I first saw Steel Pulse in a large dancehall in Brixton when I was visiting London in 1980. They blew me away. Being at the gig was a bit intimidating because I was the only white dude in a crowd of about 2000 West Indian blacks.
I saw them again in Boston in 1982 and 1986 playing before an audience of nearly all white college students and they weren't nearly as good as that night in Brixton.
I've seen other reggae artists like Culture and Burning Spear tone down the militancy of their stage show when playing before predominately white audiences. It may have been an unconscious thing on the part of the reggae artist. I've noticed the response of American audiences (predominately white folks) at live reggae shows is far more subdued than the wildly enthusiastic West Indian audiences who attend live reggae shows in Jamaica and the UK.
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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt
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