The Counterculture Hall of Fame was created as a platform to celebrate the individuals who have put their life into propagating the ideas of the counterculture movement. For the first iteration in 1997, the creators chose to bestow this honour posthumously upon Bob Marley. Throughout history, few people have had an impact more significant than his on pop culture and society. From being regarded as one of the greatest musicians of all time to being awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World by the United Nations, his influence has penetrated many spheres of society.
Robert Nesta Marley started his music career with the band, the Wailers, in 1963. With their distinctive Jamaican touch, they managed to top the charts and introduce Reggae into mainstream music. As the music listeners of the world started to develop a taste for their music, the band started tweaking their style, giving the world Reggae as we know it today.
Bob Marley’s songs dealt with topics which ranged from unfair treatment of persons of colour to living a stress-free life. He is often quoted because of his inclusive ideas that teach rising above material possessions and focussing on leading meaningful lives. His last words to his son were ‘Money can’t buy life’. His song “One Love” was named “the song of the millennium” by BBC.
As a devout Rastafarian, Bob Marley believed strongly in Pan-Africanism and that Jesus was black. He was an ambassador for black rights and fought against the tropes of distrust that racism had spread. He used his music to share the message of love and “making peace with your brethren”. In 1976, Marley performed in a free concert organised by then Prime Minister of Jamaica to resolve tensions between two warring political parties. He performed there despite suffering injuries when attackers entered his residence and shot at him and his wife just two days before the concert.
Many Rastafarians–or Rastas for short–smoke weed as a holy sacrament that cleans the body and mind, heals the soul, exalts the consciousness, facilitates peacefulness, brings pleasure, and brings them closer to God. Marley was a prominent activist in the movement for the legalisation of cannabis consumption, and was arrested on many occasions for carrying the substance. He consumed the drug to explore spirituality and believed that it helped him reach a higher plane and form a clear connection with God. For the immense support and efforts he put in smoking de ganja, Marley became a cultural icon and to this day stands as a symbol for its use. He can be found on all sorts of products like t-shirts, mugs, keychains, etc. along with the Rasta colours of red, green and yellow.
In the year 1977, Marley was diagnosed with a type of malignant melanoma. Refusing to get an amputation, he opted to get a skin grafting after removing the nail and the nail bed of his toe removed. Unfortunately, the cancer spread to the rest of his body, and in 1980, it was found that the cancer had reached his brain. Calling off all tours and concerts, he sought treatment in a Bavarian clinic to cure the cancer. After fighting the disease for eight months, Bob Marley passed away on 11th May 1981. He received a state funeral in his home country of Jamaica and was buried in a chapel near his birthplace along with his guitar.
Due to his beliefs that opposed the environment of war in the world and promoted the idea of peace, to this day, Bob Marley is considered a cultural legend. His contribution to the counterculture movement by opposing the institution-imposed regulations on cannabis and the upliftment of persons of colour have made him a role model and hero for subsequent generations. Although he died at the young age of thirty-six, Bob Marley has been immortalised by his music and ideas, which will live on for years to come.