A fictional story of young love and music at a blues party in the early 1980s. | dG1fUElhOEs5eWkxLW8
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Short filmTranscript
00:00This is a story about the music and the way we were back in the 70s and 80s.
00:11We were the rebel generation.
00:23To me, lovers rock is the ingredients that's been put in by we here in the UK.
00:29This is our contribution to the recipe of reggae.
00:33It's a music, right, that speaks to the heart, the soul and the mind.
00:39It's a language, it's a way of life, it's a culture.
00:43I just love the way it makes me feel, I relax, nothing matters.
00:47It just makes me feel good, you know?
00:50When you hear it, you say, oh, where am I now?
00:54If I could give the world to you.
00:58We were the first generation from the Caribbean who had gone to school here.
01:03So it was about making a mark in a way.
01:05At the time, the streets weren't safe.
01:08We were experiencing a lot of racism.
01:14Our parents really didn't understand the system and what was going on.
01:17So Love of Rock was like an escape for us.
01:30It was almost like a kind of coping mechanism.
01:32You'd wait for that to come on.
01:34Even the wickedest man with the biggest car murderer, when he made a lover,
01:39he made a look like a girl for dance with them.
01:41I'm too exy, you're rubber.
01:47It was quite scary, because that dance is quite an intimate dance.
01:51I remember I didn't move much.
01:53I was held up against the wall.
01:55I ain't gonna tell you what happened, but I did jerk a lot, uncontrollably,
02:00against that wall, something happened.
02:02You know, when you actually go down like this,
02:04you go all the way down and you're feeling good about yourself
02:07because you've made it, your legs have a knot together,
02:09and then I look up and I realise that she hasn't come down with me,
02:11she's looking down and like, what are you doing, you're an idiot.
02:13We were creating something distinctly British, right?
02:20And we were hoping one day to be as big as any other genre.
02:26A lot of people were coming from Jamaica to be a part of the English industry
02:32and seeing Dennis Brown, your Gregory Isaacs, your Freddie MacGregor.
02:39Moving! Moving!
02:44By the 70s, when I was growing up as first generation Jamaican,
02:50we had kids at school, white kids at school,
02:54that was as familiar with reggae as we were,
02:57because their parents were into ska.
02:59My mum really loved Lovers Rock,
03:01and that's kind of what sucked me into the genre.
03:04At the moment there's a resurgence of Lovers Rock,
03:13and there's actually younger performers getting into it.
03:18A lot of Japanese Lovers Rock artists.
03:25Australia, New Zealand.
03:28So, it's taking hold globally.
03:37I've been wanting you
03:40For so long you say shit
03:44I'm gonna make you love
03:47Love me
03:50Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
03:56I'm stuck on you
03:58Got a feeling down leaving the soul
04:00That I just can't move
04:02Girl, I'm on my way
04:06Ed, Ed, Ed, Ed, you're not actually moving.
04:19I know, fears.
04:25Oh.
04:27With this music, we created our own unique genre that became known as lovers rock.
04:36Okay, people, this is lovers rock.