Rocksteady

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For other uses, see Rocksteady (disambiguation).

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Rocksteady is a music genre that was most popular in Jamaica between 1966 and 1968^{[citation needed]}.

The term comes from a dance style that was mentioned in the Alton Ellis song Rock Steady. The rocksteady dance was more relaxed than the earlier, more frantic skanking dance style. A successor to ska, and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was performed by Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, The Kingstonians, Toots & the Maytals and The Paragons.

Rocksteady differs from ska in that it has a more relaxed tempo, a diminished use of Brass instruments, and a changed role for the bass guitar. With ska, the bass tends to play quarter notes in an even walking style, but with rocksteady, the bass part is more broken-up and syncopated, using aggressive, repetitive lines which were often doubled by a guitar.

[edit] History

Rocksteady arose at a time when young people from the Jamaican countryside were flooding into the urban ghettos of Kingston — in neighborhoods such as Riverton City, Greenwich Town and Trenchtown. Though much of the country was optimistic in the immediate post-independence climate, these poverty-stricken youths did not share this sentiment. Many of them became delinquents who exuded a certain coolness and style. These unruly youths became known as rude boys.

The rude boy phenomenon had existed in the ska period, but was expressed more obviously during the rocksteady era in songs such as Rude Boy Gone A Jail by the Clarendonians; No Good Rudie by Justin Hinds & the Dominoes; and Don't Be A Rude Boy by The Rulers. Though Alton Ellis is sometimes said to be the father of rocksteady for his hit Girl I've Got a Date, other candidates for the first rocksteady single include Take It Easy by Hopeton Lewis, Tougher Than Tough by Derrick Morgan and Hold Them by Roy Shirley.

The record producer Duke Reid released Alton Ellis' Girl I've Got a Date on his Treasure Isle label, as well as recordings by The Techniques, The Silvertones, The Jamaicans and The Paragons. Reid's work with these groups helped establish the vocal sound of rocksteady. Notable solo artists include Delroy Wilson, Bob Andy, Ken Boothe and Phyllis Dillon (known as the Queen of Rocksteady).

Rocksteady lyrics mainly dealt with love or rude boys — or were simple dance tunes. Singers sometimes covered hit songs of the United States. Musicians who were crucial in creating the music included guitarist Lynn Taitt, keyboard player Jackie Mittoo, drummer Winston Grennan, bassist Jackie Jackson and saxophonist Tommy McCook. As a musical style, rocksteady was shortlived, and existed only for about two years. For this reason original recordings in this genre are often harder to find that those from the ska and reggae era. In contrast to rocksteady, the ska trend lasted several years while classic reggae lasted for over a decade.

Several factors contributed to the evolution of rocksteady into reggae in the late 1960s. The emigration to Canada of key musical arrangers Jackie Mittoo and Lynn Taitt — and the modernization of Jamaican studio technology — had a marked effect on the sound and style of the recordings. Rocksteady music was often recorded and mastered very poorly but with the advent state-of-the-art recording gear in newer studios such as Harry J's and Channel One in the early 70s, reggae music was able to sonically compete with American and British popular recordings. Musically, bass patterns became more complex and increasingly dominated the arrangements and the piano gave way to the electric organ in the mix. Other developments included horns fading farther into the background; a scratchier, more percussive rhythm guitar; the addition of African-style hand drumming, and a more precise and intricate drumming style. The sound of the records also became more sparse as the dub mix or B-side "version" became popular in Jamaican dancehalls.

By the early 1970s, as the Rastafarian movement gained in popularity, many songs became focused less on romance and more on black consciousness, politics and protest. The release of the film "The Harder They Come" and the rise of Jamaican superstar Bob Marley brought reggae music to an international level that rocksteady had never been able to reach. Although rocksteady was a short-lived phase of Jamaican popular music, it was hugely influential to the reggae and dancehall styles that followed. Many bass lines originally created for rocksteady songs continue to be used in contemporary Jamaican music.

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