Late Great Planet Earth

Their union in the Boneshakers was fairly short-lived, but together guitarist/songwriter Randy Jacobs and vocalist Sweet Pea Atkinson put together two powerful, rockin' funk and soul albums and entertained some lucky audiences who became Boneshakers themselves on dance floors across the U.S. Atkinson was born in Oberlin, OH. After working 14 years as a Chrysler assembly line worker, he left his job to pursue a music career, singing for such Detroit R&B groups as the Exquisites and Energy. While with Energy, he worked with Detroit producer Don Was (then unknown). He has also sung with industry heavyweights Elton John, Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt, Neil Diamond, and Brian Wilson.

Duran Duran personified new wave for much of the mainstream audience. And for good reason. Duran Duran's reputation was built through music videos, which accentuated their fashion-model looks and glamorous sense of style. Without music videos, it's likely that their pop-funk – described by the group as the Sex Pistols-meet-Chic – would never have made them international pop stars…

A quick internet search brings up some extraordinary footage of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry producing a session at the Black Ark. Taken from the film ‘Roots, Rock, Reggae’, directed by Jeremy Marre, the sequence shows Junior Murvin collaborating with members of the Congos and the Heptones on a song improvised on the spot for the film crew. Before the vocals are recorded, the Upsetters lay down the backing track. The musical director of the session is the afro-haired bass player, Boris Gardiner; unusually, it is he who counts in the band to start each take. After a long conversation with Boris a few years back, I asked Lee about his contribution to the Black Ark sound.

Rolling Stone Magazine released a list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in November 2004. It represents an eclectic mix of music spanning the past 50 years, and contains a wide variety of artists sharing the spotlight. The Rolling Stone 500 was compiled by 172 voters comprised of rock artists and well-known rock music experts, who submitted ranked lists of their favorite 50 Rock & Roll/Pop music songs. The songs were then tallied to create the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.