Livingstone
4. “Let Down” — Easy Star All-Stars
5. “Johnny Too Bad” — The Slickers

Honorable Mention (alphabetical): “54-46 Was My Number” (Toots & the Maytals), “Airbag” (Easy Star All-Stars), “Israelites” (Desmond Dekker),  “Rivers of Babylon” (The Melodians), “Rudy, a Message to You” (Dandy Livingstone), “(Take Me Home) Country Roads” (Toots & the Maytals), “The Tide Is High” (John Holt & the Paragons), “Trenchtown Rock” (Bob Marley), “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” (Jimmy Cliff), “You Can Get It If You Really Want” (Jimmy Cliff)

So much for posterity.

bkd