I Don't Like Reggae, I Love It: The History of "Peaches" by The Stranglers

In this  episode of I Don’t Like Reggae, I Love It, a special audio series on the historical origins and impact of reggae on popular music, I explore the convergence of punk and reggae music in the late 70s in England and how that extraordinary coming together of Black and white street  culture helped to change the sound of popular music as punks looked to apply the techniques of reggae music to rock and roll.While The Stranglers may not immediately come to mind as a punky reggae band, the fact is that they created their own unique take on reggae into one of their earliest and most popular songs “Peaches" which reached #8 on the UK charts in 1977.  Like other 70s era punk bands, they were part of a movement that brought punk and reggae bands together and they shared stages with British reggae and ska acts, most notably Steel Pulse. Punky reggae, or Jah Punk – a term coined by the writer and journalist Vivien Goldman in a story she wrote for Sounds Magazine in 1977 – is  the antithesis of cod reggae. This was best epitomized by Tony James of Generation X who told Goldman, “I really want to apply reggae techniques to rock and roll. I don’t want to be a white guy playing reggae” If you’ve listened and received some value from this episode, then please help support the podcast for as little as $3 per month on Patreon. Supporters get access to exclusive content like special episodes of this series and advanced promo chapters from my forthcoming book Ska Boom: An American Ska & Reggae Oral History. Just go to patreon.com/skaboompodcast for more information or click this link: https://patreon.com/skaboompodcast?utm_medium=social...Please note: The music clips included in this podcast fall under the “Fair Use Doctrine” as defined by Section 107 of the Copyright Act. The law allows for use of music clips for purposes of criticism, comment, and news reporting.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices