What does PA think of Bob Marley?

I get really annoyed that he has become a symbol for stoners. People buy merch relating to him just because of the relevance to weed.

Somewhere between Not Bad and Pretty Good. It used to really annoy me but I now see it as good music, ganja or no.

Not my thing, but far from bad. This should be a multiple voting poll with some more options actually.

As far as reggae goes I prefer others but I like his music. The fact you see his image everywhere probably has something to do with some people thinking that every reggae song ever was by Bob...even the ones after he died! There are literally people out there who think "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and the theme to Cops("Bad Boys") are Bob Marley songs.

Btw Andrew?
You should try Manu Chao too. Not exactly reggae but I still feel he's the natural heirtaker to Marley, even if that sounds oddly absurd. There are similarities between the two though, both musically and politically. Try on 'Esperanza' for size. I'm not sure how you feel about foreign vocals, but he is a very easy listen. Trust me. He fluctuates between French, Spanish and English but always manages to come off melodic. He made a dvd of him and his big band Radio Bemba, where he played in various European countries, and then flew over the Atlantic to Mexico and played for the Indians and Indigenous freedom fighters. The release also features an absolutely mindblowing gig in Marseille, where people go completely nuts. A lot of jumping, and a lot of Latin punk vibe.

Last option. Seems like a great character but his songs all sound the same to me and they're not a sound that I enjoy.

Guldbamsen wrote: Btw Andrew? You should try Manu Chao too...

Sounds more than interesting! I'll keep him in mind

Pretty good background music for hanging out

I do like him, but haven't listened to his albums in years. Same with Peter Tosh, I've got several of his and really dug them ages ago. I certainly wouldn't get rid of them, but I'm just focused on other things. I've got many of the official albums, and I don't know about other parts of thw world, but back about 15 years ago in Australia there were all sorts of Marley bootlegs of live recordings you could buy in just about any shop for a couple of dollars, and at the time I grabbed a ton of them and still treasure them.

But I totally agree with Dave and Horizons, he's become an icon for a bunch of f*ckwit stoner kids who could probably barely name a single song.

It also bugs me that a ton of other Reggae artsts are completely ignored because of how dominating the status of Marley is. I remember years ago talking to a small music store owner that prided himself on stocking lots of cool and modern reggae, and whenever anyone came in asking about wanting to buy `really good reggae', they were only ever interested in Bob!

I will add...his son Ziggy with the Melody Makers actually put out several good albums, and their last one from 1999 `Spirit of Music' is one of my favourite albums, I absolutely treasure it, and it's hardly cliched reggae as well.