"Pressure Drop" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by the Maytals | ||||
from the album Monkey Man and The Harder They Come | ||||
B-side | "Smoke Screen" (by Beverley All Stars) | |||
Released | 1970 | |||
Recorded | 1969 | |||
Genre | Reggae | |||
Label | Beverley's, Trojan Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | Frederick "Toots" Hibbert | |||
Producer(s) | Leslie Kong | |||
The Maytals singles chronology | ||||
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"Pressure Drop" is a song recorded in 1969 by the Maytals for record producer Leslie Kong. The song appears on their 1970 album Monkey Man (released in Jamaica by Beverley's Records) and From the Roots (released in the UK by Trojan Records). "Pressure Drop" helped launch the band's career outside Jamaica when the song was featured on the soundtrack to the 1972 film The Harder They Come , which introduced reggae to much of the world. [1] In 2004, Rolling Stone rated the song No. 453 in its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. [2] This song has been covered often, most notably by Robert Palmer, the Specials, Keith Richards, Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds, the Oppressed and the Clash. It is also featured in the soundtrack for MLB The Show 23.[ citation needed ]
In an interview in 2016, songwriter Frederick "Toots" Hibbert said that "Pressure Drop" was a song about karmic justice.
It’s a song about revenge, but in the form of karma: If you do bad things to innocent people, then bad things will happen to you. The title was a phrase I used to say. If someone done me wrong, rather than fight them like a warrior, I’d say: 'The pressure’s going to drop on you.'"
Chart (1992) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [4] | 47 |
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [5] | 40 |
UK Singles (OCC) [6] | 45 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [7] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
James Chambers, OM, known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievements in the arts and sciences.
The Harder They Come is the soundtrack album to the film of the same name, released in 1972 in the United Kingdom as Island Records ILPS 9202. It was issued in February 1973 in North America as Mango Records SMAS-7400. It peaked at No. 140 on the Billboard 200. In 2021, the album was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
Jeffrey Dean Isbell, best known as Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and backing vocalist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded four studio albums and left at the height of their fame in 1991.
The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music.
"54-46 " is a song by Fred "Toots" Hibbert, recorded by Toots and the Maytals, originally released on the Beverley's label in Jamaica and the Pyramid label in the UK. A follow-up version released a year later, "54-46 Was My Number", was one of the first reggae songs to receive widespread popularity outside Jamaica, and is seen as being one of the defining songs of the genre. It has been anthologised repeatedly and the titles of several reggae anthologies include "54-46" in their title.
Leslie Kong was a Jamaican reggae producer.
Frederick Nathaniel "Toots" Hibbert, was a Jamaican singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist for the reggae and ska band Toots and the Maytals. A reggae pioneer, he performed for six decades and helped establish some of the fundamentals of reggae music. Hibbert's 1968 song "Do the Reggay" is widely credited as the genesis of the genre name reggae. His band's album True Love won a Grammy Award in 2005.
"Welcome to the Jungle" is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses, featured as the opening track on their debut album, Appetite for Destruction (1987). It was released as the album's second single initially in the UK in September 1987 then again in October 1988 this time including the US, where it reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 24 on the UK Singles Chart.
Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds is the debut solo album by American rock and roll musician Izzy Stradlin, released after his departure from Guns N' Roses. It is his only album under the Ju Ju Hounds moniker.
Funky Kingston is the name of two albums by Jamaican reggae group Toots and the Maytals. The first was issued in Jamaica and the United Kingdom in 1973 on Dragon Records, a subsidiary label of Island Records, owned by Chris Blackwell. A different album, with the same cover and title, was issued in the United States in 1975 on Mango Records. That album was compiled from three previous Maytals albums by Island Records employee Danny Holloway and peaked at #164 on the Billboard 200. It was also voted the eleventh best album of 1975 in the annual Jazz & Pop poll. In 2003, the American version was placed at number 378 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, 380 in a 2012 revised list and 344 in a 2020 revised list.
The discography of American musician Izzy Stradlin consists of 11 studio albums, 1 extended play and 11 singles.
In the Dark is the second international album release by the reggae singing group Toots and the Maytals, issued in Jamaica and in the United Kingdom on Dragon Records, DRLS 5004, a subsidiary label owned by Chris Blackwell. It was released in September 1974.
"Bam Bam" is a 1982 song by Jamaican dancehall recording artist Sister Nancy. The song's chorus was inspired by the 1966 song of the same name, by The Maytals and Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. The song's instrumental samples the 1974 song "Stalag 17", by Ansell Collins, a well known riddim, alternatively known as a backing track used repeatedly. The song has been labeled as a "well-known reggae anthem" by BBC and a "classic" by The Observer.
Paul Douglas is a Jamaican musician, best known for his work as the drummer, percussionist and bandleader of Toots and the Maytals. His career spans more than five decades as one of reggae's most recorded drummers. Music journalist and reggae historian David Katz wrote, "dependable drummer Paul Douglas played on countless reggae hits."
Reggae Got Soul is an album by the Jamaican reggae group Toots and the Maytals, released in July 1976 by Island Records.
Clifton "Jackie" Jackson is a Jamaican bass player, who was an important and prolific session musician and bassist on ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub and discomix records throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and was later a member of Toots and the Maytals.
Got to Be Tough is a studio album by Jamaican reggae band Toots and the Maytals. It was released through Trojan Jamaica/BMG on 28 August 2020 and financed by Trojan Jamaica owner Zak Starkey, who also played guitar for the recording. The album is the first studio release from Toots and the Maytals in more than a decade and the first after an accident wherein bandleader Toots Hibbert was hit in the head with a glass bottle, leading to his hiatus from performing. The lyrical content of the album is political, featuring pleas for unity among people.
Pass the Pipe is an album by the Jamaican reggae band Toots and the Maytals. It was released in 1979 on Mango Records.
Toots in Memphis is an album by the Jamaican musician Toots Hibbert. Released in 1988, Toots in Memphis was recorded without the Maytals. The majority of the album's tracks are covers of American R&B songs.
This is the discography of Jamaican reggae group Toots and the Maytals, including their releases as 'the Maytals' as well as the solo discography of their lead singer Toots Hibbert.