Five Places You Know Prince Buster From

One of the most musically and lyrically influential people in the history of Jamaican music was Prince Buster. He first sought to incorporate hand drumming into the ska beat and singularly defined topical discussions through the medium, mostly focusing on relationships and occurrences around Kingston. And even as he does maintain a relatively high profile, even today, you may know him better through the work of others.

Judge Dread

Much like Price Buster, Judge Dread did some time as a professional boxer. His intimidating personage served to prove any threats made through his music. But it also made him something of skinhead icon. After hearing Buster’s “Big Five,” Dread saw fit to write and record “Big Six.” The off color and at the time scandalous lyrical content of not just that song, but a great deal of his catalog served to get most of his work censored at the time.

Madness

Apart from the fact that this British band plain ole named themselves after a song by Prince Buster, the group saw fit to cover “One Step Beyond” as the lead off track to their album of the same name. And while, just this would count as an obsession, Madness recorded a track called “The Prince,” in which they spoke glowingly about the singer. Of course, they were one of the higher profile acts from the 2-Tone era. And because of this, they can in part, be credited with revitalizing the ailing career of Buster during the ‘70s.

The (English) Beat

Much like their peers Madness, The (English) Beat possessed a serious reverence for the original class of ska bands and performers. Seeing as Madness grabbed a few of Prince Buster’s gems, this band saw fit to record the raunchy “Whine and Grine.” The track, pretty explicitly for any era, but specifically the ‘60s and ‘70s, describes the sexual proclivities of a woman.

The Toasters

Serving as one of America’s first ska bands and sporting Bucket – a Brit himself – on vocals, the Toasters over their almost thirty years as a band have paid homage to the Jamaican singer as well. They went so fat as to name their 1996 album Hard Band Fe Dead. And while the song that went by the same name wasn’t a literal interpretation of the Prince Buster song, it did serve to expose Buster and his work to a new generation of ska enthusiasts.

Stubborn All-Stars

In 1997 as America witnessed a bizarre influx of ska enthusiasts, the Stubborn All Stars released their second disc. Open Season sported a track that somehow even managed to make it into rotation on MTV alongside the likes of Bush and whatever other grunge acts were touted at the time. But also on that album there was a song entitled “Judge Knotte.” The track pits a fiery and ill tempered judicial figure against an onslaught of what would be considered faux-ska fans and pseudo fascist. In more than just a few ways, the song echoed the work of Buster and his song “Judge Dread” from which the performer also took his name.