Don Letts, the Man Between Reggae and Punk

OI! CLICK TO THE LIKE BUTTON / SHARE / SUBSCRIBE TO SKINHEAD HISTORY! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A young Black man stands in a DJ booth at London's first punk club in 1977. The crowd is almost entirely white, spiky-haired, ready for fast, furious punk. And he does not play punk. He plays reggae — deep, heavy Jamaican dub. And the punks love it. In that moment, two of the most important musical cultures of the twentieth century are welded together — and the man doing the welding cannot play a single instrument. Don Letts was born in London in 1956, the son of Jamaican immigrants. In 1975 he began running Acme Attractions, a Chelsea clothing store whose basement — where Letts blasted dub reggae — became a hub for the emerging punk scene: the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Generation X. Then came the Roxy, Britain's first punk club, where Letts became DJ in early 1977. There was barely any recorded punk yet, so he played what he loved: heavy Jamaican dub. The punks embraced it, and the "punky reggae party" was born. This matters because Letts in 1977 was doing exactly what the original skinheads had done in 1969 — the same collision of Jamaican music and white British working class youth. He was the bridge skinhead culture had always been built on, made into a single person. He picked up a Super-8 camera and shot The Punk Rock Movie, then directed over 300 music videos including London Calling, befriended Bob Marley, and co-founded Big Audio Dynamite with Mick Jones. Decades later he directed The Story of Skinhead — the documentary that finally told the truth about skinhead culture's multiracial roots. Of course it was Don Letts. He had spent his whole life being that story. His lesson, in his own words: never limit yourself. When these cultures meet, they do not clash. They create. Season 01 - The People Who Built the Culture Episode 03 – Don Letts, the Man Between Reggae and Punk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our site https://skinheadhistory.com Show your support for the channel — visit our store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/skinheadhistory STAY RUDE STAY REBEL #skinheadhistory #skinhead #donletts

Added 9 Oct 2026