Using coffee machine whilst listening to Reggae
Reggae is a genre of music which has had a huge influence on global culture and other musical styles. It was first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s, and is still alive and kicking today. The term reggae is often used to describe all Jamaican music, however, it is more accurate as a description of a particular style from the country. Reggae is developed around an off-beat rhythm known as the skank, with accents on the first and third beats in a bar. Most reggae songs have vocals, which can be about practically anything, although are often concerned with the issues surrounding love and politics. Reggae is an accessible music style that goes as well with alcohol or a coffee machine as it does with the more well known mood altering substance it is often associated with.
While there were the precursor styles of rocksteady and ska in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the first proper reggae tune came out in 1968. Reggae was in many ways a slower form of ska music, which later developed into a distinctive style of its own. Reggae music has the emphasis on a strong bass line, guitar chords on beats two and four, and the percussion emphasis on the third beat of the bar. Bob Marley and the Wailers are perhaps the most well known reggae act, and they had songs from all three of the ska, rocksteady, and reggae periods of Jamaican music. Reggae soon spread to other parts of the world, influencing rock, punk and pop styles during the 70s and 80s, and bands like UB40 and The Police. Other developments in its history saw the birth of the instrumental and studio enhanced style of dub music, a precursor to a number of modern western electronic dance styles.
Reggae has become a global phenomenon, and today you are as likely to see a teenager listening to reggae on an iPod while shopping as you are to see a Rastafarian nodding his head to a reggae beat. Many people from all walks of life listen to reggae music, which can even be found on commercial radio stations and television programs. Many people enjoy a coffee while they are out and about shopping, to give them the energy they need to go the extra mile. It is not unusual to hear reggae at a cafe while enjoying an espresso machine coffee, or a reggae influenced tune at a night club when dancing with friends. Reggae music has become a part of the global soundtrack that envelopes all of our lives.