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projects) because she was tired of the sexist and prejudice attitudes within the industry. She also argues that these patriarchal structures are inherently harmful to both men and women. Pointedly, this gendering neglects the men who were allowed to be emotionally expressive and vulnerable within the context of lovers rock such as
Beshara’s 1981 track “Men Cry Too” which highlighted the emotions that consumed Black British men. Furthermore, this gendering creates a tension between political protest and the emotional/erotic. Additionally, it places femininity in opposition to Black political protest. The gendering of Black diasporic music is commonplace, but lovers rock makes it clear that Black femininity is not inherently oppositional to Black power. Ultimately, Palmer asserts that lovers rock and roots reggae are not oppositional, but instead demonstrate the many forms of Black expression in a period of extreme racialization and prejudice.
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challenging question of how black
Britons are now imagining new discourses on black freedom that take seriously the gendered and erotic entanglements that shape and define our visions of black liberation," (Palmer 129). In an anti-black world that constantly places black people in a separate category as human, anything fighting against these notions is a push towards liberation. Love is the quintessential human feeling and by expressing it, the artists of lovers rock and other black genres are showing the humanity of black people and pushing towards liberation.
549:, as well as the musical influences. Much like how lovers rock and Brit funk have allowed for many genres to interact that never would have, many of these identities were introduced to each other for the first time. Though the genres were very much framed apolitically, as these tracks were the ones that received radio time, there was still a deep emphasis on the identity of the artists and listeners as marginalized in every sense. Many tracks displayed this, as well as artist interviews, but these received far less airtime.
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politicization. For instance, the song "Men Cry Too/Man a Reason" was important because it "captured the sense of loss, longing, and vulnerability that was part of black male life in
Britain, but was and remains frequently overshadowed by the notion that black masculinity within the British roots reggae music scene is constructed upon the paradigm of political resistance and protest detached from emotional or erotic expression" (Palmer 128).
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ownership of the genre. It portrayed patriarchal discourses through its creation of politically contentious erotic spaces that challenged racism, while also encapsulating the struggles of gendered oppression dealt with by women. Though much more subtle than other politically outspoken music, lovers rock did portray its own stance on the political climate of
Britain in the mid-1970s.
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According to sociologist Lisa Amanda Palmer, the patriarchal structures within lovers rock dictated female success as men were often the DJs and producers in that space. She cites the experience of
Carroll Thompson, who created her own company (in which she maintained complete creative control of her
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Lovers rock, being indigenous to
Britain with strong Jamaican influences, emerged with regard to the cultural and political environments of the time for Caribbean people in the United Kingdom. It engaged with politics for the female face of the genre, as well as for the male-dominated production and
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and lovers rock also displayed an interesting interrogation of a black diasporic that received far less attention from mainstream music society; its portrayals of black diasporic identities in the United
Kingdom at the time are unlike any other culture in the history of black music. Strachan states
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Lovers rock, moreover, was an indicator of social and cultural changes within Black and
Caribbean communities living in the UK. As opposed to the singularity espoused by reggae music, lovers rock, encouraged people to engage with one another in hopes of finding a love interest. This allowed for new
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Because the majority of its audience were women, and it tended to have a romantic influence in sound and lyrics, lovers rock was often seen as intrinsically apolitical, whereas roots reggae and the black masculinity associated with it had clear political messages of emancipation and liberation.
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There's a "faulty logic follow(ing) dominant perceptions within wider patriarchal cultures that love is not political and is ultimately female work" (Palmer 117). "While there remains much to celebrate within lovers rock’s historical legacy, sentimentality has given way to tackling the more
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Lovers rock has been heavily constructed in line with romantic sound and themes. Lisa Palmer's "Men Cry Too: Black
Masculinities and the Feminisation of Lovers Rock in the UK" discusses the lyrical contents found within this genre, which are notable due to how they shaped its gendering and
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The genre of lovers rock has heavily influenced the R&B, hip hop and pop music scenes since its peak in the 1960s and 1970s. Songs incorporating a mixture of love and romance, politics and reggae-inspired sounds have become an accepted trend in music.
294:' US R&B song, "A Feeling Is a Feeling". They were headhunted by Neville King who produced their UK reggae chart hit "Black Is Our Colour". This was followed by the husband and wife production team of Dennis and Eve Harris who then had a big hit with
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film (with Dennis Bovell in a minor role), released in
December 2020, chronicled a night at a 1980 blues party in West London in which lovers rock music played a central part in both the storyline and soundtrack.
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Palmer, Lisa Amanda. “‘Men Cry Too’: Black Masculinities and the Feminisation of Lovers Rock in the UK.” Black Popular Music in Britain since 1945, by Jon Stratton and Nabeel Zuberi, Ashgate, 2014, pp.
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While not as explicitly politically conscious as other subgenres of reggae, lovers rock was indeed political, however, “never too far away from the politics of romantic love and heartbreak”.
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that being black and British, much like the thesis of "The Black Atlantic", involves quite a bit of maneuvering as far as identities go. The identities went far beyond that of just
332:) pioneered a subgenre, 'conscious lovers', with songs such as "I'm in Love with a Dreadlocks" (1977) and "Black Pride". Others who released records in this subgenre included the
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Palmer, Lisa Amanda (2014). "Chapter 7: 'Men Cry Too': Black Masculinities and the Feminisation of Lovers Rock in the UK". In Stratton, Jon; Zuberi, Nabeel (eds.).
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Palmer, Lisa Amanda (2014). "Chapter 7: 'Men Cry Too': Black Masculinities and the Feminisation of Lovers Rock in the UK". In Stratton, Jon; Zuberi, Nabeel (eds.).
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in 1979. Although noted for the preponderance and youth of its female exponents, the new style produced male stars as well, including Honey Boy Martin,
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dynamics of sex and gender, with women having more personal autonomy on the dance floor and a choice of who to engage or not engage romantically with.
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sound and content. While love songs had been an important part of reggae since the late 1960s, the style was given a greater focus and a name in
298:'s "Last Date". Dennis Harris then set up a new record label, Lover's Rock, at his South East London Studio on Upper Brockley Road along with
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Strachan, Robert (2014). Britfunk: Black British Popular Music, Identity and the Recording Industry in the Early 1980s. Aldershot: Ashgate.
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Stratton, Jon, et al. 'Men Cry Too': Black Masculinities and the Feminisation of Lovers Rock in the UK. E-book, London, Routledge, 2016.
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409:. Brown's "Money in My Pocket" (#14 in 1979) and Minott's "Good Thing Going" (#4 in 1981) were both successful hits in the
287:'s "Caught You in a Lie" in 1975. This spawned the distinctive young girl female sound associated with early lovers rock.
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Subsequently, numerous well-established Jamaican acts attempted the new sound. Most successful among these were
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Simplicity formed in 1975 and released their first hit "To Be in Love" produced by Coxson; the B-side was the
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at the time, a continuation of the soulful and commonly love-themed rocksteady style, based on singers like
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popularised the term, introducing it to a wider mainstream audience, by including a song called "
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label was successful with UK audiences, and the Revue label had a chart-topper in 1986 with
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Caribbean Popular Music: An Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, and Dancehall
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687:'Nursing Grounded Me From The Pitfalls Of Entertainment' - Marcia Aitken Returns To Music
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and Donna Marie enjoyed success with the genre, and several British stars performed at
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Palmer, Lisa (2014). "Men Cry too-Masculinity and the feminization of lovers' rock".
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Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rough Guide to Reggae", Rough Guides,
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The popularity of lovers rock continued through the next decade. In the 1980s the
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gained lovers rock hits such as "Wild World"(1988) and "Close to You"(1990).
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was aged 14 when she had a major lovers rock hit with her version of
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enjoying international hits with versions of well-known love songs.
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with rocksteady and reggae bassline rhythms. Rooted in the
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such as Chicken Hi-Fi, Success Sound, and Soferno B.
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The roots of lovers rock lie in the last days of the
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performing at the Giants of Lovers Rock event, 2012
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729:"The Beat at the Heart of 'Lovers Rock'"
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910:. pp. 115–129.
895:. pp. 115–129.
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865:. pp. 115–129.
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1143:Walking bass
1072:Samba reggae
1067:Roots reggae
1023:Ragga jungle
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482:Mike Anthony
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453:Lover's Rock
430:
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405:, and later
403:Sugar Minott
399:Dennis Brown
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330:Soul II Soul
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273:South London
262:Philadelphia
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177:Other topics
159:horn section
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1421:Lovers rock
1257:Philippines
1247:New Zealand
1184:Dub artists
1038:Reggae rock
1008:Lovers rock
738:20 December
705:Maxi Priest
547:Black Brits
508:Lovers Rock
426:Maxi Priest
422:Horace Andy
360:Silly Games
328:, later of
322:Brown Sugar
300:John Kpiaye
281:Louisa Mark
254:Alton Ellis
246:Rastafarian
231:Johnny Nash
195:Lovers rock
142:Bass guitar
87:Lovers rock
1415:Categories
1363:Studio One
1060:Moombahton
1043:Reggaestep
991:Dub poetry
811:0313331588
569:References
384:Birmingham
227:Ken Boothe
219:rocksteady
99:Rocksteady
54:footnoting
1378:Blue Beat
1323:Suedehead
1308:Rastafari
1237:Australia
1220:Mauritius
1203:By region
1050:Reggaeton
969:Dancehall
542:Brit funk
496:Influence
457:double LP
449:The Clash
445:crossover
380:Tradition
372:Honey Boy
356:Janet Kay
334:Battersea
296:T.T. Ross
235:John Holt
130:, England
126:1970s in
1333:Dubplate
1318:Skinhead
1313:Rude boy
1230:Zimbabwe
1133:Toasting
1113:One drop
1087:Two-tone
717:115–129.
557:See also
520:Politics
443:/reggae
431:Seminal
292:Emotions
203:romantic
156:keyboard
152:drum kit
62:May 2024
50:citation
1276:Related
1252:Pacific
1225:Nigeria
1123:Singjay
1082:Singjay
470:Fashion
388:Beshara
258:Chicago
250:Jamaica
213:History
1348:Riddim
1262:Poland
1210:Africa
1137:Deejay
1118:Reverb
1077:Seggae
996:Psydub
981:Dembow
960:Genres
950:Reggae
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386:group
374:, and
242:London
223:reggae
207:London
199:reggae
128:London
104:reggae
1303:Mento
1242:Japan
1215:Kenya
1128:Skank
1103:Delay
1018:Ragga
447:band
806:ISBN
772:help
740:2020
655:ISBN
615:ISBN
588:ISBN
476:'s "
437:rock
433:punk
358:'s "
338:Kofi
314:Kofi
302:and
265:soul
260:and
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986:Dub
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271:of
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