Judge Dread

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Alexander Minto Hughes (born May 2, 1945 in Kent , England , † March 13, 1998 in Canterbury ), known by his stage name Judge Dread , was a British reggae and ska musician.

history

Judge Dread was the first white musician to have a reggae hit in Jamaica and the first white musician with the British label Trojan Records . In order to boost sales in Jamaica, the single Big Six was released without a photo, as no white reggae was trusted. His crude texts were often characterized by an extremely permissive, often ironic approach to sexuality.

In his youth he moved to a part of Brixton, where the first black immigrants lived in his neighborhood and where he discovered his love for Caribbean sounds. There were rude boys there - black young people who mostly got together in gangs and who also cast a spell over white young people with "their" music, ska and reggae, including him. He later reflected this influence in his 1976 song Bring Back The Skins (Reprise) . The skinhead movement , which grew in the major British cities in the 1960s, adapted the music cult, and over time Judge Dread became one of the most famous and abstruse figures on the skinhead scene.

He finished school at the age of 15 and his first job was in a factory that made cricket bats. Afterwards he also worked as a hotel employee in a beach hotel, where he fed and tended the crocodiles. At the age of 22 he worked as a catcher under the name “The Masked Executioner”, later as a debt collector for Trojan and finally in the late 1960s as a band roadie, bouncer and bouncer at the London club “ The Brixton's Ram Jam Club ”. He also acted as the personal bodyguard for Prince Buster , the Maharajah of Jaipur, Desmond Dekker , Derrick Morgan , Coxsone Dodd , Duke Reid and also for the Rolling Stones . He worked as a DJ and toaster and performed as a singer without a permanent band. Hughes also worked as a DJ on a local radio station and made his own program. With his mobile disco he wandered through the villages and small towns of the English county of Kent. The showpiece of his disco was a large collection of reggae records.

It was Prince Buster who initiated Hughes' metamorphosis into a "Reggae & Ska" interpreter and opened the doors to the Trojan label for him. Hughes then gave himself the name "Judge Dread" (a title from Prince Buster) and thus honored the help of "Prince Buster" in entering the music business.

He watched "Prince Buster" while he was working in the studio and so came up with the idea to use the rhythm of The Typhoon all Stars "Verne & Son's" (Maytones) 1971 - "Little Boy Blue" ((GG Records GG4523 B) a sub-label of Trojan )) to write his funny rhymes and called this title "Big Six". This became his first and most famous song, which made it to number 11 in the UK charts in 1972 .

The songs Big Seven to Big Ten were to follow. Albums were e.g. B. the debut Dreadmania and The Last of the Skinheads . In 1980 a remake of Big Six made it into the German charts. In the 1990s, Big Seven was re-recorded with the German dancehall singer Dr. Ring thing , which received a lot of attention in the German reggae scene.

With the ambiguity of his song lyrics, he surpassed the usual sexual innuendos of his black DJ and toaster colleagues by far. The texts were characterized by their extremely concrete, dirty, slippery and pornographic language. That barred his access to the English media all his life. He has been declared the # 1 Moral Criminal by the British Radio and Television ( BBC ). In order not to spoil the youth and to protect them from this music, all of his songs were not allowed to be broadcast publicly. To get around that, he changed his stage name and the record label several times, but nothing helped. The Guinness Book of Records lists Judge Dread as the artist with the most BBC- banned songs of all time . But precisely the openly sexist texts, mostly performed with humorous British self-irony, were cult among his fans and secured him a permanent place in the global reggae scene, even today. Despite the bans, Judge Dread releases more reggae & ska hits in the UK than any other artist, including Bob Marley .

He was friends with Robert "Doc" Cox (born July 1, 1946 in Sheffield , Yorkshire ), stage name Ivor Biggun , wrote lyrics for him and recorded the title "Bonkola" with him, but the album "Handling Swollen Goods" was not released until 2005 .

In 1975 Trojan went bankrupt and Judge Dread bought his own record rights.

He was also the first artist to record a benefit record for the starving Ethiopia (Molly (Trojan TR.7905)) in 1973, 12 years before Band Aid . For this he was made an honorary citizen of Ethiopia .

Dread wrote regularly in "Disc", one of the leading English music magazines, columns on reggae music.

Judge Dread died of a heart attack at the age of 52 after a concert at the Penny Theater , Canterbury .

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Bedtime Stories
  UK 26th December 06, 1975 (12 weeks)
40 big ones
  UK 51 03/07/1981 (2 weeks)
Singles
Big Six
  UK 11 08/26/1972 (27 weeks)
Big Seven
  DE 46 03/12/1973 (1 week)
  UK 8th December 9, 1972 (18 weeks)
Big Eight
  UK 14th 04/21/1973 (10 weeks)
Je t'aime (moi non plus)
  UK 9 07/05/1975 (9 weeks)
Big Ten
  UK 14th 09/27/1975 (7 weeks)
Christmas in Dreadland / Come Outside
  UK 14th December 06, 1975 (7 weeks)
The Winkle Man
  UK 35 05/08/1976 (4 weeks)
Y Viva Suspenders
  UK 27 08/28/1976 (4 weeks)
5th Anniversary EP
  UK 31 04/02/1977 (4 weeks)
Up with the Cock / Big Punk
  UK 49 01/14/1978 (1 week)
Jingle Bells / Hokey Cokey
  UK 64 December 16, 1978 (3 weeks)
Big Six (remake)
  DE 46 October 27, 1980 (3 weeks)
Relax
  UK 76 10/13/1984 (3 weeks)

Discography (selection)

Albums

Studio albums

  • 1972 Dreadmania (Trojan TRLS 60)
  • 1974 Working Class Ero (Trojan TRLS 100) UK
  • 1974 Big Eight (Trojan Teldec 623 058) DE - same tracks as Working Class Ero
  • 1975 Bedtime Stories (Cactus CTLP 113)
  • 1976 Last of the Skinheads (Cactus CTLP 123)
  • 1980 Reggae & Ska (RCA PPL 28408) DE
  • 1980 Lover's Rock (Night Elephant 508629) FR - same tracks as Reggae & Ska
  • 1981 Rub a Dub (Creole)
  • 1985 Not Guilty (Creole CRX 8)
  • 1988 Live & Lewd! (Shank LP 104) Live album
  • 1996 Dread, White & Blue (Shank CD 12)

Compilations

  • 1976 Best of Judge Dread (Klik Rec. KLP 9008)
  • 1978 Judge Dread Greatest Hits (EMI EMC3287)
  • 1978 The Worst of Judge Dread (Creole CTLP 126)
  • 1981 40 Big Ones (Creole BIG 1)
  • 1989 King of Rudeness Vol.1 (Shank LP 115)
  • 1990 Reggae and Ska Years Vol.2 (Shank LP)
  • 1991 Ska Fever (PEG CD 150)
  • 1993 Early Years
  • 1994 The Big Twenty Four (Trojan CD TRL 333)
  • 1995 40 Big Ones, Part 1 (Eastwest, Warner)
  • 1995 40 Big Ones, Part 2 (Rhino)
  • 1996 Ska'd For Life
  • 1997 big hits
  • 1997 Greatest Hits (K-Tel)
  • 1998 And So Shall Ye Be Judged (Dressed To Kill)
  • 1998 Big Ones (Charly Rec.)

EPs

  • 1977 5th Anniversary (Cactus CT 98) 7 ″
  • 1980 Big Six Big Seven (Creole CR 202) 7 ″
  • 1983 The Big One (Trojan TMX 4011) 7 ″
  • 1985 Big Seven (Creole CRT 85) 12 ″
  • 1988 Jingle Bells (Creole CRT 5) 12 ″
  • 1989 Big Six ( BMC Records 12361) 12 ″
  • 1995 The Christmas EP (Grover GRO-VS 101) 7 ″ (in green vinyl)

Singles

  • 1972 Big Six (20th Century 2014), (Big Shot BI 608), (Trojan 12326 AT), (Trojan 6134 504) 7 ″
  • 1972 Big Seven (20th Century TC - 2037), (Big Shot BI 613), (Trojan 12502 AT) 7 ″
  • 1972 Christmas In Dreadland (Cactus CT 80) 7 ″
  • 1973 Big Eight (Big Shot BI 619), (Trojan 12698 AT) 7 ″
  • 1973 Big Nine (Big Shot Bi 626) 7 ″
  • 1973 Dr. Kitch (Trojan 13219 AT), (Trojan TR 7905) 7 ″
  • 1973 Molly (Trojan TR.7905) 7 ″
  • 1973 Oh! She Is a Big Girl Now (Trojan 13063 AT) 7 ″ (this version only on one single)
  • 1974 Belle Of Snodland Town (FONTANA 6134 014) FR 7 ″
  • 1974 Grandfather`s Flannelette Nightshirt (Big Shot BI 628) 7 ″
  • 1975 Je t`aime (Horse Hoss 83), (Cactus CT 65) UK, (Ariola 16 272 AT) D 7 ″
  • 1975 Big Nine (Philips 6078312) 7 ″
  • 1975 Big Ten (Cactus CT 77) 7 ″
  • 1976 The Winkle Man (Cactus CT 90) UK, (CREOLE Pink Elephant 22.169-H) FR 7 ″
  • 1976 Y Viva Suspenders (Cactus CT99) 7 ″
  • 1977 Up with the Cock (Cactus CT110) 7 ″ + 12 ″
  • 1977 Oh! She Is A Big Girl Now (Epic EPC 5343) 7 ″
  • 1978 Jingle Bells (EMI 2881) Demo 7 ″
  • 1978 This Little Piece Of Dinkle (Cactus CT112) 7 ″
  • 1979 The Touch (EMI 2913) 7 ″ + 12 ″
  • 1979 Lovers Rock (Sire SIR 4028), (Vogue VG 108) FR 7 ″
  • 1980 Big Six (RCA BP 5773) DE 7 ″
  • 1980 Will I What (BIG CR 208) 7 ″
  • 1981 Hello Baby (Creole CR6) 7 ″, (Creole CR 12-6) 12 ″, (CRA ZB 5823) DE 7 ″
  • 1981 Rub a Dub (Creole CR 12-25) 12 ″, (Creole CR 25) 7 ″
  • 1982 My Name Is Dick (Dreadworks 001) 7 ″
  • 1983 Not Guilty (Kingdom KV 8027) 7 ″
  • 1983 The Ten Commandments (Trojan TRO 9073) 7 ″
  • 1984 Relax (Creole CRT 66) 12 ″, (Creole CR66) 7 ″
  • 1985 Lost In Rudeness (Creole CTR 72) 12 ″
  • 1987 Jerk Your Body (Rino RNO 8) 12 ″
  • 1988 Big Seven (Old Gold OG 9804) 7 ″
  • 1988 Je T`Aime (Old Gold OG 9806) 7 ″
  • 1996 The Ballad Of Judge Dread (Dojo DOSS 7013) 7 ″

Under a different name to avoid censorship by the BBC

  • 1974 JDAlex - There Lonley Girl (Horse Hoss 62)
  • 1975 Jason Sinclair and the Argonoughts - End Of The World (Horse Hoss 84), (Cactus CT 76)
  • 1976 Jason Sinclair and the Argonoughts - Tammy (Cactus CT 86)
  • 1976 The Bumpers - The Bumper Song (Cube Bug 71)
  • 1976 The Dreadnoughts - Al Capone '76 (Sonet SON 2090)
  • 1980 Rockers Express - Phoenix City (KOW 002)

swell

  1. ↑ after Allmusic biography and obituary in the Independent, see under web links
  2. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE UK
  • Skin Up, issue 38, winter 95/96
  • 1974 Cover Dr Kitch Trojan 13219 AT
  • 1988 Live & Lewd! (Shank LP 104) Judge Dread tells himself
  • 1989 Ska Explosion DVD Judge Dread tells himself

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Judge Dread
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hughes, Alexander Minto (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British reggae and ska musician
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Kent
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1998
Place of death Canterbury