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Don't rock my boat Bob Marley performing in London in 1978. (RealVideo)
'Reggae music is an offshoot of ska2 that developed in the late 1960s. Reggae was developed out of rocksteady3 music, a music developed by early ska vocalists (e.g. Laurel Aitken, Derrick Morgan, Desmond Dekker4) as audiences demanded a more steady beat and perhaps less all-instrumental music. Note that many reggae stars got their start as ska musicians. Notable examples are Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Rita Marley Anderson, Toots and the Maytals, Desmond Dekker. As the fast beat of ska mellowed through rocksteady, it gradually led to the creation of reggae.
As Horace Cambell wrote in Rasta and Resistance,
"The transition from rock steady to reggae was, like the transition from ska to rock steady, an impreceptible process which was both a response to and a reflection of the changing social conditions of the society. Where rock steady had the legacy of singing the sex and romance songs of Jackie Opel and Lord Creator, reggae laid emphasis on Africa, black deliverance and redemption."
Note that reggae has not always been inextricably linked to Rastafarian culture.
The British band UB40, loosely associated with second-wave ska, offers the following thoughts about the origins of reggae in their all- cover tribute album, Labour of Love
"This is a selection of songs. They represent an era. An era, after the first skinhead wave, when black boys were still rude boys and only hippies wore their hair long. They represent reggae when it was first called by that name. Reggae before it was discovered by cops, sociologists and TV producers. Before it was claimed by lefties, liberals, punks and rastas. Reggae was just another dance music and most D.J.' still sniggered at it. In those days, reggae appealed not to the intellect or the social conscience, but to the heart and hips." '
1. Source: Internet. Unfortunately, I have lost the link where I discovered the above notes. I will gladly credit the author if he or she would like to contact me.
2. A good example of ska is "One cup of Coffee", recorded by Bob Marley in 1962.
3. Delroy Wilson's, "I'm not a king", recorded in 1967.
4. Desmond Dekker's first UK hit was, "007 - Shanty Town", released in 1967.