I’m an unapologetic Bob Marley fan. And no, it’s not because we’re both from Jamaica. Nor is it solely based on my love of quality reggae music. It’s deeper than that.
Robert Nesta Marley has been called a spiritual messenger, a gifted storyteller, a musical genius. All those titles ring true, but for some people he is above all else the King of Reggae.
Sometimes it’s difficult to wrap my head around the fact that Bob was only 36 when he died of cancer in 1981. The body of work he produced, both as a solo artist and with The Wailers, in that short time is mind-blowing. Some sources put the number at around 28: 10 studio albums (one posthumously), numerous compilations (including Legend, the best-selling reggae album of all time) and live albums.
When Marley said, “My music will go on forever…” he wasn’t being boastful or arrogant, but prophetic.
Forty-five years after his death, people are still appreciating the man who brought us inspiring “rebel music” with his distinctive melodic voice and dynamic presence.
You’ll see many sides to the complex superstar whose songs of freedom, resistance, peace and love continue to move us today. Here are just a few.
Bob the Cultural Pioneer
Forged on the island of Jamaica in the 1960s—mixing native music forms such as mento, ska, rocksteady with elements of R&B, jazz and other genres set to an offbeat guitar rhythm—reggae music didn’t just arrive on the scene so much as it exploded. And Bob Marley and the Wailers were among those lighting the fuse. Their acclaimed 1973 album Catch A Fire and the successful tour of the same name are often cited as being influential in taking reggae to an international audience.
Herbie Miller, Director and Curator of the Jamaica Music Museum at the Institute of Jamaica, admits to a special affinity for those early works by the original Wailers (Bob, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer). “Their music represents a narrative that goes from the plantation to the concert hall and parallel to that from the plantation to freedom,” he tells ESSENCE.
Bob, with his innate charisma, mystical Rastafarian aura and outsize talent quickly amassed a cult following, becoming the face of reggae. In a 1973 Billboard interview, the singer had this to say about taking his music worldwide: “My music gets my message across, so we are touring for more than commercial reasons… Reggae is for everyone, and we hope we can help everyone with our music.”
Bob the Genre-Defining Lyricist
“The genius of Marley is that he had the ability to make a song for all seasons,” Miller says. “[Basically], everything that has ever happened, there is a Marley song to punctuate that.”
Looking at the range of Bob’s work, that’s undeniable. The themes in his songs run the gamut from love, hope, despair, pain, healing, romance, resistance, rebellion, sex, defiance, even bravado. He was a maestro at creating melody and lyrics that nimbly melded social, political, spiritual and feel-good messages.
The beats, the words, the rhythms are so powerful they can have you “skanking” on the dance floor one minute (“Lively Up Yourself”), leave you pondering the injustices of the world the next (“So Much Trouble in the World”), preparing to take up the fight against the powers that be and their “isms and schisms” (“Chant Down Babylon”), anticipating quality time with your boo (“Turn Your Lights Down Low”) or just chilling and forgetting all your worries (“Three Little Birds”).
Marley’s own “So Much Things to Say” is a fitting description of his prolific songwriting career.
Bob the Social Justice Warrior
Much of the message Bob took to the world centered around Black liberation, and freedom.
“His dedication to freedom and liberation wasn’t marketing vibes—it wasn’t for show. That was the man. He wasn’t about jumping on a bandwagon—he led the wagon,” Miller says, who references an early Marley song, “Freedom Time” and the lyrics “Got the news from a whispering tree/This is the time when man must be freed/No more burning in vain/All we lose, we’ll have to gain,” as an example. Written in the 1960s and performed over a ska beat, the song had the core theme that we must get ready to free ourselves.
Showing his militant stance, Marley is widely credited with saying, “Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life” and songs like “Get Up, Stand Up,” encourage active resistance.
“As a revolutionary, Bob slept with his weapon beside him. His pen was metaphorically his most powerful weapon,” Miller says. He clearly wielded that weapon with expert precision.
Bob the Romantic
Some of the most popular music in Bob’s catalog are the ones that reveal his softer side. The consummate ladies’ man offered up tender lyrics and soulful rhythms on songs like “Waiting in Vain” and “Is This Love,” and even spoke about heartbreak in “Love & Affection.”
Miller says he appreciates how some of Bob’s more evocative lyrics about romance and intimacy “were suggestive and not lewd.” So, when he wrote “Guava Jelly,” which was lowkey about sexual intercourse, it was okay for mainstream artists like Johnny Nash and Barbra Streisand to cover it.
When I asked other Marley fans for their top Marley songs we couldn’t come to a consensus. Music curator Miller wouldn’t even think of choosing. “I don’t have a favorite Bob Marley song. Whatever I’m listening to in that moment is that song. There are many songs for different moments,” he says, adding that “His philosophy and songs are worthy of being taught in schools and colleges.” On that we could agree.
5 Facts about Bob Marley and his music for the uninitiated:
- He was the first reggae artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Inducted posthumously in 1994 for his contribution to rock music and global culture, he was recognized as “the patron saint of reggae.”
- In 1999, his 1977 seminal work Exodus was named the 20th Century’s most important album by Time magazine.
- His anthem, “One Love” from Exodus was dubbed the Song of the Millennium by the BBC.
- The 2024 Bob Marley: One Love biopic earned approximately US $181 million worldwide.
5 Songs by Bob Marley and the Wailers That Deserve More Airplay
“War”
