History Trivia / BobMarley

** "Chant Down Babylon" was supposed to be the opening track on ''Music/{{Uprising}}'', but Bob wrote "Coming In From The Cold" at the last minute. "Chant Down Babylon" later appeared on ''Confrontation''. Similarly, the 'band version' of "Redemption Song" was supposed to be on ''Uprising'' but replaced by the acoustic version as Chris Blackwell felt it had more crossover potential (which it did). The band version was later a B-Side.

** This led to the split of the original Wailers, although indirectly. Bunny Wailer did not want to play 'freak clubs' to attract an audience the US, leading him to return to Jamaica. Peter Tosh stayed on the tour, though became agitated when Island refused to release his record 'Legalize It' and so he signed to CBS. The two of them did agree to sing on NattyDread , though the I Threes, who had already appeared as guests late in the Burnin' Tour, were added to the LP instead to make it more marketable. Peter and Bunny frequently would argue with Bob about his pursuit of fame especially as they felt they were increasingly seen as background musicians. The Wailers did not officially split until 1975 after a reunion concert where it was evident they were all growing apart musically. Apparently, Peter and Bunny viewed Bob's solo version of "Get Up Stand Up" on Live! as an attempt to erase them from history, so promptly recorded their own solo versions. Peter did reunite with Bob one more time in 1978, though otherwise neither of them spoke to him again.

* NamesTheSame: There were two songs called "I Need You", one from 1964 and one from 1966. The latter one was renamed "I Need You So" when released on CD.
** It's likely that "Roots" was left off "Rastaman Vibration" because of "Roots, Rock, Reggae" already including the word Roots in its title.

* [[Unperson]]: He had his first son in 1963, but the mother's parents disapproved due to their young ages, and stopped him seeing her as a result. Because of this, he had no part in the son's upbringing and it isn't even known what his name is. It wasn't until 1967 that he had another child, this time with Rita Marley who he had been married to the year before. The first son is mentioned in the book "Before The Legend" by Christopher Farley, which uncovered a large amount of background information about Bob's extended family compared to other books.

* Main/Unperson: He had his first son in 1963, but the mother's parents disapproved due to their young ages, and stopped him seeing her as a result. Because of this, he had no part in the son's upbringing and it isn't even known what his name is. It wasn't until 1967 that he had another child, this time with Rita Marley who he had been married to the year before. The first son is mentioned in the book "Before The Legend" by Christopher Farley, which uncovered a large amount of background information about Bob's extended family compared to other books.

* {Unperson}: He had his first son in 1963, but the mother's parents disapproved due to their young ages, and stopped him seeing her as a result. Because of this, he had no part in the son's upbringing and it isn't even known what his name is. It wasn't until 1967 that he had another child, this time with Rita Marley who he had been married to the year before. The first son is mentioned in the book "Before The Legend" by Christopher Farley, which uncovered a large amount of background information about Bob's extended family compared to other books.

* Unperson: He had his first son in 1963, but the mother's parents disapproved due to their young ages, and stopped him seeing her as a result. Because of this, he had no part in the son's upbringing and it isn't even known what his name is. It wasn't until 1967 that he had another child, this time with Rita Marley who he had been married to the year before. The first son is mentioned in the book "Before The Legend" by Christopher Farley.

** The original Jamaican LP of Survival has "Wake Up And Live" at the start of its side, though neither side is marked as the A or B side. The US version followed this, though explicitly stated the "Wake Up And Live" side as the A-Side as that was the current single at the time. For the rest of the world (also the Jamaican cassette), however, "Wake Up And Live" is at the end of its parent side, marked B Side, with the "So Much Trouble In The World" side as the A-Side - as that was the single in most places. This version has been canon since the first CD issues.

* ApprovalOfGod: Bob really liked Music/EricClapton 's cover of "I Shot The Sheriff" , and it helped his music get taken seriously in the rock world. He also liked Music/StevieWonder's homage to him, "Master Blaster".

* BleachedUnderpants: The Legend compilation was compiled with this in mind. It primarily consists of Bob's love songs, with only a handful of his political songs (most notably, "Get Up Stand Up", "I Shot The Sheriff" and "Redemption Song"). It has nothing at all from his two most political albums "Rastaman Vibration" and "Survival", and it includes the Catch A Fire version of "Stir It Up" which wasn't a single (rather than the actual single from that album, "Concrete Jungle") as well as "One Love (People Get Ready)" which wasn't a single in his lifetime. The compilation is heavy on his most popular album Exodus as well (including 5 of its tracks). The tracklisting was selected via a survey by the Island label, in order to present Bob to an international audience that was alienated by his political and Rastafari-oriented lyrics. It worked a bit too well; Bob is seen by many as a smiling Caribbean ganja-smoker and represented by its lead single "One Love", as opposed to the anti-establishment revolutionary he was. Despite this, the compilation remains very popular both for people getting into his music and casual listeners who just want one Bob release. A politically-themed sequel compilation, "Rebel Music", was released a couple of years after to offset the criticism, although it was never as popular.
** There's a lot of evidence in books that Bob could be quite standoffish to people, jealous and violent, particularly around women, with his widow Rita Marley and ex-bandmate Beverley Kelso having numerous stories like this in books. Some male musicians, particularly those who worked with him in Sweden in 1971, also noted these tendencies, claiming he had a permanent 'screw' (frown), hated being stereotyped, and primarily putting them down to culture shock and unease when not around Rasta culture. To some extent though, this was Jamaican ghetto culture at the time, which was suspicious of everyone.

* ExecutiveMeddling: A good example. Chris Blackwell suggested Bob included the acoustic version of "Redemption Song" on ''Music/{{Uprising}}'' instead of the band version. This ended up making the song feel much more poignant, and to be seen as a fitting "goodbye" song. It also made it a stand out track on the album, leading to its release as a single, something which probably wouldn't have happened if the band version had been included.

** This led to the split of the original Wailers although indirectly. Bunny Wailer did not want to play 'freak clubs' to attract an audience the US, leading him to return to Jamaica. Peter Tosh stayed on the tour, though became agitated when Island refused to release his record 'Legalize It' and so he signed to CBS. The two of them did agree to sing on NattyDread , though the I Threes, who had already appeared as guests late in the Burnin' Tour, were added to the LP instead to make it more marketable. Peter and Bunny frequently would argue with Bob about his pursuit of fame especially as they felt they were increasingly seen as background musicians. The Wailers did not officially split until 1975 after a reunion concert where it was evident they were all growing apart musically. Apparently, Peter and Bunny viewed Bob's solo version of "Get Up Stand Up" on Live! as an attempt to erase them from history, so promptly recorded their own solo versions. Peter did reunite with Bob one more time in 1978, though otherwise neither of them spoke to him again.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: There are a fair few examples:

* MissingEpisode: Numerous examples:

* OutOfOrder: The Studio One singles from 1963 to 1965 were frequently not released in the order recorded, which is really noticeable due to the higher voices (check out, for example, "Your Love" used as the b-side to "Playboy" it was recorded at least a year previously). In addition, there are conflicting reports as to whether "Simmer Down" was the Wailers' first single or if it was just the first to have label copies (in Jamaica, white labels - then known as blanks - were a common way to gauge interest in particular songs at sound systems). Some say for example that all the Junior Braithwaite material (such as "It Hurts To Be Alone", "Straight And Narrow Way" and "Habits") was the earliest Wailers material as they considered him lead singer at the time and his leaving early led Bob to voice more tracks. Others say that the group came straight to Coxsone with "Simmer Down" and he released it in late 1963.
** Another fact that is often overlooked is that the group's first dedicated album recorded for Beverley's, "The Best Of The Wailers", despite being recorded in early 1970 was not released till mid-1971, after their next LP 'Soul Rebels' and whilst the group was having success with various self-released singles including "Trenchtown Rock". The group was not happy that old unreleased material was coming out purporting to be their best, especially when their musical style had evolved over that time.

* RemadeForTheExport: Bob re-recorded a fair amount of early Jamaican material for his Island albums. This was partly to make it easier for international listeners to get hold of tracks he was playing live, and partly so Bob could make money from them, as many of his Jamaican releases had been put out internationally without him receiving any royalties. Some of the rerecordings, such as "Concrete Jungle", "Who The Cap Fit", "One Love (People Get Ready)", and "Satisfy My Soul [Don't Rock My Boat]" are often regarded as even better than the originals.
** A variation of this trope. The original Jamaican LP of Survival has "Wake Up And Live" at the start of its side, though neither side is marked as the A or B side. The US version followed this, though explicitly stated the "Wake Up And Live" side as the A-Side as that was the current single at the time. For the rest of the world (also the Jamaican cassette), however, "Wake Up And Live" is at the end of its parent side, marked B Side, with the "So Much Trouble In The World" side as the A-Side - as that was the single in most places. This version has been canon since the first CD issues.

** Prior to ''Music/CatchAFire'', Bob had toured with Johnny Nash for a few months, resulting in getting signed to CBS. The plan was to make it internationally as a solo artist in the soft-reggae vein of Nash (who had recorded some of Bob's songs). Several songs were recorded, but the lead single "Reggae On Broadway" flopped. Ultimately, Chris Blackwell visited Bob and suggested The Wailers sign to Island. Some of the songs used on Catch A Fire, such as "Stir It Up", "Rock It Babe" and "High Tide Or Low Tide" are likely to have appeared on the JAD LP had it seen release.

* TheNotRemix: The single version of "Is This Love" includes a guitar part after the first "I wanna love you" which is not included on the Kaya version. This version was included on the original pressing of "Legend" though not on the remaster.
** The Confrontation LP has some post-production in order to give the LP a consistent production sound: for instance "Blackman Redemption", "Rastaman Live Up", "I Know" and "Trenchtown" had simplified arrangements with fewer vocals and more upfront percussion compared to their previously released single versions.

* ThePeteBest: Junior Braithwaite, who left the group after cutting a few songs in 1963-1964 (most famously, his self-penned "It Hurts To Be Alone"), and was considered its lead vocalist for a short time. He had a remarkably brief career in music but the group continued to regard him fondly. To a lesser extent female singer Beverley Kelso, who though considered an official member at the time, contributed mostly backing vocals, and whose role was taken up by Rita Marley after the Studio One period ended.