Narrator/Storyteller (likely Jake Brennan) (2:13)
The Truth About Bob Marley is pretty nuts. The peace and love Rastafarian reggae superstar was also a violent revision from the Trench Town ghetto who would not be denied justice or his due. He once hung his manager out of a hotel window to renegotiate a contract. He and his friends were known to strong arm DJs for radio play, and in a rage he jammed a pistol into the side of a colleague's head until he was given what he wanted. If you were the big tree and in his way, he was the small axe sharpened to cut you down. And he sought and possibly attained justice by having a Trenchtown kangaroo court string up his would be assassins from palm trees. Bob Marley believed in justice, but there was a thin line between justice and vengeance. You can hear both themes throughout his music. And Bob Marley made great music. Some of the greatest music ever made. In fact, that music at the top of the show, that wasn't great music. That was a loop from my melotron called rumba guitar low mk2. And I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to Night Fever by the Bee Gees. And why would I play you that specific slice of Harry Medallion Cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the number one song in America on April 22, 1978. And that was the day that Bob Marley, international reggae superstar, the Tough Gong and the Rastafarian man of peace and love, may or may not have brought violent justice down upon his enemies. On this episode, a kangaroo court, Rumba guitars, Harry Medallion Cheese, Bob Marley and Rastafarian vengeance. I'm Jake Brennan and this is disgrace. Before the tiny Ford Capri had even stopped skidding, the four young men from Trenchtown jumped out and onto the unpaved parking lot of the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation. One of them was Bob Marley. And he was pissed. Pissed off that his bandmate Bunny Livingston didn't want a tour. Pissed off that money was tight. Still, in his 20s, he was supporting seven children by four different women. Ja will provide. But within reason, and most important in this moment, Bob was pissed off that his latest single, despite being the number one selling song in all of Jamaica, couldn't get spun on the radio. Trenchtown hoods got a bad rap, but the real gangsters were the suits in the music industry, pulling strings and playing Kingmaker Bob's song Small Axe Killed. And so did Bob's right hand man, the man rushing the radio station with him at the moment, who went by the unambiguous nickname Take Life. He was a brutal presence back in the ghetto. A second killer hurried along Bob's other side. And the last man, the wheelman, a professional footballer named Alan Skill Cole, who when he unfolded his 6 foot 5 inch body out of the front door of the fastback coupe, made it look more like a clown car. But there would be no clowning around on this visit to the radio station. These guys meant business. Skill carried with him a cricket bat. Take Life carried a ratchet knife. And Bob Bob Marley carried with him a lifetime of angst and desperation that only growing up in abject poverty can add to your load. The foursome burst into the studio uninvited and intimidating as all hell. You gon play the new Wailers record on jbc. Bob demanded of the confused British DJ behind the console. Take life. Leaned back against the wall, played it cool, cleaned his fingernails with his knife and sucked on his teeth while the other short, well dressed thug, Frowzer, loosened up his neck muscles to let the DJ know in no uncertain terms that he was ready for combat. Skill just smacked his open palm with the cricket bat slowly and stared with menace. And then he said, listen here. If we don't hear small acts on JBC before an hour pass, we smash your windscreen. Then if another hour pass and we don't hear small acts, we smash your face. Skill had recently begun helping the Whalers out with what he called, quote unquote, management. His Jamaican patois was a little easier for the cowering DJ to understand than the words of Marley, who now fixed the DJ with an intense gaze, a look that those who knew him called Screw Face. The DJ had heard tale of Marley and his muscle visiting the island's only other major station, Radio Jamaica, earlier in the week. The damage amounted to one broken nose, four slashed tires and a sudden increase in airplay for Bob Marley. The only thing the DJ was able to verify was that he had indeed heard small acts on Radio Jamaica on his drive to work that morning. And now here was Bob Screw Face Marley, the tough gong himself, armed with a couple of thugs and the country's best footballer staring him in the face. He had only one choice. And so Bob Marley's top selling Jamaican smash, Small Axe, cut through the island's airwaves. And all around his hometown, people were finally able to hear Bob Marley on their radios. His message was revolution. His message was love. His message was peace. And so what if the message needed a little strong arm to get across? Jamaican radio in the 1970s was difficult for Rastas to crack. There were only two radio stations on the island. One played disco and the other was busy trying to be the BBC. And they both ignored the musical revolution, growing like weeds right outside their studio doors. Reggae was alive throughout the streets of Jamaica, a true music of the people. But in Jamaica, just like in America, it was pay to play. If you wanted a record played on the radio, well, you better show the program manager some love and come calling with cash or coke or women or all three. But bribes weren't enough. The proletariat power of reggae, even in those early days, spooked radio programmers. And despite whatever enticements were brought their way. DJs were still reluctant to accept them from the dreadlocked Rastas. But take life, Frauser and skill brought a different set of skills to the proverbial negotiating table. And things for the Wailers and Bob Marley slowly started to change. That the radio station was ignoring the needs of the masses was symptomatic of a larger political problem in Jamaica. The island achieved independence about a decade before, in 1962. But Jamaica was still unapologetically neocolonial, run by a lazy white middle class minority who had their own interests at heart and had no interest in losing their power to the masses. In the shantytowns, the gulf between the rich and the poor seemed to widen daily, even under the socialist rule of Prime Minister Michael Manley and his People's National Party. Life in Jamaica was rough, so its citizens looked to their government for change. And everyone, it seemed, took an interest in politics, including, it was rumored, the American government, who had a vested interest in ousting the sitting prime minister in favor of their own puppet. So mysterious shipments of guns started floating up on Jamaican shores that were handed out in the ghetto. CIA agents began training rude boys on how to use their new M16s. Rumors started circulating that Prime Minister Michael Manley was a communist puppet for Cuba's Fidel Castro. And as such, distrust was sown and the tiny country was further destabilized. Meanwhile, as Bob Marley's star rose and as his name began to ring out throughout the island, he formed an alliance with Michael Manley, the sitting prime minister, and his People's National Party, also known as the PNP. In the early 70s, the Wailers headlined a 1971 tour called the PNP Musical Bandwagon. And whenever asked in interviews which of the two parties he preferred, Bob would always stump for the People's National Party. In nearly all these interviews, and Bob Marley did a lot of interviews, he would also extol the virtues of ganja, encourage all blacks to repatriate to Africa, and preach that mighty God was a living man. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie Ay AKA Jah Rastafari I and I will survive. Bob was far out, unconventional. Even so, with his new clout, his endorsement of Michael Manley carried weight. Bob was fast becoming an international superstar, and with or without Jamaican radio, Jamaicans were listening to him and apt to follow his lead politically as well as his message of revolution and justice. For years, Marley had been yearning to expand his message beyond the island. He struck out on his own and the Wailers became Bob Marley and the Wailers after founding members Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston quit. It was also time for Marley to get a new manager. Although Skill Cole had been helpful or at least forceful in Marley's development, and he was a hell of a lot of fun to kick the ball around with, Skill was returning to the world of professional soccer. So in 1973, when the Whalers shared a bill with Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley met Don Taylor, the concert's organizer, and a business relationship was struck. Taylor had strong US music industry connections and a shrewd business acumen. This, coupled with Marley's natural and immense appeal, helped Bob make influential friends from other parts of the world. By the mid-70s, most major rock acts had begun integrating reggae into their sound. And it was entirely because of Bob Marley. The rolling stones, Paul McCartney and Paul Simon. Some did it more convincingly than others. Eric Clapton covered I Shot the Sheriff. And Clapton was God. And so do white kids. That meant God was covering Bob Marley, a ghetto kid from a tiny island a large portion of the world had barely heard of. Stevie Wonder even wrote a song about Bob Marley. And after the Wailer shared a bill with Stevie at a benefit concert in 1975, Bob decided he wanted to give something back to the Jamaican people, respect his roots and hold a free concert. The concert was to be an apolitical event called the Smile Jamaica Concert. But nothing in Jamaica in 1976 was apolitical. Bob's intention was to bring people together to ease social tensions on the eve of a divisive election. Prime Minister Michael Manley wanted the concert to be held on the Prime Minister's lawn. Bob felt like he was being played by Manley's political machine, being boxed into a position where he would be seen as being too far out on his front foot as a political shill. So Bob declined. Fuck that. Bob Marley wasn't going to go calling on the prime minister. The Prime Minister could come calling on Bob Marley. The concert, it was decided, would be held at the National Heroes Park. But then, shortly after the date of the concert was announced, Manley's incumbent political party pulled a fast one and moved the election up two weeks, effectively making the event seem like a rally for Michael Manley himself. When, in effect, that was never to be the case. It did indeed now look like Bob was shilling for Manley to win the election. Bob Marley was pissed. But perhaps more important, the heavily armed, CIA backed Conservative Labor Party back in the ghetto was even more pissed. This election was war. Every battle mattered. And if Bob Marley, the country's biggest star, was openly supporting their sworn enemy, Prime Minister Manley, then this was not to be tolerated. Marley fully backing Manley, even by accident or by manipulation, was a bridge too far. A bridge worth blowing up, a bridge worth dying on. If Bob Marley was going to help win the re election for the Prime Minister, then Bob Marley had to be stopped by any means necessary. Foreign.