Bob Marley Best Songs Ever

[Irmgard Rossie]

Youcan't have Yin without Yang, you can't have darkness without light, and you can't have reggae without Bob Marley. In our eyes, Marley is the genre of reggae, or at least he was throughout the 70s when he lived and thrived. One of the greatest musical pioneers of all time, Marley cultivated the genre of reggae with love, experimentation, and timeless lyrics. His career has been having a slight renaissance in 2022 thanks to an upcoming biopic, a West End musical, and a touring exhibition all centered around his life. But Marley's always been the epitome of cool, and his fusing of reggae, ska, and rocksteady, as well as his distinctive vocal and songwriting style, keep us warm even in the chilliest of physical or mental conditions.

Born in Nine Mile, Jamaica, Marley began his musical career in 1963, after forming the Teenagers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. They eventually became the Wailers, and the group released its debut studio album The Wailing Wailers in 1965, which included the single "One Love," a reworking of "People Get Ready." The song was popular worldwide, and established the group as a rising figure in reggae. The Wailers released eleven more studio albums, and after signing to Island Records the band's name became Bob Marley and the Wailers. Once The Wailers dipped out in 1974, Marley carried on touring and singing under the group name.

Marley is known for defining reggae records such as Natty Dread, Rastaman Vibration, Exodus, and Uprising. His 1984 greatest hits album Legend became the best-selling reggae album of all time. Marley also ranks as one of the best-selling music artists ever, with estimated sales of more than 75 million records worldwide. He was posthumously honored by Jamaica soon after his death with a designated Order of Merit by his nation. In 1994, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and his other achievements include a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and induction into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.

"Exodus" is a personal favorite of ours (although Bob's Rainbow Theatre 1977 live performance is FAR BETTER than the official recording of the song), and "War" is a criminally underrated track in his discography. But if we had to pick Marley's quintessential even-tempoed "revolution" song, it would be "Get Up, Stand Up." It's solid, strong, and lyrically powerful. It feels like a direct call to action, like Marley is really speaking to you.

Anyway, "One Love / People Get Ready" has endured as a standout in Marley's catalogue thanks to its simplistic-yet-important message and laid-back instrumentation. Listening to this song always makes us feel alright!

A reggae classic with some psychedlic influences, "Stir It Up" is a romantic ballad that was composed by Marley for his wife, Rita, in 1967. While the general consensus is that "Stir It Up" is mainly about strengthing a relationship and making love, some interpret the track to be an ode to smoking marijuana. It is certainly possible, given "Stir It Up's" subtly trippy production and the lines, "I'll blaze your fire" and "cool me down, baby, when I'm hot."

Go to any surf shop, seafood spot, or taco place with a Caribbean influence, and you're bound to hear this classic playing overhead. We love "Jamming" for how smooth it feels. The title is a double entendre. It's based off the verb jammin' (jamming), and it's a Jamic (English Patois vernacular of Jamaica) expression, meaning "to dance and have a good time." So the song is both about hanging out and "jammin'" with friends, as well as dancing and being a part of a musical jam session.

Perhaps Marley's most well-known hit, "Three Little Birds" is the brightest, most optimistic, and most cheery reggae song ever written. It tells the story of Marley encountering three little birds by his windowsill who sing to him in order to lift his spirits. Marley did actually encounter canary birds by the windowsill at his home on Hope Road, and used the experience to craft this song.

Another Uprising masterpiece, "Could You Be Loved" is one of Marley's swankiest, smoothest, and stirring pieces that was created while he was battling cancer. It was released in 1980 as the first single from Uprising, and was written in 1979 on an airplane while The Wailers were experimenting on guitar. With it's hopping sounds and wavy intro, the soulful song is considered by many reggae fans to be disco influenced, and by extension influencing the dancehall genre.

In the middle of the song, background singers quote a verse from Bob Marley's first single "Judge Not": "The road of life is rocky; And you may stumble too. So while you point your fingers, someone else is judging you." Unique instruments used on the original record of this song include the acoustic piano, the Hohner clavinet, an organ, and the Brazilian cuca. "Could You be Loved" was successful on the charts in Europe, peaking within the top 10 in Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK.

Today, "Could You Be Loved" is another Marley song included on Rolling Stones' 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list (#363). We think it's because of its poignant lyrics. The line, "Could you be loved and be love?" begs an important question: can you be the love of the world and still receive love from others?

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The best album credited to Bob Marley taking into account any aliases or variations is Exodus by Bob Marley & The Wailers which is ranked number 265 in the overall greatest album chart with a total rank score of 6,583.

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).

(*In practice, some artists can have several thousand ratings)

This artist is rated in the top 2% of all artists on BestEverAlbums.com. This artist has a Bayesian average rating of 82.3/100, a mean average of 80.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 83.0/100. The standard deviation for this artist is 17.3.

Legend is a compilation album by Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was released on 7 May 1984 by Island Records.[2] It is a greatest hits collection of singles in its original vinyl format and is the best-selling reggae album of all-time, with more than 12 million copies sold in the US, more than 3.3 million in the UK (where it is the 17th best-selling album[3]) and an estimated 25 million copies sold globally.[4][5][6] In 2003, the album was ranked number 46 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", maintaining the ranking in a 2012 revised list,[7] but dropping to number 48 in the 2020 revised list.[8]

The album contains all ten of Bob Marley's Top 40 hit singles in the UK up to the time,[12] plus three songs from the original Wailers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston in "Stir It Up," "I Shot the Sheriff," and "Get Up, Stand Up," along with the closing song from the album Uprising, "Redemption Song." Of the original tracks, only four date from prior to the Exodus album.

The cassette tape release of the album featured two extra songs, "Punky Reggae Party," the B-side to the "Jamming" single, and "Easy Skanking" from the Kaya album. A second generation compact disc remastered by Barry Diament appeared in 1990 on the Tuff Gong label. Although the disc includes the same 14 songs, the tracks are in their original album lengths rather than the edited versions for single release.[citation needed]

On 12 February 2002, the expanded 14-track edition with songs at album lengths were remastered for compact disc with a bonus disc consisting of 1984-vintage remixes for extended dance club singles and dub versions. In 2004, the Legend double-disc deluxe edition was reissued with the music DVD of the same name in the sound + vision deluxe edition. In 2010, Legend was made available as downloadable content for Rock Band. However, it was released without "Get Up, Stand Up", which was later included on Rock Band 3. In June 2012, a high fidelity audiophile version of the album was released on HDtracks in 96 kHz/24bit and 192 kHz/24bit resolutions. Bruno Tilley was the Art Director & Creative Consultant for the sleeve design work.[13]

Legend has peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200, making it Marley's highest-charting album in the US. It also holds the distinction of being the second longest-charting album in the history of Billboard magazine. Combining its chart life on the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Catalog Albums charts, Legend has had a chart run of 2165 nonconsecutive weeks,[18] surpassed only by Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon at 2166 nonconsecutive weeks.[19] As of the Billboard issue dated 27 July 2024, the album has charted on the Billboard 200 for 844 nonconsecutive weeks.[9] As of December 2017, Legend has sold 12.3 million copies in the US since 1991 when SoundScan started tracking album sales, making it the ninth best-selling album of the Nielsen SoundScan era. The RIAA has certified Legend for selling 15 million copies, a total that includes purchases before 1991.[20][21]

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