AboutGrant Miner Expertise I can answer a broad range of questions on reggae music, its history, and the religious and social factors that have influenced its development in Jamaica and elsewhere. I also have a similarly broad knowledge base for old school Punk Rock (circa 1976-1982).
Experience A performing musician for 20 years, I have traveled extensively in Jamaica and England as well as the USA, always with an eye and an ear for music.
Publications In the early 80s I conducted interviews and wrote for numerous underground music magazines: Paranoia, Flipside, etc. More recently I have written about sports for Bartcop.com
Awards and Honors American Academy of Poetry Award (1984)
Expert: Grant Miner Date: 3/19/2008 Subject: bob marley
Question how did bob marley influence fashion?
Answer I had to think about this question for a while, not knowing much about fashion. At first, it would seem to me that Bob didn't influence fashion at all. As a person and as a performer, Marley dressed very unpretentiously. In photographs, he often wears an untucked button-down shirt with jeans, sometimes a tank top, t-shirt, or dashiki. Always, he looks like a man who picked his clothes based on comfort not style.
In that sense, Bob's only contribution to fashion would be that the popularity of his music and message inspired kids from all different types of backgrounds to start sporting dreadlocks or at least t-shirts with the Lion of Judah or other symbols associated with Rastafarianism. It may be, however, that Bob's simple mode of dress, in and of itself, influenced fashion. In the 70s, when Bob was reaching the peak of his popularity, musicians tended toward flamboyant clothes. From George Clinton's astronaut-pimp gear to Queen's unitards, musicians of all styles dressed in a manner that was simultaneously pretentious and ridiculous. This was the decade that gave us KISS, after all. Bob's refusal to adopt the sartorial trappings of stardom may have, along with a similar attitude among punk rockers, created the environment we now take for granted. That is, that many of today's most successful performers dress in clothes you or I can buy at the swap meet. And that's a good thing.
