I’ve noticed this a lot when listening to Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe’s late-seventies/early eighties work, but I know i’ve noticed it in a lot more bands around the time - the incorporation of reggae rhythms or doing flat-out white reggae songs. I’m talking of songs like Costello’s Watching the Detectives and to a certain extent I don’t want to go to Chelsea, and Lowe’s No Reason.
What caused this? Was there a wave of reggae vogue in England at the time?
Another example of the time honored tradition of Elvis , Pat Boone and the Kingsmen of the Man sticking to the brother
I’ve seen this matter covered in a few different music documentaries about punk music, but I can’t recall which ones have which information. However, Google is your friend:
Yes, there was (and is) a sizable percentage of people from the Caribbean in England, and they brought their music with them. It began to catch on in the '60s, when it was called “rude boy” music, which evolved into Ska. The English were fans of reggae long before it made its presence felt elsewhere, and a lot of kids grew up listening to it. When they started up bands, they played the kind of music they liked, patterned after ska and reggae, and it was virtually unknown to the rest of the world. So it was new and fresh to some of us, and became very popular for a period in the late '70s and into the '80s.
There were a lot of Jamaican immigrants in England in the '70s, which led to white rock and punk musicians embracing not only reggae, but also ska. The Clash was another band that incorporated reggae and ska elements into their sound, and the “second wave” of ska started in England in the late '70s with bands like the Specials (who featured white and black musicians), the Selecter, Madness, and the Beat (known as the English Beat everywhere outside of England). Two-Tone Records led the way by releasing a lot of those British ska bands and helping spread their sound to the masses.
Mostly they played that music, because they liked to. People don’t have to be from an origination population to want to play a kind of music.