I've been steadily working my way through the recent series of music documentaries commissioned by Netflix. Mostly they have been interesting, grounded and informative but I must admit I was less than impressed by this one about the assassination attempt in his home country of Jamaica on the life of Bob Marley in 1976 just a couple of days before he was due to headline a free concert ostensibly promoting peace on the island.
I quite like some of Marley's music but must admit to a certain resistance to latter-day attempts to almost sanctify his memory since he sadly died very young of cancer.
Always he's proclaimed the man of peace but I've read accounts of the heavy-handed actions of his entourage while he was alive and for all the claims made that Marley's music is likely to be played wherever there's a major peace breakthrough somewhere, all I can say to that is that he sure got it wrong when proclaiming the "peace" in his 1982 song "Zimbabwe".
Nevertheless, this was still an interesting story of how he came to be shot by persons unknown at his own house, although it's typical of this programme's inattention to detail that we're not actually told what happened to the bystander, his manager, who we're told, took the bullets meant for Marley and was critically injured. Later, unsupported accusations are made against a heavyweight JLP supporter (the Jamaican opposition party, later in 1980 elected to power) who it's stated was very close to the Opposition leader and later Prime Minister of the country, Edward Seaga. Now, a modern-day interview with Seaga is freely interspersed throughout the documentary and yet no-one thought to ask him of his connection with this alleged gangland boss?
What to say also of Marley's decision to go into exile from Jamaica almost immediately after the "Smile Jamaica" concert, at which, to do him fair, he did attend and perform just two days after the shooting. Eventually he was cajoled back to headline the famous "One Love" benefit concert where he famously joined the hands of Seaga and his rival, the then incumbent Prime Minister Michael Manley, although it's fair to say that peace didn't break out even after this symbolic truce between the two politicians.
I get that Marley means a lot to a good number of people but I'm willing to bet they mainly know him through his more MOR-love songs and novelty tunes like "Three Little Birds". I'm afraid I just get turned off the more this show paraded all his hangers-on and acolytes praising him almost literally to the heavens.
I personally could think of many more interesting subjects for a documentary treatment than this particular incident in musical history.
