‘RUDEBOY: The Story of Trojan Records’ Documentary

Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records explores how Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music shaped the social history of Britain.

I recently ventured out to the hustle and bustle of central London to visit the London College of Fashion. Not knowing a huge amount about Trojan Records’ influence on British music in the UK, I was excited to learn more about its legacy. Speaking at the event was also Natalie Wills, the costume designer for Rudeboy. As the first generation in her family to go to university to initially study Law, Natalie has built a career of over fifteen years of experience in costume design for various television, film and commercials. After grabbing a drink or two, I settled down with other fellow culture vultures and fashion students to watch the film.

Rudeboy gives a unique take on how Jamaican or ‘rudeboy’ music and culture influenced 1960s and ‘70s Britain. Well known for its youth subcultures, this particular era of 1960s Britain saw a burst of fashion, music, class and politics. Director Nicolas Jack Davies conveys the influence of Jamaican reggae through a blend of one-on-one interviews with legends in reggae music, archive footage, and stylishly executed recreations of ‘60s and ‘70s culture, dancing, and fashion. The well-executed recreation of this distinctive style on screen gives a real sense of how important style was to Jamaican culture in Britain, tied with identity and subculture that had a uniqueness before the mass-production associated with today’s modern fashion trends. Being able to see and hear Rudeboy on the big screen allowed me to feel fully immersed and transported back to this era in Britain.

It is well known that differences between these groups sometimes went beyond fashion and music, with notable clashes sometimes resulting in violence. ‘Teddy Boys’ in particular had a reputation for thuggish violence and racist bigotry towards black communities. Through interviews with cultural pioneers such as Don Letts (BBC radio host and founding member of ‘Big Audio Dynamite’), the film explores how the emergence of Trojan Records was initially about giving a space for those who had emigrated to Britain and were missing the sounds and culture of Jamaica, but that over time, this helped to create a sense of belonging and identity for black British teenagers and young adults. 

Emerging in 1968, at a time of anti-immigration rhetoric and increased racial tensions, most notably with Enoch Powell’s controversial ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, the founders of Trojan Records disrupted 1960s Britain by creating a space for Jamaican music and culture that was not there before. While the film recounts how initially mainstream platforms such as the BBC were reluctant to play reggae, the growing numbers of records sold and stylistic choices to make reggae music more commercially successful meant that Trojan Records’ influence grew even more widespread – one example of this is Bob and Marcia’s cover of ‘Young, Gifted and Black’ which reached number 5 in the British charts.

As Trojan Records’ popularity grew, reggae and Jamaican culture’s influence spilled into other British youth subcultures, culminating in the emergence of ‘Trojan Skinhead Culture’. While elements of Skinhead culture have acquired negative associations with violence and racism over time, Rudeboy gives insight into how the first-wave of Skinheads in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s simultaneously embraced working-class identity alongside Jamaican music and fashion, often against the racial prejudices of their parents. The film therefore shows not only the importance of music in giving a sense of nostalgia for Jamaicans who had emigrated to Britain which future generations could enjoy, but also how music, fashion and subcultures can be a source of connection for diverse communities living together in Britain.

As consumer tastes in Britain and music in Jamaica began to change, after experiencing financial difficulties, Trojan Records went into liquidation and acquired a new owner in 1975. Nonetheless, Trojan Records’ legacy cannot only be seen in how it transformed popular music and culture, particularly the subgenres of ska and pink rock, but also in its social legacy in showing how music and fashion can bring different communities together in a way that other institutions strive to achieve.

‘Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records’ is available to download and stream at https://trojanrecords.com/rudeboydocumentary/

Lucy Brinkley