Rolling Reggae: When the Stones did Dub
In the early ‘70s, after being chased out of Europe by bank-breaking tax laws and denied entry to the States over previous indiscretions, the Rolling Stones found themselves in Jamaica. While there, guitarist Keith Richards befriended the local Rastas between sessions for Goats Head Soup, an album the band was recording at the time. Richards' involvement with the Rastas led him to meet figureheads like Toots Hibbert, Derrick Simpson, and Bob Marley. Eventually, the influence of the Caribbean bled into the Stones’ discography to varying degrees of success. Over the years we’ve gotten an album’s worth of reggae songs out of the group, most of which have been met with criticism. Despite being written off by the majority of their fan base, some of these tunes hold up against genre classics. This begs the question: which pieces from the Rolling Stones reggae catalog deserve more love and which just plain stink?
“Cherry Oh Baby” is one of the Stones's oldest reggae songs, having been released on 1976's Black and Blue. It didn’t break any boundaries or challenge any preconceptions; in fact, it's one of the most stereotypical reggae tracks I’ve ever heard. Is it bad? No, but then it’s not anything you’re going to be playing on repeat either. Organ, palm-muted guitars, and Charlie Watts keeping time on a snare with its throw-off lever snapped practically clean off— you couldn’t make a more reggae-sounding song if you tried. That being said, it sounds more like something you would hear playing in the office of a dentist who has recently returned from a Sandals vacation than something that could survive on the charts.
Their next would be the worst reggae song the Rolling Stones ever put out. “Don’t Be a Stranger” comes as the absolute low point of Some Girls, an otherwise incredible album. It tries to blend the Stones’ trademark rock with dub, but fails miserably. “Don’t Be a Stranger” is like taking an early ‘70s Stones B-side and adding a steel drum and a palm-muted backtrack. It’s an insult to reggae. Enough said.
1980’s Emotional Rescue gave us one of the Stones' best reggae tunes, “Send It To Me.” I’ll take a second here to admit my own bias, as this is one of my favorite Rolling Stones songs, which is not without good reason. “Send It To Me” perfectly blends reggae and rock into a quintessential Stones track that belongs on greatest hits records alongside “Street Fighting Man” and “Satisfaction.” The song bobs between dub and brassy blues flawlessly, never dragging its feet or muddling the beat. If they could have produced an entire album like this, it could have overshadowed The Wailers here in America, but unfortunately, this is a gold standard that we wouldn’t see reached again.
In ‘81, the Stones put out their eighteenth album, Tattoo You. Tattoo You featured the single “Start Me Up,” which is still one of their most popular songs over forty years later. The funky hard rock single started out as a reggae tune meant to be released on Black and Blue, but ended up tabled when the Stones couldn’t get the song just right. A few years later, during the sessions for Some Girls, the Stones pulled “Start Me Up” off the shelf and took another stab at it, but once again failed to write the song they were trying to. In the end, it would be rearranged into the hit we know today, but you can easily find demos of the song from when it was a reggae track online. Seeing as these are unfinished versions of the song, they’re not that good. It’s understandable why “Start Me Up” grew up to be a hard rock song; it doesn’t work as a reggae tune, plain and simple. That being said, if you’re frothing at the mouth wishing you could hear what the song could have been, Toots Hibbert did a reggae cover that puts the tune together and makes it a comprehensive, if slightly uninspired, dub song.
Two years after we finally got “Start Me Up,” the Stones dropped their next reggae track, “Feel On Baby,” on their ‘83 album Undercover. You can hear the ‘80s in this one; it’s riddled with sound effects and synthesized guitars, which make it sound more like a Police song than a Stones one. “Feel On Baby” is fairly well regarded amongst Rolling Stones fans, but it misses the mark for me. There’s too much ‘80s pop and not enough reggae, not to say that at its core it’s not a reggae song— it just has a little too much other stuff going on for my liking. It’s like they gave the Stones a soundboard and a pound of blow and told them to have fun. If they had cut half the beeps, boops, and oohs out, then this one would have been an alright tune, but as it stands, it's far too messy.
‘86’s “Too Rude” flips much of the Stones' way of doing things on its head. Keith Richards takes the lead in this one, giving us a taste of his vocals that would go on to give life to the X-pensive Winos, Richards' side band. You can tell right off the bat that this is a Richards song and not a Stones group effort. “Too Rude” is straight and narrow reggae; no frills, genre mixing, or sound effects. The song doesn’t carry the explosive punch of a Stones track— it's a chill dub from start to finish that is carried more by Richards' vocals than the instrumentals. It does what “Cherry Oh Baby” wanted to do with stylee that could only come from a life lived amongst the reggae scene.
The Stones’ next crack at reggae came in 1997 with “You Don’t Have to Mean It” off Bridges to Babylon. This one is a dancehall hit made for airtime at junior proms across the world. It's sticky sweet like the inside of a chalice after a night of hotboxing. The saxophone screams for slow dances to break out wherever this song is played. It is surprising that “You Don’t Have to Mean It” is almost thirty years old now, as it sounds more like contemporary Pepper than anything playing on rock ‘n’ roll radio in the '90s. If you’re trying to make a playlist for a party, this may be one to consider; otherwise, it’s unremarkable.
The only tune the Stones have that can rival “Send It To Me” is the version of “Crackin’ Up” on Live at The El Mocambo 1977. With a bouncy rhythm that is unmistakably a prelude to Some Girls, which would release just the next year, “Crackin’ Up” is the Stones at their finest. It was a criminal thing that Live at The El Mocambo 1977 wasn’t released until 2022, forty-five years after its taping. Despite the long wait, the album has become a favorite for Rolling Stones fans— “Crackin’ Up” has even become a favorite deep cut within the community. It’s no surprise that it’s become so popular with its hooks that hit you like a brick hits a window— if you haven’t heard any of the band's modern releases, this is the one to start with.
The Rolling Stones reggae catalog is simultaneously a genre-defining high and downright disrespectful low for the band. Richards' time amongst the Rastas left a permanent mark on the band even if none of the songs it inspired ever made it into the mainstream. The dub in their discography is a woefully overlooked part of music history, although with thirty-one studio albums, it's understandable that only the best of the best are well remembered. This isn’t a comprehensive list of every reggae song the Stones have dropped, but it's enough for you to impress your friends with the next time you’re handling the aux, desperately trying to avoid looking like a rube with basic taste. The rabbit hole goes beyond even the Stones catalog— if you look around, you’ll find members of the group have credits all over the reggae scene, from Black Uhuru to Peter Tosh. This article is merely a starting point, a sign telling you that today you need to listen to “Send It To Me.”