The 500 - #169 - Exodus - Bob Marley

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #169
Album Title: Exodus

Artist: Bob Marley and The Wailers

Genre: Reggae

Recorded: Harry J. Studios, Kingston, Jamaica; Island Studios, London, England

Released: June, 1977

My age at release: 11
How familiar was I with it before this week: Quite

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #71, moving up 98 spots
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Three Little Birds

Students in my Grade 7 class are always amazed when they learn that high schools in my era had school-sanctioned "smoking patios". These days, at schools throughout our Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB), smoking, vaping and use of marijuana products are prohibited within 20 metres of any school property. In retrospect, it seems a little strange that prior to the turning of the millennium society tolerated smoking almost everywhere. As teens, my chums and I were well aware that some teachers smoked in their offices and the staff lounge. We even suspected a few of them dabbled in more than tobacco.

A joke from the 2002 episode of The Simpson's that hit close

to home for me and many friends.

On-campus smoking of any substance was not only allowed at my high school (Saunders Secondary in London, Ontario), the building's design seemed to encourage it. Built in the early ‘70s, it mixed modern and brutalist architecture to create a menacing structure that seemed more like a prison than a learning institution.

Saunders Secondary School, east profile.

The front of the school featured a row of large brick support walls built on a concrete set of stairs above a short and seldom used service road. These "stalls", as they were dubbed, provided the perfect place for students to hide from staff.. It was a teen stoner's paradise, and marijuana products were smoked and sold daily in the secluded alleys.

The stalls - circled in red, can be seen behind the fencing and

sign (additions long after I left the school).

Despite being a "non-smoker" in 1981, I still spent a lot of time hanging around the stalls. It was where many of the older, cooler and rebellious kids staked their claim, holding court with conversations about music, school gossip and teen philosophy. One day, a senior began waxing poetic, between puffs, about how he was adopting Bob Marley's Rastafarian lifestyle. He  boldly asserted: "I can't get arrested for smoking weed because it's my religion." I was fascinated, and had many questions. In a time before the Internet, taking advantage of a senior student's experience was critical to one's social currency. To his credit, a lot of what he shared about the Rastas was accurate.

Bob Marley enjoying a marijuana joint on the cover
of his 1975 album, Catch A Fire (#126 on The 500).

Now, with the benefit of research technology, I can summarize the practice more easily and accurately. Rastafari is a religious and political movement that developed in Marley's home country of Jamaica in the 1930s. It combines Protestant Christian beliefs with a pan-African political consciousness. It borrows heavily from the Old Testament stories of the Israelites' enslavement in the book of Exodus, their forced detention in Babylon (598-586 BCE) and their exile from Palestine. Rastafarians extend their philosophy to the people of African descent who were shipped around the world during the Atlantic Slave Trade (15th-19th Century). They believe they are "exiles of Babylon" who are being tested by Jah (God) through slavery, economic injustice and oppression. Rastafarians await their deliverance and return to Zion. However, this is not the historical Zion of the Old Testament -- the two easternmost hills in Jerusalem. Rather, the Zion of Rastafarians is the name for Ethiopia. Symbolically, it represents a place of unity, peace and freedom.

The Lion of Judah, originally a symbol from the 
Jewish faith and later adopted by the Rastafarian faith.

Much of the connection to Ethiopia as the ultimate home for all Africans comes from the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie I (1930 - 1974) who steered his country into the modern age following World War II, allowing the country to join the United Nations and the League of Nations.

Haile Selassie I.

Rastafarians strive to live a "balanced lifestyle" and typically ascribe to the following practises:

• They wear their hair in dreadlocks (long, rope-like strands of knotted hair that have been ‘locked-in”, or entwined, by leaving it uncombed).
• They dress in red, green, gold and black colours - symbolizing blood, herbs, royalty and Africanness.
• They are vegetarian.
• They practice "itation" (meditation), with the inclusion of "ganja" (marijuana) which they believe helps them get closer to Jah (God).
• They also participate in "bingis" - all-night drumming ceremonies -- hence the connection to Reggae Music

Bob Marley was not the first Rastafarian musician, but his ability to combine his music with blues, soul and elements of British rock propelled his albums to international acclaim. Exodus was a commercial and critical success for Marley, remaining on the U.K. charts for a staggering 56 weeks. He is, without a doubt, the most popular and best-selling reggae star of all time -- a universal icon of the genre and the Rastafarian movement.

Side One of Exodus focused on themes of social change, religion and politics -- informed largely by the intense, polarizing political violence wracking Jamaica at the time. However, Side Two addressed the universal themes of love and faith. It included the massively popular Three Little Birds, a gentle anthem encouraging positivity and resilience in the face of adversity. In times of stress, the simple lyrics are a soothing antidote and one I share with students facing moments of academic anxiety:."Don't worry about a thing/'cause every little thing, gonna be alright".

It's not surprising that the musical, spiritual, political and social revolution that Marley super-charged in 1977 made its way to the philosophical lexicon of a Grade 12 stoner in London, Ontario, by 1981. Unfortunately, despite his efforts to become a Rasta, he would have to wait until October, 2018, before marijuana was legalized in Canada. He just wouldn't be allowed to smoke it within 20 metres of his old high school -- unless he hid in the stalls.