# Who was the first rock act to apply Jamaican music?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-rock-act-to-apply-jamaican-music/684778>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 28, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-rock-act-to-apply-jamaican-music/684778 "2014-03-28T19:19:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-rock-act-to-apply-jamaican-music/684778/41 "2014-03-31T15:10:39Z")

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> [@SykoSkotty](#):
>
> Everything mentioned so far has been one or two songs that had a reggae/calypso sound/influence.
> 
> For my money, the first rock band to have their ENTIRE CATALOG of songs sound this way was The Police.

That may be true for their first two albums, but they jumped on the bandwagon of British punk rockers like the Clash who had done it before.

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-rock-act-to-apply-jamaican-music/684778/42 "2014-04-01T01:24:29Z")

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> [@DChord568](#):
>
> Lou was from the Pittsburgh area. I don’t know if it’s ever been determined whether he actually was exposed to ska rhythms of just came up with this on his own. Or maybe his mysterious songwriting partner Twyla Herbert (the “gypsy” in question) had something to do with it.

Yes, but he went to NYC right out of high school and was probably exposed to Jamaican music there. Along with Kingston and London, NYC was the place where the proto-reggaes were developed. And it’s not like calypso was foreign to American ears.

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**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-rock-act-to-apply-jamaican-music/684778/43 "2014-04-01T02:02:33Z")

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> [@SykoSkotty](#):
>
> Everything mentioned so far has been one or two songs that had a reggae/calypso sound/influence.
> 
> For my money, the first rock band to have their ENTIRE CATALOG of songs sound this way was The Police.

If for some strange reason you didn’t count The Specials, or The Selecter, or Madness, or The Beat, or indeed any of the other Two-Tone bands. Actually, Bad Manners were probably the first of them.

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