Reggae rock is a style of Rock which incorporates the offbeat rhythms and staccato "skank" guitar of Reggae into an electric rock band format. The genre may also draw on earlier sounds in Jamaican Music like the brass of Ska and the steadier grooves of Rocksteady, but remains predominantly influenced by styles of reggae like Pop Reggae and Roots Reggae. Later evolutions of reggae rock incorporate heavier influences from Punk Rock (sometimes known as "reggae punk") and related genres
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Reggae rock is a style of Rock which incorporates the offbeat rhythms and staccato "skank" guitar of Reggae into an electric rock band format. The genre may also draw on earlier sounds in Jamaican Music like the brass of Ska and the steadier grooves of Rocksteady, but remains predominantly influenced by styles of reggae like Pop Reggae and Roots Reggae. Later evolutions of reggae rock incorporate heavier influences from Punk Rock (sometimes known as "reggae punk") and related genres, diverging further from reggae's Jamaican roots while retaining prominent compositional elements of the style.
The reggae rock sound can be traced back to singles by established rock artists like Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er" in 1973 and Eric Clapton's 1974 The Wailers cover "I Shot the Sheriff" that built on the foundation of Funk Rock with reggae rhythms. The genre grew more distinctive in the late 1970s with the onset of influences from New Wave's eclectic rhythmic tendencies and Post-Punk's emphasis on groove, and was paralleled by the 2 Tone ska revival which it sometimes overlapped with. This style found popularity with groups like The Police and The Clash in the UK, and Australia's Men at Work followed in the early 1980s with the single "Down Under" which topped charts around the globe.
Reggae rock saw a resurgence in the 1990s Alternative Rock boom and its intersection with the Third Wave Ska movement, particularly in Southern California. Sublime, No Doubt, and Nebraska's 311 saw commercial success with reggae rock songs, and were followed by further groups with more regional success like Slightly Stoopid, The Expendables, and Pepper (originally from Hawaii). The "Cali reggae" scene continued into the 2000s with groups like Rebelution and Dirty Heads as well as Michael Franti & Spearhead's turn towards the genre on 2006's Yell Fire! and Sublime's 2009 reunion with a new vocalist as Sublime With Rome. The style has remained popular, leading to its inclusion as a core focus of the annual California Roots Music and Arts Festival as it began in 2010, as well as a festival dedicated exclusively to reggae rock, New Jersey's Bayville Fest, which emerged in 2016.
