Judge Dread: Music Hall Traditionalist or Postcolonial Hybrid
Judge Dread (Alex Hughes) had nine top forty hits in the early 1970s. All were banned bythe BBC. Almost all the music press ignored him. Hughes was white and working class; hismost significant idea was to combine naughty remakes of nursery rhymes with ska androck steady backing rhythms. Judge Dread’...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Routledge
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43792 |
| _version_ | 1848756810458071040 |
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| author | Stratton, Jon |
| author_facet | Stratton, Jon |
| author_sort | Stratton, Jon |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Judge Dread (Alex Hughes) had nine top forty hits in the early 1970s. All were banned bythe BBC. Almost all the music press ignored him. Hughes was white and working class; hismost significant idea was to combine naughty remakes of nursery rhymes with ska androck steady backing rhythms. Judge Dread’s singles were a big hit with skinheads. By themid-1970s, when the skinhead subculture had died out, Dread was releasing rudeparodies of songs such as ‘Je t’aime . . . moi non plus’ and ‘Y Viva Espana’. This articleargues that Hughes’ work was founded in music-hall genres but also was influenced by theJamaican rudeness tradition. Hughes can be understood as both a music-halltraditionalist and a postcolonial hybrid. His recordings helped to familiarise Britonswith Jamaican music. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:18:07Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-43792 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:18:07Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-437922017-01-30T15:10:11Z Judge Dread: Music Hall Traditionalist or Postcolonial Hybrid Stratton, Jon Postcolonial Ska Hybrid Music Hall Judge Dread Judge Dread (Alex Hughes) had nine top forty hits in the early 1970s. All were banned bythe BBC. Almost all the music press ignored him. Hughes was white and working class; hismost significant idea was to combine naughty remakes of nursery rhymes with ska androck steady backing rhythms. Judge Dread’s singles were a big hit with skinheads. By themid-1970s, when the skinhead subculture had died out, Dread was releasing rudeparodies of songs such as ‘Je t’aime . . . moi non plus’ and ‘Y Viva Espana’. This articleargues that Hughes’ work was founded in music-hall genres but also was influenced by theJamaican rudeness tradition. Hughes can be understood as both a music-halltraditionalist and a postcolonial hybrid. His recordings helped to familiarise Britonswith Jamaican music. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43792 Routledge restricted |
| spellingShingle | Postcolonial Ska Hybrid Music Hall Judge Dread Stratton, Jon Judge Dread: Music Hall Traditionalist or Postcolonial Hybrid |
| title | Judge Dread: Music Hall Traditionalist or Postcolonial Hybrid |
| title_full | Judge Dread: Music Hall Traditionalist or Postcolonial Hybrid |
| title_fullStr | Judge Dread: Music Hall Traditionalist or Postcolonial Hybrid |
| title_full_unstemmed | Judge Dread: Music Hall Traditionalist or Postcolonial Hybrid |
| title_short | Judge Dread: Music Hall Traditionalist or Postcolonial Hybrid |
| title_sort | judge dread: music hall traditionalist or postcolonial hybrid |
| topic | Postcolonial Ska Hybrid Music Hall Judge Dread |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43792 |