How gangsters ruined Bob Marley’s big hit: “Some guys are hustlers”
Everything about Bob Marley’s music was the product of Jamaica, from the stories he sang to the melodies he made. Yet at the same time, the artist knew well that Jamaica was also a problem – it was a risk to the music too.
From the very second Marley’s music career picked up any speed, he started travelling the globe. He moved to the US in the mid-1960s, and by the mid-1970s, he was living in London, where he’d later settle again following an assassination attempt. But all the while, any time he wanted to buckle down and make some serious music, Marley was on a flight back to Kingston, Jamaica.
While reggae was spreading fast, its home was still on the island, with the best musicians living there and the best producers of the genre working there. So even when Marley was signed to a major label and when he was living in London, he’d still head back home to work with homegrown talent.
It made the music great, obviously. The artist’s legacy proves that as despite dying young at the age of 36, he lives on as the ultimate idol of the genre and an enduring reference point. Without his contributions, the sound of reggae may never have hit the mainstream in the way that it did, or certainly would have taken longer.
As Marley imbued his music with both modernity and tradition, heading home to capture the origins of the genre alongside the experiments and new ideas the best players around were having, his records and the projects with The Wailers became masterpieces, made in Jamaica.
But despite the benefits of recording back home, there were also major drawbacks that he had to learn to navigate if he wanted to keep making music there. The biggest problem was the people, as the political tensions of the island bubbled into culture too, as did issues of gang violence.
The studio wasn’t a safe space from that, as Marley recalled, “When me go up in a Trojan office now, and me go in, me see a big guy who is a big thief. After we finished ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ the guys go in the studio behind our back, and get it a little bit too quick, ya know, so the quality leave it.” Sneaking into the studio and tampering with the track, Marley’s hit was almost completely ruined by the tensions bubbling in the background of it all.
It’s part of the reason why he decided to sign with a label in London and run his career across several cities rather than being fully and solely based in Jamaica. “The record companies down in Jamaica, mon, ya have some guys are hustlers, guys don’t love music, competitive guys, ya know,” he said as he never felt the industry there was all in it for the art. Instead, there were scams being run, and issues bubbling over that damaged the music.
He was all in it for the tunes, but even with the best intentions, it could rarely work back home, as he said, “And the guys who can deal with music, somehow get pressurised, so them can’t even get a good studio together.”
