Most music historians point to 1968 as the year reggae was definitively born, marked by songs like Desmond Dekker's 'The Israelites' and the first use of the word 'reggae' by Toots and the Maytals.
Where this was said
At 4:31 · chapter starts 1:21
The episode opens with Chuck and Josh in characteristically warm form, Chuck revealing that he clapped on beat 4 rather than beat 3 before recording — deliberately, 'just to make it super reggae.' Josh explains that this is called 'skenging,' a term with roots in Kingston slang for 'gun.' From there, Josh makes a definitive geographical claim: unlike jazz or blues, which have contested multi-regional origins, reggae came from exactly one place — Kingston, Jamaica — with no ambiguity whatsoever. [1] — Josh "Where'd jazz come from? Where'd blues come from? Well, it came from here and here. No, reggae 100% came from Kingston, Jamaica." 02:30 The hosts establish the timeline early: reggae is, on the grand scale of music history, a remarkably young form, with 1968 widely cited as its birth year.
The Frozen soundtrack was the best-selling album of 2014, selling 10 million copies including streaming equivalents — beating Taylor Swift's 1989.
Mento, the earliest predecessor to reggae from the 1940s–50s, blended African work songs with European musical influences and featured instruments like banjo, guitar, and the rumba box.
Transistor radios allowed Jamaicans to tune into Miami R&B stations for the first time in the 1950s–60s, directly inspiring ska and setting the stage for reggae.
Rocksteady, the slower, vocal-heavy predecessor to reggae, was popular for just about two years but produced major hits including the original 'Tide Is High' and 'Ain't No Sunshine.'
Joe Higgs' 1960 debut hit 'Manny-O' with Higgs and Wilson was one of the first records ever pressed and sold in Jamaica, selling 50,000 copies — a remarkable figure for the era.
Two days after being shot in the chest and shoulder at his home in 1976, Bob Marley still performed the Smile Jamaica anti-violence concert, showing extraordinary commitment to peace.
Catch a Fire (1972) is considered the Wailers' first full-blown reggae album, despite the group having released approximately four albums prior that were more R&B in style.
DJ Kool Herc, widely credited as a founding father of hip-hop, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and brought Jamaican toasting traditions with him when he moved to the Bronx at age 12.
Reggae archivist Roger Steffens compared Bob Marley to Martin Luther King Jr. and Peter Tosh to Malcolm X, capturing their contrasting but complementary political approaches within the Wailers.
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