In 2007 the great reggae blog DanceCrasher embarked on a challenging journey – to count down the 100 greatest rocksteady tunes. Now – six years later – the list is finally finished and the songs selected are excellent in every single way.
Sure, it’s of course possible to debate – probably until infinity – if tune X should be there and why tune Y wasn’t included. People have different taste. And that’s a good thing.
My top 100 rocksteady list would probably have looked a bit different, partly due to musical preferences, partly due to the simple fact that some of the tunes on DanceCrasher’s list I hadn’t heard before.
I suggest you head over to DanceCrasher and browse through the list. Each song comes with a comment and a short history lesson.
If you’re curious on the sounds you can check this Spotify playlist I’ve made with a majority of the tracks. Far from every cut is available on Spotify, but classics such as The Paragons’ The Tide is High, The Uniques’ My Conversation and Val Bennett’s The Russians Are Coming (aka Take 5) are included along with lesser known gems, like Hemsley Morris’ Little Things (recently versioned by Alpheus) and The Tartans’ What Can I Say.
Reggaemani 