Top 10 Hits: 1988-1990

[Historian]

Not Necessarily Seniors

Worst from the 70s? Some big tunes on that list, and this forum full a seniors to rahtid.

Some of us are less old than you realize, boss!! Speaking for myself, you need to understand that I’m a trained musician, and so my perspective will inevitably focus on the primary elements of music: melody, harmony and rhythm (as opposed to primarily rhythm, which is the focus of today’s dancehall and hip hop producers).

[Mosiah]

I have always wanted to know the difference between them - melody, harmony and rhythm . Can you break it down for the layman?

If you can't dumb it down enuff for me, perhaps I can understand it from a musical standpoint. Afterall, my piano teacher, the great Mrs Strudwick, did say I have wonderful fingers for the piano!

[wbvs]

You do realise that in the 70s all that chekke-chekke reggae nonsense was not considered decent music right?

And that in the 1900s Jazz and its forerunner, Ragtime was considered low class music, only fit to be played in bars and whore houses?

look what jazz ,ragg time and bbop is today ,Jazz is the only music the americans have claim to . All other music come from somewhere else ,
back to JA , these dancehall music will be considered classic in years
to come .

[wbvs]

Top 10 Records of the Year
1988 - 1990
(Based on the JBC charts)

Last night I read with interest the lively exchanges here on several R&B groups of the 1960s and 1970s, including the Temptations, the Four Tops, the Stylistics, and the Commodores. That was a nice discussion, and it brought back pleasant memories for me. I took that lively thread, and still do this morning, as a signal that the in-your-face Jamaican political commentary has been given a break long enough for some more local music history. Hopefully, I’m correct .

Today, I’ll look at the period 1988 – 1990. This list, like the other four that I’ve posted, is based on the charts of the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC). My previous posts on this subject have been: “Top 10 Records of the Year: 1985– 1987”; “Top 10 Records of the Year: 1982– 1984”; “Top 6 Records of the Year: 1978 – 1981”; “Top 10 Records of the Year: 1967 – 1974”.

1988
1. “Loneliness Won’t Leave Me Alone”: Sanchez
2. “Juggling”: Thriller U
3. “Ninja Mi Ninja”: Courtney Melody
4. “Kingston 13”: Pinchers
5. “She’s Mine”: Barrington Levy
6. “Protection”: Ninja Man/Courtney Melody
7. “Modern Girl”: Courtney Melody
8. “Old Friend”: Sanchez
9. “Sarah”: Frankie Paul
10. “Cassanova”: Frankie Paul

1989
1. “Come Back To Me”: Tiger and Malvo
2. “Girl You Love Me”: Papa San
3. “Young And She Green”: Thriller U and Johnny P
4. “One Blood”: Junior Reid
5. “Legal Rights”: Papa San and Lady G
6. “Baby Can I Hold You”: Foxy Brown
7. “Super Woman”: Karen White
8. “Who She Love”: Shabba Ranks/Home T/Coco Tea
9. “Eye No See”: General Trees
10. “I Will Survive”: Papa San

1990
1. “Twice My Age”: Shabba Ranks
2. “Workie Workie”: Byron Lee & the Dragonaires
3. “You’ll Never Get To Heaven”: 54-46
4. “Here I Am”: Chevelle Franklin
5. “Careless Whisper”: Thriller U
6. “Been Around The World”: Echo Minott
7. “Carpenter”: John Holt
8. “I Want To Rock”: Frankie Paul
9. “This Is We”: Admiral Bailey and Chaka Demus
10. “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You”: Pliers

historian am looking for a song , its title 'the international ' In Reggae.
The song was the former soviet union national anthem and its done in all
major language of the world . It was done in reggae I think in the 70s but
no one I have talked to seems to remember the singers name . Please do some research on this and give me the singers name and if you can find a
audio or vedeo of this song which is the reggae version ,please post . thanks in advance .

[Mosiah]

if you promise not to sing it, much less dedicate it to any forumite, i'll tell you the name of the song.

[TDowl]

..or was it French anthem?

[wbvs]

if you promise not to sing it, much less dedicate it to any forumite, i'll tell you the name of the song.

Please mo , mi ah beg you , duh give me the name of the song and anything
else about it like when release etc . Thanks in advance .

[wbvs]

..or was it French anthem?

I know the international was written by french men ,
give me the french anthem in reggae also tdowl who did it ?

[TDowl]

Try This - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcH85MVzH_o

[Historian]

Some Corrections

look what jazz ,ragg time and bbop is today ,Jazz is the only music the americans have claim to . All other music come from somewhere else ,
back to JA , these dancehall music will be considered classic in years
to come .

Wbvs, the Americans have more than jazz as “the only music (they) have claim to”! Country music is just as American as jazz, and is probably the single most popular genre in the USA. Also, where do you think the blues and R&B originated? And what about rock ‘n’ roll?

I can assure you that most of “these dancehall music” will NOT “be considered classic in (later) years”! While we can wax eloquent on the classic music of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bob Andy, Delroy Wilson, Dennis Brown, Prince Buster, Marcia Griffiths, Toots & the Maytals, and many, many others, how many dancehall hits do we easily remember today?

[wbvs]

Try This - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcH85MVzH_o

I am enjoying this one very much , but the reggae version of the socialist
international was done in english ,Remember now this is the same song thats
done in all major languages .

[Historian]

Mosiah: My Late Reply

I have always wanted to know the difference between them - melody, harmony and rhythm . Can you break it down for the layman?

If you can't dumb it down enuff for me, perhaps I can understand it from a musical standpoint. Afterall, my piano teacher, the great Mrs Strudwick, did say I have wonderful fingers for the piano!

Mosiah, I read your request yesterday evening, but since I was heading out shortly afterwards I decided to reply this morning instead. Bad decision, as I had not read the old posts today and so completely forgot my decision until a few minutes ago! It certainly was not my intention to ignore your post, as I would never do something like that.

I’ll now try and answer your question on the three elements of music in as simple a form as I can. I thought of adding some YouTube links as support, but then decided that doing so might not be necessary.

Melody: Single notes sung or played in succession after each other (for example, a solo singer, or a musician playing an instrumental solo).

Harmony: Two or more notes played together (everything from a duo to a full choir).

Rhythm: the beat (provided by drums and other instruments).

Hope this helps .

[Assasin]

This is a period when Reggae went through a lot of changes. People like Sly and Robbie was hardly in the studio in Ja. They were doing a lot of work with Island records in the Bahamas and elsewhere with people like Grace Jones, Gwen Guthrie, Cindy Lauper, Tom Tom Club etc.

A lot of the veteran took a break. There was some young singers, some of them very "green" but ended up been good singers. this lot included Frankie Paul, Sanchez, Half Pint, Junior Reid and more. It was these years that DJ started coming to the forefront, the post yellowman years with people like Admiral Bailey, Peter Metro, Papa San, Flourgan, Red Dragon, Tiger and others took center stage. The funny thing is the DJ then were writing songs.

It is during this era that Steelie and Cleve, Roots Radics and others came to the forefront. It is also the era that the "riddim driven" was really used and abused as everybody jumped on a riddim.

The music also moved from the band to the dancehall bigtime with sound such Jammys, SturGav, Scorpio, Youthman promotion, Ruby that had line ups that could match any stage show.

While many of the songs can be seen as week to me it was interesting times in Reggae dancehall.

[Bricktop]

Because people nuh interested in yuh 60's Calypso music doesn't mean it's trash it just means you are over the hill

[Muadib]

Ah wheh di...