Simon Jones, Black culture, White Youth: the Reggae Tradition from JA to UK

This selection revisits the issue of reggae’s impact on punk rock in 1970s British youth culture. It argues not only that some punks and Rastas saw the potential for solidarity between the two musics, but also that reggae as a Black art form also structured what punk would become. The author argues that it was precisely punks' involvement with reggae, and its appropriation of some of reggae’s tropes that gave rise to the movement's DIY approach to music making, its directness of expression and its attempts to close the gaps between artists and audience.