In this 1981 interview with Jools Holland, Stewart Copeland gives us a quick history lesson about the backbeat of drums in popular music, starting with early jazz, to Motown to funk.
Taking things a step further, Stewart demonstrates how reggae music uses the backbeat and completely flips it "upside down", placing it on beat 3 with the kick drum.
Not only is this a great primer for the basis of reggae drumming, it also gives an inside look into how Stewart's own "style" has been heavily influenced by the music of the West Indies and South America.
172 Comments
couldn’t find someone who plays reggae to explain a one-drop?
Most music discussions today still overlook the impact that Native American music had/has on the development of the American sound. I encourage everyone to see “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World” and start to include the fact that American Indian music (with the others) made the American musical aesthetic, including the “back beat”.