FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Play that reggae music, bad boy
Inner Circle are comfortable being that band that sings that song, you know the oneInner Circle with Lorraine Klaasen and Soweto Groove
Friday, February 28
Westin Hotel, Grand BallroomSo maybe the song isn't as big (read: annoying) as "Macarena" because it doesn't have that mind-numbing dance. Chances are, however, you know the song just the same. It's on TV, it's in the movies and most of all, it's in your head. You hum the song to yourself without realizing it and when you finally do, the question arises: who the hell sings that song?
Pat yourself on the back if you said Inner Circle. In North America, they've been overshadowed by the enormous popularity of "Bad Boys," used as the theme song for COPS and also for the movie starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence named (get this) Bad Boys. To top it all off, producer extraordinaire David Morales, at the request of Inner Circle's record company, remixed the track thereby ensuring that "Bad Boys" will haunt Inner Circle forever.
The band, incidentally, has been around since the mid-'70s. They formed in Kingston, Jamaica and now reside in Miami where they've built their own studio. Almost twenty years later, they're still on the verge of being tagged as a one-hit wonder, and for Lancelot, Inner Circle's drummer, this fact is a little discomforting.
"It bothers us (that we're only known for one song)," concedes Lancelot. "But it's like, what are we going to do about it?"
With their brand of easy-listening reggae, success has eluded them for much of their career. However, newer artists such as Canada's own Snow, have vaulted into fame using (exploiting?) the same reggae and dancehall beats. Rather than being upset by this, Lancelot looks at the situation philosophically.
"Maybe that's what (radio) feels more comfortable with right now," he Lancelot. "I'm not gonna fight it because those bands have opened the door for me. Eventually I support them. More power to them because they are keeping reggae music alive. Now, the more people listen to them and want to find out where the music came from, then they're going to be curious about the people who create this music. Henceforth, reggae music gonna get on a larger scale.
"When people start going to the reservoir of reggae music, which is Jamaica and Jamaicans who create this music, then they gonna find out how diverse reggae music is. If you are into cultural reggae or dancehall or dub or lover's rock or classical reggae, there's something for you."
For the most part, however, reggae is still misunderstood by the majority of people. And it isn't much of an exaggeration to say there are people who think that by owning Bob Marley's greatest hits, they know reggae.
"This really don't bother me," says Lancelot with a laugh. "It just show me that they just don't know about reggae music. I'm here to open their eyes. I can explain to them, 'Look, when Bob Marley was alive, he was not the most popular reggae artist in Jamaica.' It was not until he was dead when a lot of Jamaicans really embraced Bob Marley as closely as they did other reggae artists."
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