Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Mythology of King Hammond

Much thanks and respect to John at Hoi Polloi Skazine (AKA "the printed word ska archivist") for sharing this fall 1989 article from Scooter Scene (click on the image and zoom in to read it) regarding the supposed identity of the great King Hammond. I had heard anecdotes of Nick Welsh going around to record shops to tell the owners how they should carry this LP--Revolution 70--from this great "lost" artist of the skinhead reggae era (and supposedly some were taken in by his tale), but this is entirely something else. The extraordinarily detailed, hugely entertaining, and wildly improbable back story of this persona and the gleefully brazen showmanship displayed in peddling it are rarely seen these days...(I love how Girlie was supposedly King Hammond's girlfriend and that Laurel Aitken had somehow stolen her away from him!)

No comments: