The Intro

As a young boy in the early 80s, I considered Birmingham reggae group Musical Youth incredibly cool. A bunch of schoolchildren singing an incredibly catchy tune about… well, I didn’t know as I was very young. It didn’t matter though, because I loved Pass the Dutchie regardless of the subject matter.

Before

Musical Youth were formed in 1979 by the fathers of Kelvin and Michael Grant, and Frederick (known as Junior) and Patrick Waite, respectively. Frederick Waite Sr had been a member of Jamaican reggae group The Techniques and he was the original lead vocalist. Junior was their drummer and backing vocalist, while Patrick played bass. Michael Grant played keyboard while Kelvin was guitarist, with both also providing backing vocals. When they formed, the members ages ranged from seven to 15, with Kelvin the youngest.

Despite all attending Duddeston Manor School, Musical Youth gained live dates in West Indian working men’s clubs around Birmingham. Wearing their influences on their sleeves – which included Aswad, Sugar Minott and Gregory Isaacs – they released a double A-side single in 1981. Generals/Political was issued on local label 021 Records (021 being the Birmingham area code at the time.

In 1982, following an appearance on BBC Radio One’s The John Peel Show, Musical Youth were signed to MCA Records, who convinced Waite Sr to relinquish the lead singer role to the boys’ school friend Dennis Seaton. While supporting Culture Club at Heaven in London, the crowd went wild to their cover of The Mighty Diamonds’ Pass the Kouchie.

The Jamaican act had released their ode to smoking cannabis (based on 1968 instrumental Full Up by Leroy Sibbles) a year previous, and despite it being banned by their government, it raised their profile in the reggae scene.

There was no way MCA would let schoolboys release a song about a kouchie, which was a big marijuana bong. But there was also no doubt the song was infectious. So what could they do?

Co-producer Toney Owens hit upon an idea after getting home late one night on an empty stomach. What about changing ‘kouchie’ to ‘dutchie’ which was a patois term for a Dutch oven cooking pot? Once agreed, it was easy to change the other dodgy lyric – The ‘How does it feel when you got no herb’ refrain substituted the last word to ‘food’. The spoken word intro was inspired by the opening to U-Roy’s Rule the Nation.

It’s worth noting that Pass the Dutchie was also produced by the team of Peter Collins and Pete Waterman, who had been working together since 1980. Collins went on to produce many big acts in the 80s – and Waterman will of course become a fixture on this blog as the 80s progress.

Review

It’s not just nostalgia for my musical youth that makes me love Pass the Dutchie. It’s very refreshing to hear some reggae in this blog for the first time in a while. Yes, it’s lacking the deep bass of the original, and by transforming it from a cannabis anthem to a pop song about being a hungry school boy, it veers into novelty hit territory. But it’s better than that. The intro may also not be original, but it’s an inspired introduction and must have felt like a call to arms for black schoolboys – only a year on from the awful race riots that helped inspire Ghost Town.

Speeding the tempo up a notch from Pass the Kouchie was also a great choice, making it more palatable for the pop audience of 1982. In fact, Pass the Dutchie gets the balance just right – it’s pop-friendly, without feeling lightweight. It still feels like authentic reggae. It’s hard to believe Waterman is involved in the production duties, when you consider what he would later become known for.

Also adding to its reggae credentials was the enlisting of Don Letts as the director of the music video. Letts had ran the London clothing store Acme Attractions, which was frequented by Bob Marley, Debbie Harry, the Sex Pistols, Chrissie Hynde and The Clash. He went on to DJ at The Roxy in Covent Garden, and helped introduce punks to dub and reggae.

Letts’ video features Musical Youth performing on the south bank of the River Thames in London, by Lambeth Bridge. All too aware of racial tensions in the UK, he does a great job of keeping things light, portraying the band as fun-loving kids just wanting to have fun. A school official appears to arrest them, but he falls and hurts himself. The video is interspersed with Musical Youth standing trial, but they’re cleared and the video ends with everyone having a great time in the courtroom, like a scene from a bad musical.

This video not only helped Musical Youth appeal to the masses – it made them the first black artists to be played on the fledgling MTV. This was months before Billie Jean – despite what the new Michael Jackson biopic Michael (2026) would have you believe.

After

Within a month of its release, Musical Youth were a fledgling sensation. Pass the Dutchie rocketed to number 1 in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Australia. Thanks to MTV airplay, it also soared to 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. They hung out with Jackson and met Bubbles.

Debut LP The Youth of Today swiftly followed and also performed well, as did two singles it spawned – Youth of Today peaked at 13 and Never Gonna Give You Up (not the Rick Astley song) climbed to six in 1983. Follow-up Heartbreaker couldn’t break the top 40.

However, it began to look like Musical Youth may be a flash in the pan when their second album Different Style! performed noticeably less well. A cover of John Holt’s Tell Me Why only went to 33, 007 climbed to 26 and She’s Trouble failed to chart. Although business had briefly picked up when they featured on Donna Summer’s Unconditional Love, which was a number 14 hit, the end was already in sight. Sixteen, featuring Jody Watley, was their last charting single, reaching 23 in 1984. Maybe the public saw them as a novelty, after all.

Tragically, this group of schoolchildren then found themselves old before their time due to financial troubles, legal issues and personal problems. Seaton left the band in 1985, releasing a solo album, Imagine That…, which sank without trace in 1989. A reunion was planned in 1993, but was cut short when Patrick, who was awaiting a court appearance after a robbery, died suddenly after collapsing due to a hereditary heart condition, aged only 24. Remixes of Pass the Dutchie were released in 1994, but failed to chart.

Michael and Seaton tried to stay in the music business, setting up a production company and a band respectively, but didn’t make much of a mark. In 2001 they announced they were reforming Musical Youth as a duo – Junior, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, would not be taking part. They toured the nostalgia circuit, and featured on Pato Banton’s 2004 single, Pretty Woman. The duo also released a new version of Pass the Dutchie in 2008. Michael’s brother Kelvin began a solo career but failed to get noticed. Junior died in a mental health unit in 2022, aged 55.

The Outro

That same year, Pass the Dutchie gained a new lease of life after appearing in the Netflix series Stranger Things.

The Info

Written by

Jackie Mittoo, Fitzroy “Bunny” Simpson & Lloyd ‘Judge’ Ferguson

Producers

Toney Owens, Pete Waterman & Peter Collins

Weeks at number 1

3 (2-22 October)

Trivia

Births

4 October: Jazz saxophonist YolanDa Brown
7 October: Footballer Jermain Defoe
10 October: Actor Dan Stevens

Deaths

3 October: Actress Vivien Merchant
6 October: Composer Philip Green
8 October: Labour MP Philip Noel-Baker/Musician Erik Routley
16 October: Artist Rory McEwen
18 October: Conductor Leslie Jones
20 October: Scottish footballer Jimmy McGrory

Meanwhile…

11 October: The Mary Rose, which sank in 1545, was raised from the Solent.

12 October: The London Victory Parade of 1982 was held to mark the end of the Falkands War.

15 October : The Ford Sierra was launched as the replacement for the Cortina.

21 October: Sinn Féin won their first seats on the Northern Ireland Assembly. Gerry Adams won the Belfast West seat.