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Example research essay topic: Catch A Fire Bob Marley - 2,039 words

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... contract with CBS which was also, of course, Nash's company. By the spring of 1972 the entire Wailers were in London, ostensibly promoting their CBS single "Reggae on Broadway." Instead they found themselves stranded in Britain. As a last throw of the dice Bob Marley walked into the Basing Street Studios of Island Records and asked to see its founder Chris Blackwell. The company, of course, had been one of the prime movers behind the rise of Jamaican music in Britain; indeed Blackwell had launched Island in Jamaica during the late fifties. By 1962, however, Blackwell had realized that, by re-locating Island to London, he could represent all his Jamaican rivals in Britain.

The company was re-born in May, 1962, selling initially to Britain's Jamaican population centered mostly in London and Birmingham. The hot ska rhythm, however, quickly became established as a burgeoning dance floor beat with the then growing Mod culture and, in 1964, Blackwell produced a worldwide smash with 'My Boy Lollipop', a pop / ska tune by the young Jamaican singer Millie. Through the Sixties Island had grown to become a major source of Jamaican music, from ska and rock steady to reggae. The company had also embraced white rock music, with such bands and artists as Traffic, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Cat Stevens, Free and Fairport Convention so, when Bob Marley made his first moves with Island in 1971, he was connecting with the hottest independent in the world at that time. Working with Chris Blackwell and Island Records (434 K AIFF FILE) Blackwell knew of Marley's Jamaican reputation.

The group was offered a deal unique in Jamaican terms. The Wailers were advanced 4000 to make an album and, for the first time, a reggae band had access to the best recording facilities and were treated in much the same way as, say, their rock group contemporaries. Before this deal, it was considered that reggae sold only on singles and cheap compilation albums. The Wailers' first album Catch A Fire broke all the rules: it was beautifully packaged and heavily promoted. It was the start of a long climb to international fame and recognition.

Years later the acclaimed reggae dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, commenting on Catch A Fire, wrote: "A whole new style of Jamaican music has come into being. It has a different character, a different sound... what I can only describe as International Reggae. It incorporates elements from popular music internationally: rock and soul, blues and funk. These elements facilitated a breakthrough on the international market. " Although Catch A Fire was not an immediate hit, it made a considerable impact on the media. Marley's hard dance rhythms, allied to his militant lyrical stance, came in complete contrast to the excesses of mainstream rock.

Island also decided The Wailers should tour both Britain and America; again a complete novelty for a reggae band. Marley and the band came to London in April 1973, embarking on a club tour which hardened The Wailers as a live group. After three months, however, the band returned to Jamaica and Bunny, disenchanted by life on the road, refused to play the American tour. His place was taken by Joe Higgs, The Wailers' original singing teacher. The American tour drew packed houses and even included a weekend engagement playing support to the young Bruce Springsteen. Such was the demand that an autumn tour was also arranged with seventeen dates as support to Sly & The Family Stone, then the number one band in black American music.

Four shows into the tour, however, The Wailers were taken off the bill. It seems they had been too good; support bands should not detract from the main attraction. The Wailers nevertheless made their way to San Francisco where they broadcast a live concert for the pioneering rock radio station, KSAN. The bulk of that session was finally made available in February 1991, when Island released the commemorative album, Talkin' Blues. In 1973 The Wailers also released their second Island album, Burnin, an LP that included new versions of some of the band's older songs: 'Duppy Conqueror', for instance, "Small Axe" and "Put It On" - together with such tracks as 'Get Up Stand Up' and "I Shot The Sheriff." The latter, of course, was a massive worldwide hit for Eric Clapton the following year, even reaching number one in the U. S.

singles' chart. In 1974 Marley spent much time of his time in the studio working on the sessions that eventually provided Natty Dread, an album that included such fiercely committed songs as 'Talkin' Blues', "No Woman No Cry", "So Jah Seh, "Revolution", "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry) " and "Rebel Music (3 o'clock Roadblock) ." By the start of the next year, however, Bunny and Peter had quit the group; they were later to embark on solo careers (as Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh) while the band was re-named Bob Marley & The Wailers. Talkin' Blues No Woman No Cry Revolution Them Belly Full Rebel Music Natty Dread was released in February 1975 and, by the summer, the band was on the road again. Bunny and Peter's missing harmonies were replaced by the I-Threes, the female trio comprising Bob's wife Rita together with Marcia Griffiths and Judy Matt. Among the concerts were two shows at the Lyceum Ballroom in London which, even now, are remembered as highlights of the decade. The Lyceum Shows (170 K AIFF FILE) The shows were recorded and the subsequent live album, together with the single "No Woman No Cry", both made the charts.

Bob Marley & The Wailers were taking reggae into the mainstream. By November, when The Wailers returned to Jamaica to play a benefit concert with Stevie Wonder, they were obviously the country's greatest superstars. Rasta man Vibration, the follow-up album in 1976, cracked the American charts. It was, for many, the clearest exposition yet of Marley's music and beliefs, including such tracks as "Crazy Baldhead", "Johnny Was", "Who the Cap Fit" and, perhaps most significantly of all, "War", the lyrics of which were taken from a speech by Emperor Haile Selassie. Crazy Baldhead War Its international success cemented Marley's growing political importance in Jamaica, where his firm Rastafarian stance had found a strong resonance with the ghetto youth. By way of thanking the people of Jamaica, Marley decided on a free concert, to be held at Kingston's National Heroes Park on December 5, 1976.

The idea was to emphasise the need for peace in the slums of the city, where warring factions had brought turmoil and murder. Just after the concert was announced, the government called an election for December 20. The campaign was a signal for renewed ghetto war and, on the eve of the concert, gunmen broke into Marley's house and shot him. In the confusion the would-be assassins only wounded Marley, who was hastily taken to a safe haven in the hills surrounding Kingston.

For a day he deliberated playing the concert and then, on December 5, he came on stage and played a brief set in defiance of the gunmen. Al's theory of the shooting (850 K AIFF FILE) It was to be Marley's last appearance in Jamaica for nearly eighteen months. Immediately after the show he left the country and, during early 1977, lived in London where he recorded his next album, Exodus. Exodus Jammin Released in the summer of that year, Exodus properly established the band's international status. The album remained on the UK charts for 56 straight weeks, and its three singles - "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain" and "Jammin" - were all massive sellers. The band also played a week of concerts at London's Rainbow Theatre; their last dates in the city during the seventies.

Making "Exodus" and "Kaya" (350 K AIFF FILE) In 1978 the band capitalised on their chart success with Kaya, an album which hit number four in the UK the week after release. That album saw Marley in a different mood; a collection of love songs and, of course, homages to the power of ganja. The album also provided two chart singles, "Satisfy My Soul" and the beautiful "Is This Love." There were three more events in 1978, all of which were of extraordinary significance to Marley. In April he returned to Jamaica to play the One Love Peace Concert in front of the Prime Minister Michael Manley and the Leader of the Opposition Edward Sea. He was then invited to the United Nations in New York to receive the organisation's Medal of Peace. At the end of the year Bob also visited Africa for the first time, going initially to Kenya and then on to Ethiopia, spiritual home of Rastafari.

The band had earlier toured Europe and America, a series of shows that provided a second live album, Babylon By Bus. The Wailers also broke new ground by playing in Australia, Japan and New Zealand: truly international style reggae. Survival, Bob Marley's ninth album for Island Records, was released in the summer of 1979. It included "Zimbabwe", a stirring anthem for the soon-to-be liberated Rhodesia, together with "So Much Trouble In The World", "Ambush In The Night" and "Africa Unite"; as the sleeve design, comprising the flags of the independent nations, indicated, Survival was an album of pan-African solidarity. Exodus Jammin At the start of the following year - a new decade - Bob Marley & The Wailers flew to Gabon where they were to make their African debut. It was not an auspicious occasion, however, when the band discovered they were playing in front of the country's young elite.

The group, nevertheless, was to make a quick return to Africa, this time at the official invitation to the government of liberated Zimbabwe to play at the country's Independence Ceremony in April, 1980. It was the greatest honour ever afforded the band, and one which underlined the Wailer's importance in the Third World. The band's next album, Uprising, was released in May 1980. It was an instant hit, with the single, "Could You Be Loved" a massive worldwide seller. Uprising also featured "Coming In From the Cold", "Work" and the extraordinary closing track, "Redemption Song." Could You Be Loved Redemption Song The Wailers embarked on a major European tour, breaking festival records throughout the continent. The schedule included a 100, 000 -capacity crowd in Milan, the biggest show in the band's history.

Bob Marley & The Wailers, quite simply, were the most important band on the road that year and the new Uprising album hit every chart in Europe. It was a period of maximum optimism and plans were being made for an American tour, in company with Stevie Wonder, that winter. At the end of the European tour Marley and the band went to America. Bob played two shows at Madison Square Garden but, immediately afterwards, was taken seriously ill. The last show and Bob's passing (1224 K AIFF FILE) Three years earlier, in London, Bob hurt a toe while playing football.

The wound had become cancerous and was belatedly treated in Miami, yet it continued to fester. By 1980 the cancer, in its most virulent form, had begun to spread through Marley's body. He fought the disease for eight months, taking treatment at the clinic of Dr. Joseph Issels in Bavaria. Issels' treatment was controversial and non-toxic and, for a time anyway, Bob's condition seemed to stabilise. Eventually, however, the battle proved too much.

At the start of May Bob Marley left Germany for his Jamaican home, a journey he did not complete. He died in a Miami hospital on Monday May 11, 1981. The previous month, Marley had been awarded Jamaica's Order Of Merit, the nation's third highest honor, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the country's culture. On Thursday May 21, 1981, the Hon. Robert Nesta Marley O. M.

was given an official funeral by the people of Jamaica. Following the service - attended by both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition - Marley's body was taken to his birthplace at Nine Mile, on the north of the island, where it now rests in a mausoleum. Bob Marley was 36 -years-old. His legend, however, has conquered the years.


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Research essay sample on Catch A Fire Bob Marley

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