The chorus of Steel Pulse's song “Stepping Out” contains some of the most brilliant and evocative lyrics in reggae music.
This lyric turns on the traditional relationship between genie and master. In the song, it is the genie who commands the master to dance. Images of the Genie and the Dancing Master drip into lyrical psychedelia matched to reggae beats.
Steel Pulse will perform at Belly Up on Friday. Getting all the band members on stage belly up is like putting a genie in a bottle, but where there's fear there's a way and the band always commands the audience to come forward and dance. Dew.
If you like reggae music and haven't seen Steel Pulse yet, this is your chance. In the reggae hall of fame, Steel Pulse is considered one of the greatest bands of all time, along with Bob Marley and the Wailers, Peter Tosh, Toots Hibbert, Burning Spear, and Jimmy Cliff. True Democracy is considered one of the best reggae albums.
Steel Pulse hails from Birmingham, England, specifically the ghetto known as Handsworth. The band was formed at Handsworth Boys School. Founding members included David Hynes (lead vocals, principal songwriter, guitar), Basil Gabbidon (lead guitar, vocals), and Ronnie “Stepper” McQueen (bass). Three of my classmates were from West Indian immigrant families.
Marley has been a source of inspiration for Steel Pulse from the beginning. Hines and Gabbidon credit Marley's “Catch a Fire” (1974) with being the catalyst for forming the band.
McQueen suggested a name inspired by racehorses. The original lineup included Steve “Grizzly” Nisbett (drums), Selwyn “Bumbo” Brown (keyboardist, vocalist), Alfonso “Fonso” Martin (percussionist, vocalist), and Michael Riley (vocals). ) were also included.
Steel Pulse's music was politically charged from the beginning, directly targeting the racism that was prevalent in Britain in the 1970s at a time of heightened social and racial tensions. Initially, the band had difficulty finding gigs as the Rastafarian lifestyle was considered subversive.
Steel Pulse found allies in Britain's booming punk scene in the '70s. The band served as the opening act for punk and new wave bands such as The Clash, The Stranglers, Generation X, The Police, and XTC.
Hines wrote nearly all of Steel Pulse's lyrics. His four biggest influences as a songwriter are Marley, Gil Scott-Heron, Sting, and Bob Dylan.
“I never thought political music would come out of America,” Hines said in an interview with Seattle's KEXP. “I thought it was all about, 'Let's shake our butts, move our bodies, and make love.'” But then I heard Dylan's words and my perception changed, and I learned a lot from his writing. I learned. ”
Steel Pulse conveyed social commentary with satirical humour, wearing costumes that mocked traditional British archetypes. The band released two singles on a small independent label: “Kibdu, Manzetta, Abuku'' and “Meow Love.''
Chris Blackwell, owner of Island Records, the label that released Marley's albums, discovered Steel Pulse after seeing them open for Burning Spear and signed them to a record deal. . The first release from Island was the album Handsworth Revolution. The title track is an iconic reggae masterpiece with a sexy beat and female backing singers, appealing for “equality and justice for all humankind.”
The album's song “Ku Klux Klan” is about the evils of racism. Hines grew up fascinated by the violence happening in the United States.
“As a child, one of the first things that shocked me was the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Bobby Kennedy,” Hines said in 2014. He spoke in an interview with the magazine “The World.'' “The only thing that was instilled in my head was, 'America, this is a country that kills people.' That was in my head from an early age, until I was about 14 years old. , the community I was a part of was very in tune with the political events going on in the world regarding black people.
“Then I read about the Ku Klux Klan. They had a leader named David Duke, who influenced the leaders of the National Front, a racist political party, and who lived in Britain. I was supposed to come to the UK to help them figure out how to manage and contain the black people in the country. So I created that particular song based on the image of everything that was going on. I was always in tune with the history of the KKK, watching movies of them running around in white capes and stuff.”
“Ku Klux Klan” quickly gained attention as a British reggae classic, ranking No. 460 on Rolling Stone's 2020 “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
Steel Pulse parted ways with Island after two records, as Blackwell felt that political songs about Britain would not resonate with American audiences.
But Blackwell was wrong. The band's popularity skyrocketed during his 1980s. Their big break came in May 1981 when Steel Pulse's concert on the night of Bob Marley's funeral was broadcast around the world. Steel Pulse appeared on Reggae Sunsplash later that year and released two career-best albums, True Democracy (1982) and Earth Crisis (1984). Babylon the Bandit (1985) won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album, making Steel Pulse the first non-Jamaican band to win the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album. By the late 1980s, Marley and Peter Tosh had both passed away, and Steel Pulse was one of the biggest reggae bands in the world.
Steel Pulse have released only seven records in the nearly 40 years since leaving Island Records, focusing instead on touring. His latest album, Mass Manipulation (2019), finds Steel Pulse still fighting racial oppression and proclaiming that black lives matter over a reggae beat. They also target human trafficking.
Despite the political undertones of Steel Pulse's music, their concerts are fun gatherings. There may be dark forces tearing the world apart, but music brings people together, and Steel Pulse celebrates the light that transcends darkness.
On the eve of Bob Marley's death anniversary in 1981, the Belly Up crowd celebrates reggae with a legendary band heavily influenced by Marley.
“When Steel Pulse opened for Bob in Europe in 1978, the band changed forever,” Hines said in a recent interview with I Never Knew TV. “We have seen his dedication, his band cohesiveness, his professionalism, how he treats his audience and how he never takes them for granted. If it wasn't for Bob Marley, Steel Pulse wouldn't be the band it is today.''
For more information, visit bellyupaspen.com.