The Retroscope: 11 May

11 May 1981: Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley died of lung cancer and a brain tumour aged 36. He had released “No Woman No Cry” in the same year. Time magazine fittingly chose Bob Marley & The Wailers’ Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century. 11 May 1985: UK producer and keyboard player Paul Hardcastle reached #1 in the UK singles chart with “19”. The singles theme was the average age of American soldiers in the Vietnam War and features dialogue by televison narrator Peter Thomas and a strong anti-war message. It used early sampled and process speech technology in a stutter effect in the words “n-n-n-n-nineteen” and “d-d-d-d-destruction” and also includes non-speech samples such as crowd noise and military bugle call. http://www.bubblews.com/news/496953-the-retroscope-11-may