Hippies vs. Punks: "Rasta Don't Work for No CIA"

Ska and reggae bled the Hippies, whereas the relationship of Punks to ska and reggae was symbiotic and collaborative.

What I mean when I say that roots reggae bled the Hippies is that the people who had progressive, tolerant, egalitarian tendencies in the counter culture gravitated toward the Rastaman Vibration (1976) at same time that the Southern Man -- the rural redneck who had no problem bombing colored folk -- grew his hair long, started smoking dope and rocking hard in football stadiums.

An analogy from this week's news comes to mind. If a Bob Marley-type politician appeared today on the scene, the Democratic Party, just having been pushed in the direction of the Southern Man by Obama's proposal to limit Social Security -- a program that is the bedrock of the modern Democratic Party -- would quickly start to splinter. This is what happened to the Hippies during the critical period 1975 to 1979 that we have been exploring each Friday evening.

My father is case in point. A Beatles and Van Morrison man who also favored The Who and Led Zeppelin, he went roots reggae in the late 1970s. He turned the album covers for Exodus (1977) and Survival (1979) into his own personal works of art -- embellishing them, cutting them, etc. When he became drunk and/or stoned he would often assume a Jamaican Patois.

When I got out on my own I too listened to Bob Marley & the Wailers. One of my favorite records as a lower-division undergraduate was Babylon by Bus, the 1978 live double album that includes "Punky Reggae Party" (a song that establishes the connection between Punk and Rastafari):

Today the recordings of Bob Marley & the Wailers (Peter Tosh's solo work as well) remain a strong filial bond with my father; any newly released live recording that I come across I promptly burn a copy and mail it off to him.

We must not underestimate the Rasta role in the demise of the Hippies as a cultural vanguard.

Next week, the weapon that gave the Punks full-spectrum dominance -- 2 Tone ska.