At last the petty bickering spoiling the start of this obit,
is being replaced with due respect for such an inspirational musical influencer as Toots...

Provincial 1970s white teenage Brits like me were properly introduced to Reggae
by notable cosmopolitan big city punk bands like The Clash,
and the crucial Rock Against Racism youth movement.

Since then, my love for Reggae is more deeply felt than for Folk,
and has also outlasted punk...

One strange paradox we needed to get our heads round,
was our teenage mortal enemies, the Skinheads,
started off in the 1960s
inspired by Jamaican music and gang fashions...

But there was some positive reconciliation when the late 70s Two Tone music movement
brought together black kids, punks, and non racist younger Skins
devoted to Ska...

The enemy nationalist Skins were then stuck in their own reviled OI music ghetto...

Reggae is seriously that important to my genration of Brits...