Ziggy Marley, son of legend Bob Marley, has music to make you think, lyrical inspiration, and a childhood playmate in Michael Jackson, who made Thriller, the biggest record ever.
Thirty years ago, when Bob Marley died, eldest son Ziggy played one of his first gigs at his father’s funeral. He was 12. Then, as since, he never seemed cowed by the reggae icon’s king-size legacy. With his band, the Melody Makers, he cut his own path through music. He scooped up his first Grammy in 1986, for the well-received album Conscious Party; three more have followed. Here, he reveals the sonic substances that take him on a spiritual journey.
Michael Jackson, Thriller
This was the first album I bought, at the same time as my first record player. It was a big deal for me. I was in high school and I had a friend who was very much into his dancing, but for me it was about the music. And even more, I knew Michael Jackson when I was younger. We used to listen to his music during the Jackson 5 days and they came to Jamaica once when The Wailers did a concert with them. I remember Michael and me playing together backstage. That was fun.
Bob Marley & The Wailers, Survival
In my later years in high school I played this constantly in my room. My father had a lot of awareness of Africa from that record. As a normal move we would rebel as teenagers with my parents, but at that point I realised how important it was. The song Africa Unite was a big deal to me. At that time I was going through a very militant period. I was becoming conscious of our African heritage and about the political situation. We felt like colonial leftovers who still existed in Jamaica at that time. Survival was my guide: it shaped my mindset, it set my mood. The record was about anti-apartheid, black liberation, and black people struggling. That was the time of my awakening. I couldn’t discuss these things with my dad; these are things I came to understand later on.
Miles Davis, Bitches Brew
My friend and producer, Don Was, introduced me to Miles Davis. And the one album that got me into him was Bitches Brew. It let me understand Miles’s rebellious nature in terms of how he, at one point, was ignored by the jazz purists when he put electronic elements into his music. The way he did his thing, that strengthened me to do my thing and not give too much credence to what the critics say.
Fela Kuti, Zombie
The first time I saw him play live was in the mid-’80s in Chicago and I loved his defiance on stage. I still try to emulate Fela’s ideas in my music. Especially Zombie, it’s a very true song. A lot of people in the world are zombies to what governments dictate, to what propaganda is being promoted on TV. And that’s the reason why the I campaign for what I believe in. We don’t think for ourselves.
Green Day, American Idiot
Words mean a lot to me. So I actually liked and bought this album. I’m musically very open, because to me it depends on what you sing. Saying something that is effective, causing thoughts. It doesn’t matter what the music underneath is, it’s what you’re saying that attracts me. It’s all about the message.
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