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" Dub in Babylon, The Emergence and Influence of Dub Reggae with Particular Reference to British Punk and Post-Punk in the 1970s "
Partridge, Christopher Hugh
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Latin Dissertation
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1096808
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TLets486446
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| Main Entry
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Partridge, Christopher Hugh
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| Title & Author
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Dub in Babylon, The Emergence and Influence of Dub Reggae with Particular Reference to British Punk and Post-Punk in the 1970s\ Partridge, Christopher Hugh
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| College
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University of Liverpool.
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| Date
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2007
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| student score
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2007
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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Dub reggae and the techniques associated with it have, since the late-1980s, been usedwidely by producers of dance and ambient music. However, the term was originally appliedto a remixing technique pioneered in Jamaica as far back as 1967. Recording engineersproduced reggae tracks on which the efforts of the producer were often more evident thanthose of the musicians - these heavily engineered tracks were termed 'versions'. Thetechniques used to produce versions quickly evolved into what is now known as 'dub'. Theterm, in this sense, arrived in 1972 and was largely the result of experiments by the recordingengineer Osbourne Ruddock/King Tubby. Over the decades, not only has dub evolved, butit has done so especially in the UK. Indeed, much contemporary music, from hip hop totrance and from ambient soundscapes to experimental electronica and drum 'n' bass isindebted to the 'remix culture' principally informed by dub techniques. However, whileobviously an important genre, its significance is rarely understood or acknowledged.Part One of the thesis examines the Jamaican background, necessary forunderstanding the cultural significance of dub, and Part Two analyses its musical, culturaland political importance for both African-Caribbean and, particularly, white communities inthe United Kingdom during the late-1970s and early 1980s. Particular attention is given tothe subcultures surrounding the genre, especially its relationship with Rastafarian culture thehistory and central beliefs ofwhich are related to reggae and examined. There is alsoanalysis of its cultural and musicological influence on punk and post-punk, the principalpolitical music in late-1970s Britain. Finally, moving into the period of the decline of postpunkand, indeed, British dub in the early 1980s, there will be an examination of what can beunderstood as the postmodern turn in dub. The principal focus of this final discussion willbe the work of the most influential post-punk producer, Adrian Sherwood, who, in the late1970s, formed several fluid musical collectives - most notably, Creation Rebel, African HeadCharge, and Dub Syndicate - in order to experiment with the dub sound. Thesedevelopments were enormously influential, and would eventually go on, in the 1990s, toshape the emerging rave and dance cultures.In summary, the thesis is a confluence of several lines of thought. Firstly, it provides acultural and musical history of dub from its early days in Jamaica to the decline of post-punkin early-1980s Britain. Secondly, it examines the religio-political ideas it carried and traces.these through to the ideologies informing the subcultures of the late-1970s and, finally, totheir transformation and, arguably, neutralisation in the postmodern pastiche of post-punkdub. Thirdly, with reference to these lines of thought, it looks at dub's and roots reggae'scontribution to race relations in 1970s Britain. Finally, it analyses the aesthetic and arguably'spiritual' significance of dub, looking at, for example, its foregrounding of bass and reverb.Quite simply, therefore, in demonstrating the political, cultural, spiritual, and musicologicalsignificance of dub, the thesis seeks to contribute to a revision ofits current 'unsung'position in contemporary popular music history.
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University of Liverpool.
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