“Jung junga jung jung jung jung jung jung jung ‘Now here is your news’” rang out from the juke box. “Jung junga jung jung jung jung jung jung” the rhythm insisted again. “Dugga dung dung, dung da dung” replied the muted drum roll, and thus I was introduced to Mikey Dread’s “Radio One”, having flipped over the Clash’s “Hitsville UK”, itself unusual enough, at least you were expecting to hear a classic slice of three minute punk fury.
Radio One was unusual not because it was a great piece of dub, we’d been hearing that since the early 70’s, and not just because it was on the B side of a single by the foremost exponents of the most exciting thing to have happened in a decade, but because here was a man, chatting in his own voice, about something I could relate to, to wit, how bad the main source of modern music in the UK at the time was.
Listening to the lyrics it was so obviously something I could relate to just as surely as a musician being forced through the record industry’s musical blender could relate to the A side, or any kid being made to sit exams at school a couple of years earlier could relate to the Specials’ “Rat Race” (grrr! Thanks lads, I was trying to sit my A-levels at the time!).
But beyond even that, here was a brilliant piece of dub, being done with a huge dose of humour. I have no idea how the track came about, despite once asking Mick about it, although I do have another version of the rhythm somewhere (maybe on a Scientist album?), but on it Mr Campbell comes across as a lovely guy.
I met him a couple of times later, not funnily enough, through the Clash, but when he was doing front of house engineering for Aswad (when they too played exciting dub before realising that the way to have hits was to edge poor Brinsley off the mic in favour of Drummie Zeb’s lover’s rock voice) and he was indeed a lovely guy.
What’s this got to do with Notting Hill? Um .. OK, maybe the reason the song comes to mind now is a delayed reaction seeing Mick singing Career Opportunities with Lauren (his daughter) taking Ellen Foley’s part an octave higher at one of the Carbon Casinos at the Inn on the Green earlier this year. Is that enough of an excuse?
Or maybe it’s just that when Mikey Dread passed on in March of this year I didn’t yet have a blog in which to write about it. Either way, incongruous as it was, Radio One was the perfect flipside, both literally and metaphorically, to Hitsvile UK. Besides, I’m sure Mikey loved this time of year in Notting Hill!
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