Marley

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds - Redemption Song

Bob Marley would have been 64 today. He's been gone almost 28 years.

As the years go by, I find myself turning to his music more and more. It isn't just "world music," to which reggae is so often relegated. It's music with a social conscience, but it also rocks. If you are growing tired of hearing Britney work out her personal psychodrama, or accepting that music is best enjoyed as a backing track for a TV hospital show, put on some Marley. Some samples:

Could You Be Loved

A truncated Stir It Up

No, Woman, No Cry - a live version of a song that proves that Jamaica has its own version of the blues

Redemption Song