MY NAME’S DUBVERSION AND I DON’T LIKE BOB MARLEY.

Not at all unusual, really. Partly as a reaction to over-exposure, and partly because of the content. It does get a bit tiring having conversations with people about Bob Marley when they find out your are interested in reggae, but that shouldn’t overshadow the massive amount of impact the man has had… on Rock Music.

I think it was the much-criticised Lloyd Bradley who said that Bob Marley existed outside of Jamaica in virtually every way after he signed to Island – making LPs rather than pre 7s and dealing with weighty metaphysics rather than the day to day oppression of his contemporaries.

None of this should overshadow the sublime nature of the tunes – that bit of footage of Bob and the Wailers doing “Stir it Up” on the Whistle Test is mandatory viewing and never fails to send shivers up my spine.

Many “proper” reggae heads are ok with Marley (tho making sure you namedrop the early stuff and obscure dubs is a way out of the populist maze) and many are not.

Plus, all the artists “from yard” give Marley much love – their homie who made it – the most famous jamaican in the world.

If people want to buy Marley flags, t-shirts, trainers, bookmarks, ash trays, rizlas or whatever, then that shouldn’t necessarily detract from the music. (But realistically, it does).

Anyway, Comrade ‘Version also makes a point of Not Liking the Beatles, so we are certainly in the realms of the iconoclastic.