Rebel Music

Abstract

This chapter applies a wide lens to appreciate the multi-faceted popularity of Bob Marley in the late Cold War era. More precisely, the chapter explains how a commercial musician became a potent symbol for social justice and so bridged the worlds of politics and popular culture. In the mid-1970s, Island Records marketed Bob Marley to Western listeners as an exotic rock star. Yet, fans around the world soon embraced his critiques of inequality and state repression as well as his liberation anthems, notably "Get Up, Stand Up". By rejecting ideological binaries and emphasizing morality, Marley became an important reference for transnational left youth culture, activism, and militancy. Young West Indians, Africans, Europeans, North Americans, Pacific Islanders, and many others celebrated Marley as an authentic antiestablishment voice both articulating common experiences of oppression and offering a new countercultural aesthetic. In dispensing with conventional politics and articulating the dreams of the freedom fighter, Marley invigorated liberation discourse..