With the unprecedented global disruption of 2020, it's important to support the music community however we can. With our series Record Store Recs, GRAMMY.com checks in with vinyl-loving artists to learn more about their favorite record stores and the gems they've found there.

As the co-founder and producer of the lively electro-tropical outfit Bomba Estéreo, Simón Mejía has been crafting irresistible cumbia-infused beats that have been getting the world dancing for over a decade. Formed in Bogotá, Colombia in 2005 with vocalist Li Saumet, the GRAMMY- and Latin GRAMMY-nominated group made their mark globally with the explosive "Fuego" in 2009 and have been unstoppable ever since.

Watch: SOFI TUKKER & Bomba Estéreo's "Playa Grande" Will Get You Dancing Right Now

Now, with the debut of his new solo project, Monte (which means "woods" or "forest" in Spanish), Mejía is exploring an ambient take on the roots of Bomba's upbeat sound and colorful aesthetic—the music of the natural environment of their native Colombia—reimagined electronically. The album, entitled Mirla, is due out Sept. 18 and is led by the pulsating "Jungla" (listen below) and the twinkling, chirping title cut, inspired by the jungle and a bird that sang at his window every morning.

Each of the seven tracks was directly inspired by field recordings he'd collected in Colombia. "I started to discover that Colombian folk music was interrelated with the sounds of nature—when the indigenous guys played the flute they were imitating the birds, and when they played the maracas, they were imitating the crickets or the sound of water," Mejía explains in a press release. "That connection would become the foundation of the album."

For the latest edition of Record Store Recs, Mejía takes us on a journey to some of his hidden vinyl haunts in Bogotá and Cartagena, and introduces us to an amazing Afro-Colombian folk group.

The Last Record Store Recs: Salt Cathedral Talk Favorite Brooklyn Indie Shops & How To Support Artists Of Color

Please pick 3-5 records stores you love.

Cosmos Zapatería in Bogotá, Colombia

Downtown flea market in Bogotá

Mercado de Bazurto in Cartagena, Colombia

RPM Records in Bogotá [offers pickup and shipping within Colombia]

Amoeba [multiple California locations with U.S. shipping]

Cosmos Zapatería | Photo: Simón Mejía

Why do you love these shops? What kind of goodies you've found there?

These are the places where I started digging for records, many years ago, and where I found my most inspiring cumbia, champeta, salsa and classic albums. Many were underground record stores here in Colombia which don't have websites or anything similar. Mostly are in flea or food markets here in Bogotá and Cartagena (on the Caribbean coast).

One of them was actually a shoe shop called Cosmos Zapatería in downtown Bogotá. The records were hidden on the second floor. You had to know the owner to access it. That's what I loved about those places—purely underground. It's the same thing in the Bazurto Market in Cartagena. You had to know the way to access the good joints where they really had the classic albums in good shape. Nowadays both are more popular, and almost all the good classic records are gone.

More Record Store Recs: Chulita Vinyl Club On The Best Music Stores In L.A., Oakland, Austin & Beyond

 Canalón de Timbiquí LP | Photo: Simón Mejía

For at least one of your favorite shops, share a recent record or two you bought there and what you love about the record/artist. 

RPM Records recently gave me a record for my birthday. This store is a really good place here in Bogotá, not as underground as the others—you can order online! The record [De mar y río] is of a band from the Colombian Pacific coast named Canalón de Timbiquí. It's purely Afro folk music from an area of Colombia which is going to be my next sonic exploration. Anything that comes from that musical universe is very inspiring to me. It's a completely different vibe from cumbia and the music from the Caribbean—much more Afro and mystical. It's really high energy and danceable vibes. 

What's an upcoming/recent release you have your eyes on picking up and why?

I think that should be the next Bomba Estéreo album—I can't wait to see the vinyl release so I can keep on growing my personal collection of Bomba on vinyl! 

What were the first CD and first vinyl you remember purchasing when you were younger?

I remember it very clearly. I bought two vinyl albums at the same time at a record store near my place—Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses [1987] and [GRAMMY-nominated] Kick by INXS [1987]. I was a teenager and only cared about music!

World Music Innovators Turning Jewels Into Water Fuse The Spiritual With Digital On Their New Album

Electronic music is embedded within the diverse world of Latin music and, for the first time, will be recognized in a new Field and Category at the 2024 Latin GRAMMYs. Within that field, the award for Best Latin Electronic Music Performance was created to shine a light on DJs, producers, and artists blending proudly blending electronic music with the sounds of their cultures.

Electronic music embodies various subgenres like house music, techno, trance, electronica, and many others rooted that have been popularized by DJs and producers. Latin artists have long enriched those subgenres: Mexico's Belanova globalized the electro-pop wave, while Bomba Estéreo blended cumbia with electronica in Colombia. 

The explosion of EDM in the 2010s also allowed the careers of Latinx DJs to flourish. Mexican American DJ Deorro has showcased both cultures during sets at music festivals like EDC, Coachella, Tomorrowland, and more. Arca's music pushes the boundaries of electronic music through a Venezuelan and Latin American lens. More recently, Colombian producer Víctor Cárdenas bridged the gap between EDM and reggaeton with the global hit "Pepas" by Farruko. Since then, electronic music has seeped through the work of Latin hit-makers like Tainy, Caleb Calloway, Bizarrap and Diego Raposo. "Pepas" and many of Bizarrap's music sessions crossed over onto Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.

"That’s something that’s very big for us," Deorro tells GRAMMY.com about the new category. "How beautiful that this is happening, because it shows that what we’re doing is working, we’re breaking down doors, and we’re creating more opportunities for artists like us in the future." 

In honor of the Latin Recording Academy's new Field and Category, here are eight must-hear Latin electronic music essentials.

Belanova - Cocktail (2003)

Belanova revolutionized the Latin music space with their 2003 debut album Cocktail, an atmospheric LP that seamlessly blends Latin pop with electronic music. In the dreamy deep house of "Tu Ojos," singer Denisse Guerrero sang about getting lost in her lover's eyes. The trippy techno of "Barco De Papel" was reminiscent of the music from Madonna's Ray of Light album. Electronic music on the ambient level wasn’t common in Latin music until Belenova changed the game in Mexico, which later reverberated into the rest of Latin America and the U.S. 

The trio — which includes guitarist Ricardo Arreol and keyboardist Edgar Huerta — later delved into electro-pop on 2007's Fantasía Pop, which won a Latin GRAMMY for Best Pop Album by a Group or Duo the following year. 

Arca - Kick I-II (2020)

Venezuelan producer/artist Arca is a pioneer in the Latin electronic music space. Arca first began producing her experimental electronica in Spanish with her 2017 self-titled album.

Arca then masterfully mixed the diverse sounds of Latin America and beyond with EDM throughout her Kick album series. 

For Kick I, she combined Venezuelan gaita music and reggaeton with a cyberpunk edge in "KLK" featuring Spanish pop star Rosalía. Arca then blended electronica with neo-perreo on Kick II's "Prada" and "Rakata." Both albums garnered Arca GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY nominations. 

As a trans and non-binary artist, she is also breaking boundaries for the LGBTQ+ community in the genre. Arca is just not creating more space for queer artists in Latin music, but also in EDM at large by embracing the totality of herself in song.  

Bomba Estéreo - Deja (2021)

Bomba Estéreo, which is comprised of core members Simón Mejía and Liliana "Li" Saumet, has masterfully melded the music of Colombia’s Caribbean coast with electronic music. Since breaking out in 2008 with their sophomore album, the group has often reimagined the African and Indigenous rhythms of their country like cumbia through dance music. Bomba Estéreo’s folkloric approach to EDM has led to collaborations with Bad Bunny, Tainy, and Sofi Tukker.    

In 2021, Bomba Estéreo released its most ambitious album Deja, which garnered a GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY nominations. The title track put a funky spin on the band's signature electro-tropical sound. House music collided with the Afro-Colombian rhythms of champeta in "Conexión Total" featuring Nigerian singer Yemi Alade. Their album that was based on the four classical elements was a breath of fresh air in the Latin music scene. 

Bizarrap - "BZRP Music Sessions #52" (2022)

Argentine producer Bizarrap launched the BZRP Music Sessions on YouTube in 2018, first remaining behind the console for freestyle rapping sessions with local acts. The sessions quickly went viral, and have featured increasingly larger names in music.

Over the past five years, Bizarrap worked elements of electronic music into his hip-hop productions. In 2022, he fully delved into EDM with his global hit "BZRP Music Sessions #52" featuring Spanish singer Quevedo. The traptronica banger peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and earned Bizarrap his first Latin GRAMMY Award. 

Since then, his music sessions have become a global event. Bizarrap later infused electro-pop with a trap breakdown in "BZRP Music Sessions #53" with Shakira, which garnered him two more Latin GRAMMY awards. 

Javiera Mena - Nocturna (2022)

Javiera Mena first debuted as an indie act in 2006 with Esquemas Juveniles. With that freedom as a producer and artist, the Chilean star pushed Latin music into the electronic space with her 2010 album Mena. 

She fully immersed herself into Latin electronica on her latest album, 2022's Nocturna — an album filled with nighttime club bangers that invite everyone to dance with her. Mena also proudly sings about being part of the LGBTQ+ community in the alluring "La Isla de Lesbos" and the fierce house music of "Diva" featuring Chico Blanco. Considering the influence of queer artists in the formation of electronic genres like house, it’s refreshing to see an artist like Mena remind people of those roots and bring that into Latin music.  

Deorro - Orro (2022)

Mexican American producer Deorro has established himself as one of the world's top DJs, and is known for mixing both of his cultures into his music festival sets. Even before the música mexicana explosion last year, he was one of the first mainstream EDM acts to bring the genre to music festivals around the world through his songs and remixes.   

With his debut album, 2022's Orro, Deorro fully bridged música mexicana with house music. He collaborated with Latin acts like Mexico's Los Tucanes De Tijuana and Maffio in "Yo Las Pongo," which blended the band's norteño sound with EDM. Deorro also explored cumbia with deep house in the sweeping "Dime" featuring Los Ángeles Azules and Lauri Garcia. In his recent sets, he is spinning a fiery remix of "Ella Baila Sola" by Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma

Sinego - Alterego (2023)

Sinego first broke through in 2019 thanks to his house bolero sound like in "Verte Triste," which put a refreshing spin on an age-old Cuban genre. With traditional genres within the Latin diaspora often falling to the wayside as the years go on, he is reintroducing them to new audiences through EDM reimaginings.   

For his debut album, 2023's Alterego, the Colombian producer pushed his electronic music to another level. Sinego traveled to different Latin American countries and Spain to record with local musicians, reimagining genres like cumbia, tango, and mambo through Sinego's EDM lens. With the sultry "Mala," he blended Venezuela's variation of calypso with house music. He also gave Brazilian samba a house music makeover in "Boa Noite" featuring Tonina. 

Diego Raposo - Yo No Era Así Pero De Ahora En Adelante Sí (2023)

Dominican producer Diego Raposo has helped Latin acts like Danny Ocean, Blue Rojo, and Letón Pé embrace elements of electronic music. In 2018, Raposo released his debut album Caribe Express, which demonstrated his knack for mixing the sounds of the Caribbean with EDM. 

Raposo took that inventive mix into overdrive with last year's Yo No Era Así Pero De Ahora En Adelante Sí. The otherworldly "Si Supieras" featuring Okeiflou blended house music with reggaeton, while "Al Contrario" with Akrilla aggressively mixes drum 'n 'bass with dembow. Rapaso also channels Dance Dance Revolution-esque electronica in the spellbinding "Quédate" with Kablito. 

7 Latin DJs To Watch In 2023: Gordo, Arca, The Martinez Brothers & More

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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Kabaka Pyramid answers to a higher power — and his third album, fittingly titled The Kalling, is a testament to his beliefs.

The Kingston-born rapper, singer and producer is one of a handful of artists bringing positivity back into reggae, often channeling the empowered, political, and spiritual vibes of  roots artists. Kabaka Pyramid is often labeled a "reggae revivalist" for this reason, but The Kalling manages to be both classic and incredibly of the moment. And while his previous albums Victory Rock and Kontraband are testaments of lyrical and genre-blending prowess, Kabaka's latest is a notable ascension.

One of five nominees for Best Reggae Album at the 65th GRAMMY Awards, The Kalling showcases Kabaka's passion for using hip-hop, soul and dancehall to iterate on the sound of conscious reggae. The record also overflows with messages of growth, contemplation of addiction, and gratitude — an antidote to some of the more crude attitudes present in Kabaka's favorite genres.

"The older I got, the more I felt responsible to represent myself in a certain way," Kabaka tells GRAMMY.com from his home in Miami. “I wanted to inspire, like how artists like Sizzla and Damian Marley inspired me. I wanted to have a similar effect, and I knew I needed to put out positive music to do that.”

Kabaka called upon his community to achieve this vision. The Kalling was produced by the reggae scion also known as Jr Gong, and features the late icon Peter Tosh in addition to Buju Banton, Jesse Royal and fellow 2023 nominee Protoje. Together, they created an album that pulls from contemporary pop, rap and '80s era reggae, with songs that are meditative ("Stand Up"),  club-ready ("Energy" and "Mystik Man"), and fit for a kickback ("Mary Jane").

Ahead of the 2023 GRAMMYs, the first-time nominee spoke to GRAMMY.com about inspiring higher vibrations through music and action.

Was the GRAMMY nomination a milestone you were working towards, or one that caught you by surprise?

I was shouting, screaming, everything; a couple tears of joy. I'm probably the only person on my team and label that it kind of caught by surprise. I just always thought that the GRAMMY was just this huge thing and something that is best if I don't think about it too much, because I feel like that can lead to disappointment.

So I was just more focused on putting in the work and really representing myself with the music, and then let the awards come. But it's definitely a huge achievement for me. I wouldn't have dreamed of it when I was back in high school, but here I am now, so I have to give thanks.

It's cool to reflect on how far you've come — like, man, I'm living out my dreams from high school or dreams you didn't even know you had.

I'm 37 now, so it's been a 20-year journey since I first started to pencil down some lyrics. And most people start super early, whether they're in the church, or in the choir, or whatever it is. Or they come from a musical family, so they watch their parents do it or whatever. But for me, it wasn't that.

I always loved music, particularly hip-hop and dancehall. So I was just inspired by music, but I never thought of it as something I'd actually be doing until around 17, 18. That's when I realized that I have a talent for actually writing lyrics. And from then it was just working on my voice. A lot of self recording at home, home studios over the years, different places.

Tell me a bit about the creation of the album; what was going on in your life at that time?

The recording and writing and stuff was mostly throughout the pandemic. For the first few months, I was in Jamaica; Damien was sending me beats that he was working on from his studio in Miami. And eventually, I flew up and we started just going at it together in studio and from just jam sessions with me, him and his musicians, just coming up with ideas from scratch.

There were some conversations about what we want to do differently from the last album and what kind of song we wanted to go for, what kind of vibe. We wanted some traditional reggae, we wanted some hip-hop vibes in it, wanted to sample some classic reggae records as well as some soulful stuff. "Grateful" was a soul record that was sampled, and of course, "Mystik Man" [featuring] Peter Tosh is originally "Fade Away" by Junior Byles, a classic reggae record too.

Over two years, it just slowly but surely started to shape itself. We did "The Kalling" and Protoje and Jesse came to studio while Stephen [Marley] was recording, and they ended up dropping their verses that night. And I knew from that night that this would end up being the title track for the album. And we just kind of themed the whole album around "The Kalling." Having a higher calling, a higher purpose to the music, tying it into the teachings of Rastafari and what it means to me. It was just a beautiful process.

What do those Rastafari teachings mean to you and how are they presented on this album?

For me, Rastafari is first and foremost about knowing where you come from, seeing yourself as royalty, as kings and queens — especially for Black people who have been through slavery and coming to the West by force. So it's really a reconnection to Africa, but it applies to anybody that wants to reconnect with who they are, where they're from, and their identity.

We practice a vegan diet, ital, and man and woman relationships — being wholesome, the family unit. These are all Rastafari is and is coming from his Imperial Majesty, the emperor of Ethiopia. Ethiopia being the country that was never colonized in Africa, that really maintained their identity. That's really where Rastafari culture and expression stems from.

This record also has a lot of messaging around being aware of yourself and your addictions, and things that you're doing in your daily life that might not be so healthy. Was that something that you've been thinking about for a long time, or was it something that came to you during this production process?

As Rasta, we reason about these things all the time. It's all about looking at how we live, what's our mentality towards life. And a song like "Addiction" just came out of countless reasonings about social media, about our phones, about the radiation and our phones give off. I don't sleep with my phone near me because I wake up with headaches.

I felt like that song was so important because with the pandemic, we're taught to social distance, we're taught to stay inside and we just turned to our phones and our devices. So we're even more technologically oriented now after the pandemic than even before. It’s kind of continuing from a song I did from Kontrabrand called "Everywhere I Go."

The Kalling is much more centered in traditional reggae, though "Energy" is sort of pop and R&B, and the opening track from your last record is a pop tune. Yet you're branded as this revival reggae artist. What are your thoughts on that?

The whole revival thing came about in like 2011, 2012 when my first reggae project came out; Protoje's album was out, Chronixx [had] transitioned from being a producer/songwriter to being a recording artist, and he took Jamaica by storm. We started going to Europe with our bands, and I think that is what really cemented the whole idea of a revival, because …there was kind of a dying down of Jamaicans coming with their bands. And you had [Jamaican artists using] these backing bands that were local in Europe because it was more economical. And then a lot of artists couldn't travel anymore because of what I consider their freedom of speech being questioned and violated. So you had a lot of key artists that couldn't travel.

So because of that, when we came on the scene, it was very refreshing for people to see these young acts in their 20s coming with their bands and sacrificing where we could have made more money if we went with backing bands, or with track shows or whatever. And then not only that though, we were sampling Black Uhuru records and Sly and Robbie bass lines, and drum and bass.

If you check my song "Revival," "Here Comes Trouble" [by] Chronixx, and Protoje's "Kingston Be Wise," all of these tracks kind of brought back an '80s vibe. And then when we translate them on stage with the bands, people felt like it was a revival of the '70s and '80s.

Musically we definitely fuse a lot of the sounds. There's modern elements, there's hip-hop elements, R&B, pop elements to it too, because we're all influenced by that. We're in an era where artists kind of have more creative control with their sound — it's not like you just go to one producer that has one sound. We can call on different producers, we produce ourselves and the stuff that we are influenced by, that's what we try and recreate.

So it's partially a revival of sound but also a revival of style and performance.

Definitely.

Are there any tracks on The Kalling that you're particularly proud of?

"Mystik Man," I’m really proud of that, especially with the whole Peter Tosh family behind the song. We were able to list it officially as featuring Peter Tosh, so I have a song with one of my idols. Overall, his life, what he represents, his mission — him and Sizzla are right up there in terms of who inspire me the most. "Addiction" from a songwriting perspective, I'm really proud of that one.

I'm proud of the fact that I stuck to my roots. When I was early in my career, I couldn't sing to save my life; rapping was easier for me to do. I was working on my reggae, but I wouldn't let anybody hear those songs. So doing a song like "Kontraband pt. 2" where I'm rapping with this Jamaican accent, [or] "Mystik Man," — being able to represent that and still maintain my identity as a Jamaican [and] as a reggae artist, and to get nominated, is a great achievement for me.

I read in Dancehall Magazine that you think that the subject of a lot of Jamaican music is holding artists back. How did you try to combat that notion on The Kalling?

I think my music is naturally more wholesome. It's more readily accessible to older and the young. Maybe it can be a bit too deep for some people, but just generally speaking, I don't put a bunch of slack lyrics or derogatory lyrics to women or violence, gun violence. And that's kind of typical for Jamaican music. But I feel these younger artists are kind of pushing the limits of it. There's a lot of talk about drug use now in songs, and scamming, and all of them kind of things.

I've seen artists that are on the verge of breaking into mainstream do collaborations with other mainstream acts, but then it's just crazy curse words in the song and super derogatory lyrics. I could see somebody at a radio station like, "no, I can't playlist this because it's too difficult." Especially, being an international artist. So it's trying not to shoot ourselves in the foot by having too extreme lyrics.

How did you meet Damien Marley and what did he bring to this project?

I met him at the Bob Marley Museum, I think it was around 2013. He was shooting some videos with Nas for Distant Relatives.

The first time working with him, he sent me a riddim that he wanted to do a juggling [on]. It was originally a Wayne Marshall record, but he wanted to voice some other artists on it and Chronixx, Juliann Marley, others are on it too. I wrote the song "Well Done" on it, and we all loved the song. I was there when the song was being mixed and prepared, and that's when we really bonded, and we started to just hold our vibe, reason about music.

We played football at the field at his house. And it just felt like a brother kind of relationship from early. He's like a mentor to me; I ask him advice and everything musically. And just being with him, I learned so much about sharpening up my songwriting skills and making my lyrics more potent and more absorbable for people. From there, we just grew to the point where we had a discussion about doing two albums at minimum, and we did Kontrabrand.

He produced five of the tracks [on The Kalling], but it was all put together in his studio, [and] he executive produced the project. I wanted to give him the chance of doing a whole entire album. I felt like there was enough versatility with his production style to do it. I think he really did an excellent job. It's almost like it doesn't make sense to not do an album with him anymore.

Is there somebody who gave you props about this record that were really meaningful?

I just got a very long voicemail from Pressure Buss Pipe, who is an artist I'm really inspired by. He was telling me how much I stepped up with this album, and I'm just in the right gear now. It was really a heartfelt voice note. He's somebody that I listen to a lot, and his vocal ability inspires me, and his songwriting. I have five, six, maybe seven songs with him too.

I should say Protoje was one of the first people to call me when I got nominated. And obviously, I congratulated him as well. And even how excited Damian is [means a lot], because he's not somebody that gets excited very easy. There’s not many others who can impress you more than Damian Marley, you know what I mean?

Why did you want to feature Protoje on The Kalling and, together, what are you guys showcasing about contemporary Jamaican music?

Protoje is somebody I always want to collaborate with. He was instrumental in the start of my career; most of [my 2011 EP] Rebel Music was recorded at his home studio. About four of the beats were beats that he gave me and from other producers. Europe knew about me because Protoje kind of helped me to get my name out there. And I respect him so much.

We're all about innovation. I think Protoje's [nominated] album is super cool. The intro and "Family" and "Hills" kind of go back to his original, more hip-hop flavor. Both of us have evolved so much vocally; I love the vocal tones that he experimented with on his album. And sonically, he's always pushing the genre further and I really appreciate that about him. And similar with me, there's so much versatility around the album, but still rooted in reggae.

The two of you are nominated in a category that has a next generation artist and very established musicians. How do these nominees reflect the state of reggae?

It means a lot for everybody now because of who won last year. Big up to SOJA; I really think they put in a lot of work in this music industry, especially in the U.S. And they unified the whole U.S. reggae industry on their album; they featured all of the major acts in the U.S. and I really think it was effective.

But people see it and say, "Oh, reggae is being taken away from Jamaica" and there was a lot of backlash for that. Based on that, it's very refreshing to see an all-Jamaican lineup of artists; artists that have done so much for the industry who have been on the frontline internationally, who put out wholesome music too. It's not like any real slackness is being represented.

I would hope that this lineup of artists inspires the younger generation that you can do music without all of the negativity and it can reach the highest level. It's not that the U.S. is greater than any other nation, but it's our biggest market for the music. So to be recognized within the U.S. with this GRAMMY Award is tremendous, and everybody feels it and appreciates it.

There’s so much versatility represented: Shaggy, did a Frank Sinatra cover album. Sean Paul is modern dancehall pop. Koffee is kind of similar, but there's so much fusion going on there and she's so lyrical and so young and, just blowing up all over the place. Me and Protoje are kind of in a similar bracket. It's an interesting group.

Speaking of the next generation, who or what are you listening to these days that's giving you life? Anybody you want to big up?

There's a bunch of artists, Medicine, who actually did some songwriting on my album. Irie Soldier, Nattali Rize, Runkus, Royal Blue, Blvk H3ro, Imeru Tefari, Five Star. There's a bunch of artists out there that's doing good music, and I'm always here to support them and want to do some more production with them as well. The future is bright, for sure.

Meet The First-Time GRAMMY Nominee: Cimafunk On Creating The New Sound Of Cuba & Redefining Latin Alternative

Today it's easy to recognize internationally successful Australian artists — Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Iggy Azalea, Vance Joy, and Gotye, for starters — but the Australian rock scene did not garner the same attention 40 years ago. While AC/DC became the country's prime global export by 1980, and Men at Work had a multi-platinum crest here from 1981 to 1984, it was much harder then for rock bands Down Under to spark serious international attention.

That all changed in 1987.

A boom year for Aussie artists, the music released in '87 didn't have a specific sound as much as it did an attitude and desire to push boundaries. Their distinct musical identities, diverse lyrical content, and fequent disregard for the popular zeitgeist (at home or in America) resonated globally, creating an Aussie music revolution that impacted generations of artists as eclectic as Bono, the 1975, Maroon 5, and the Killers. This era of Australian artists didn't present as an easily identifiable in a sonic scene in the same way as British metal or Seattle grunge — and that is part of what made it fantastic.

Marrying funk with high energy rock, INXS became international superstars with Kick. Midnight Oil’s socially conscious message resonated loudly with Americans and Europeans. Icehouse’s atmospheric rock broke the Top 50 in the  U.S., producing two hit singles, "Crazy" and "Electric Blue." Dragon opened up for Tina Turner in European stadiums for several months in 1986 and 1987. Crowded House’s debut album from 1986 broke big with the hit ballad "Don't Dream It's Over" in the spring of 1987. John Farnham released the stirring, prideful "You’re The Voice" which many have called Australia's unofficial national anthem.

To an outsider, it might have seemed like an overnight Aussie invasion, but it was far from that. Many of this "new wave" of Oz artists were on their fifth or six albums, and had done a decade's worth of hard work around the globe.

"By the time we get to ‘87, [many of] those bands including us had done so much live work that they were machines," says Icehouse frontman/composer Iva Davies. "They could play at such a quality level and had already performed to so many Australian audiences that they knew exactly what they were doing."

"You Really Had To Rock Your Ass Off"

In order to understand the chronology of this Aussie ascension, one must first look back at Australia in the 1960s. While homegrown acts like the Easybeats and the Seekers amassed sizable followings in their country, British success was commonly considered to be a gateway into America — get hits in the UK, then break the U.S.A. British Invasion bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Animals became idols to emulate, especially after many of them came over for rare mid-1960s tours that left an impression on the masses.

"[Then] in the 1970s, Australia develops what I call self-consciousness where it's not about what's happening in America and England anymore," explains Andrew Farriss, guitarist and main composer for INXS. "Suddenly we start to develop our own music culture here. And lo and behold, young people start going to pubs and out to clubs and community halls or whatever and start getting into bands like AC/DC. They used to play all over the place."

Groups like the Little River Band, Cold Chisel, the Angels and Dragon (who originally came from New Zealand) were among the early artists making a living from album sales and the prolific and profitable pub rock scene. In cities like Sydney and Melbourne, venue capacities could reach 1,500 to 2,000 people — a more than sizable audience for burgeoning acts on the verge of breaking through. They often played multiple sets in one night, sometimes at more than one venue.  

"Amongst the pub years, which were really big booze barns, often there’d be fights," recalls Farriss. "Everyone smoked cigarettes in these rooms, and they crammed [in] too many people. There wasn't really a fire marshal. So you have these places you could hardly breathe in with this sort of aggro thing that ran through it. Everyone's drunk. You really had to rock your ass off to maintain the respect from the audience. Too many ballads and too many crooning, sweet, harmonious songs, they'd go, 'Get off, we want to rock.'"

The pub rock scene that dominated in Australia in the ‘70s and ‘80s helped forge a national musical identity through the aforementioned groups and the likes of Rose Tattoo, the Radiators, and Australian Crawl — even if it did not quite translate to the rest of the world. (Incidentally, Australian Crawl’s 1981 song "Unpublished Critics" sounded like a template for Guns N’ Roses "Sweet Child O’ Mine".) Aside from the bombastic AC/DC, mainstream Aussie artists who generated international buzz by 1980 were on the softer side — Little River Band, Air Supply, and Olivia Newton-John.

But many groups wanted to make that big international leap. Having cut their teeth in the rough and tumble pub rock scene, they were already seasoned veterans ready to take on the music world at large.

"I Had To Have A Bodyguard, That Was How Massive It Was"

New wave, post-punk, and synth-pop sounds from the U.S. and UK had arrived on Australian shores by the late '70s. Often pulling from those sounds, local bands began to see more wide-ranging success: INXS, Flowers (who became Icehouse), the Church (who got a gold album in America in 1988), Pseudo Echo, Models, Machinations, Divinyls (who later got a Top 10 hit, "I Touch Myself," in America in 1991), the genre-blending Hoodoo Gurus (who would establish a cult following in America and Europe), and the synth pop-flavored Real Life (who scored two Top 40 U.S. singles in 1983). 

Established groups like Dragon and Midnight Oil also persevered into the 1980s. In early 1983, nearly five years into their career, Men At Work became the first Australian band to simultaneously have a No. 1 album (Business As Usual) and single ("Down Under") in America.

INXS were already popular in their homeland by 1987. Their 1985 album Listen Like Thieves had certified gold and a single from the record, "What You Need," became a Top 5 hit Stateside for its blend of funky verses with heavy rock choruses. INXS doubled down on those artistic choices on Kick, released in October '87. The album produced four massive hit singles (including the No. 1 "Need You Tonight"), sold four million copies in its first two years of release, and launched a 16-month world tour. 

INXS saw a larger audience for themselves out in the world. They sought an American market that understood their music.

"We left Australia to tour overseas more because we found that the Australians back then loved eighth [notes]," says Farriss. "There was no funk in anything, and we were like, ‘What's with the lack of groove here?’" (Notable exception: the underrated Machinations.) "That's one of the reasons we started to experiment more and more and how we ended up working with Nile Rodgers [in 1983], how we ended up working with people who we admired that were more funky. Daryl Hall sang on ‘Original Sin’ because Nile asked him to come in as a special guest."

Midnight Oil drummer Hirst recalls his band playing up to about 180 shows a year between late 1977 and the early 1980s, graduating from pubs and clubs into bigger venues. The band later found a lot of support early on from maverick radio stations like WLIR in the United States and Canada, which "played us relentlessly because they had the freedom to do that back then." 

Midnight Oil’s career did not follow a traditional trajectory, and every album saw them assimilating different influences. Their early releases had an edgy rock sound, while Japanese influences can be heard on 1984’s Red Sails In the Sunset. "It was entirely experimental…because Japan at that time was just bursting with color and money and art and culture," says Hirst.

On 1987's socially and environmentally conscious Diesel and Dust, Midnight Oil took inspiration from their Australian desert touring experience with the Warumpi Band, a First Nations band. "We camped out under the stars," recalls Hirst. "We started writing a different song. We were writing songs which were simpler, more melodic, but very Australian songs still. They spoke more of an ancient history of Australia rather than the recent colonial history."

Fueled by songs like "The Dead Heart," "Put Down That Weapon," and the global hit "Beds Are Burning," Diesel And Dust sold over 3 million copies worldwide, hitting No. 1 Down Under and in Canada, Top 20 in five European countries, and went platinum in the U.S. For the American leg of their global tour, Midnight Oil brought along two First Nations bands from Australia — AKA Graffiti Man and Yothu Yindi, the latter of whom released the album Tribal Voice in America in 1991. "The weird thing was the more time we spent overseas touring, the more Australian the material got in many ways," notes Hirst.

Like INXS and Midnight Oil, Icehouse made headway from the start, first performing in 1977 as Flowers in the same Sydney pub circuit as Midnight Oil and INXS. Their new wave/pub rock sound on their 1980 debut racked up over 250,000 album sales, and they took on more synth-pop influences by their second album Primitive Man. Icehouse toured the U.S. on the same club circuit in the same early ‘80s period as the then-fledgling U2; they opened for Simple Minds in Europe and North America, then vice versa Down Under on that reciprocal world tour. Their Top 20 UK hit, "Hey Little Girl," (also Top 10 or 20 in 9 other countries) led to both David Bowie and Peter Gabriel asking Icehouse to open their 1982 European tours. They went with Bowie and played before 70,000 people a night, Davies recollects.

After releasing two more studio albums and regular touring Down Under, in Europe, and America, Icehouse achieved massive success at home with their fifth album, 1987’s Man Of Colours. The record went seven times platinum in Australia (490,000 copies) and its second single, "Electric Blue," (which was co-written with John Oates) spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the country's charts and hit No. 7 in America. The album's first single, "Crazy," (No. 14 in America) was only kept out of the top spot in Australia by Kylie Minogue’s debut single.

"Everything changed," declares Davies. "I had to have a bodyguard, that was how massive it was [there]."

Davies says the big success of Man of Colours spawned 14 months of touring, seven alone in the U.S. They supported the Cars on their final tour in arenas like Madison Square Garden. Their own tour landed at places like San Francisco’s Warfield Theater.

"It was a lot of work," admits Davies of the tour. "In the middle of it, I had a kind of breakdown. I kind of fell apart in San Francisco and missed a show. But I got back on the trail a couple of days later and kept hammering away. It was a very intense 14 months."

On the flip side of Midnight Oil or Icehouse, Dragon had a good time band vibe with some serious songs tossed into the mix. They topped the Oz charts in the '70s with Running Free and O Zambezi, and single "Are You Old Enough?" and "April Sun In Cuba." Dragon embarked on their lone North American tour in late 1978, opening for blues guitar legend Johnny Winter throughout the south. 

Frontman Marc Hunter’s purposeful antagonism of audiences went over well with wild 'n' wooly crowds in Australia, but in the American south and Texas in particular, it provoked hostility. "Marc would really push it as far as he could," recalls bassist Todd Hunter. "It was wild. You had to be there, but I'm glad you weren’t."

Marc was fired from the band for three years, but when Dragon reunited for 1984's Body and the Beat (which produced their big Aussie hit "Rain" that broke the U.S. Top 100) it "was a very different band" with a more modern sound. "It had more of ‘80s pump and big keyboard things, which is fun to play live. You can play stadiums and it just works," Hunter says. "We always had this tradition of bright, poppy choruses and [then added] dark elements to those songs."

Dragon landed the opening slot for Tina Turner’s European tour for six months total in 1986 and 1987. (If that sounds like an unusual fit, Turner had a fair number of rock tracks in her high energy repertoire back then.) They played coliseums and bull rings with her, although they changed their name to Hunter for the tour and international release of the Todd Rundgren-produced album Dreams Of Ordinary Men in 1987. (The temporary name change occurred because their label thought Dragon sounded too metal. Ironically, the European press thought Hunter was a metal name.)

The other big group to emerge from 1987 was Crowded House, formed by former Split Enz members Neil Finn (vocals/guitar) and Paul Hester (drums). Their 1986 self-titled debut album took a little while to pick up steam, but by spring of 1987 the gentle ballad, "Don’t Dream It’s Over" hit No. 2 in America and No. 1 in Canada and the UK. It also charted in the Top 10 in four other countries and Top 20 in two more. They even re-recorded Split Enz’s "I Walk Away" for the Crowded House debut.

Pop singer John Farnham scored Australian hits in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, but experienced a true career revival with the rock anthem "You’re The Voice." Co-written by then-Icehouse keyboardist Andy Qunta, the 1986 song was a No.1 hit in Australia. In 1987, it also went No. 1 in Sweden and West Germany, Top 10 in the UK, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, and Switzerland and Top 20 in four more countries. The album the song was from, 1986’s Whispering Jack, was also a massive hit for Farnham in his homeland where it has since been certified 24 times platinum.

A Lasting Legacy Of Aussie Artistry: "We Were Certainly Going To Make Hay"

The aftershocks of the 1987 Australian rock ascension continue to reverberate today, with multiple generations of bands taking influence from or covering that year's biggest hits. It also opened a wider door for talent from Down Under, some of which was covered in a previous GRAMMY.com feature nearly a decade ago. "We don't even know what the Australian sound is. A lot of people associate it with AC/DC, punk rock type of stuff," Cut Copy’s guitarist Tim Hoey said in the piece. "But there's an amazing bunch of bands that have come out of Australia that I wouldn't necessarily claim have an Australian sound."

INXS has been cited as an influence on the likes of Maroon 5, the 1975, and Savage Garden.Dua Lipa echoed the chorus of their "Need You Tonight" for her 2020 single "Break My Heart," bequeathing co-songwriting credit to Farris and INXS singer Michael Hutchence, the magnetic singer who died 25 years ago on Nov. 22. Documentaries on both the band and vocalist have come out in recent years.

Midnight Oil’s music impacted artists as diverse as Billy Corgan, Pearl Jam, Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, and Bono (who paid homage to the band during their ARIA Hall Of Fame induction). "Beds Are Burning" has been covered by Patti Smith, Imagine Dragons, AWOLNATION, and the Killers, among many others. The group wrapped up its global farewell tour in October 2022.

Frontman Peter Garrett served in Australian government posts between 2004 and 2013; Hirst has seen a lot of First Nations groups thrive and continue the type of tradition that Midnight Oil helped popularize. The band continued taking such artists on tour.

Icehouse continue to headline shows and festivals Down Under. Popular 2000s Aussie alt-rock band Eskimo Joe are fans of the band and even brought Iva Davies onstage at a 2010 festival to perform Icehouse’s "We Can Get Together" to a warm reception. The Killers covered "Electric Blue," and singer Brandon Flowers has acknowledged that they love many Icehouse songs. Davies has also composed for film, TV, and dance, and most notably he co-composed the score to the 2003 Russell Crowe film Master and Commander: Far Side Of The World.

Although Dragon singer Marc Hunter passed away in 1998 from throat cancer, his brother, bassist Todd Hunter, reformed the band in 2006. They have toured regularly with vocalist Mark Williams and released new music, including 2014’s Roses. Many younger Aussie bands have covered "Rain," and  legions of fans continue singing along to the tune at Dragon shows — its theme of love and friendship overriding the storms of life feels eternally fresh, and the song has topped 37 million plays on Spotify. Oddly enough, the single was big in Peru then and now, as evidenced by numerous covers from that country. One Peruvian YouTuber uploaded "Rain" 12 years ago, and it has received 5 million views. The 1,200+ comments confirm the Peruvian adulation.

"Don’t Dream It’s Over" by Crowded House is a beloved ballad that has been appreciated by everyone from Rob Thomas to Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine. Chris Martin and Eddie Vedder performed it at the Global Citizen Festival in NYC in 2016. 

John Farnham’s career Down Under grew immensely following "You’re The Voice" (now at 154 million Spotify plays). The song was covered live by Heart in 1991, and the singer has since performed the song live with Coldplay, Queen guitarist Brian May, Celine Dion, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He recently has been recovering from life-saving surgery that removed a cancerous growth in his mouth.

All sixof these artists, and many others mentioned in this feature, have been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in Australia — further cementing the global impact of what came from the pub rock scene. 

"I cannot emphasize how important that whole scene was," says Icehouse's Davies. "'We better make these people happy, or else they're going to start throwing stuff at us.’ That was the real world all those bands dealt with in lots of weird, different ways."

The sounds of 1987 proved that the music coming from Down Under could have a lasting impact that pushed talent beyond the borders of their homeland.

"We couldn't believe our luck because for the first time ever in Australia's musical history, the eyes of the world turned on [us]," recalls Hirst. "It didn't last long, only a couple of years. But we were certainly going to make hay."

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