As DJ at the Roxy and punk’s filmmaker in residence, Don Letts brought reggae to Britain’s predominately white punk movement, securing himself a place as multi-cultural British icon in the process. Letts is now both walking soundbite and national treasure.
As clothing outfitter to the cool and anti-establishment in London’s King’s Road, he befriended both Bob Marley and Paul Simonon. Adopting punk’s DIY ethic with a passion, he refused to play requests at the Roxy, believing that you didn’t need to hear something you’d heard before, when you could hear something new. With a Super 8 camera and no experience of filmmaking, Letts chronicled the rise of punk and what he saw as its decline into uniformity.
Not just a voyeur, he travelled to Jamaica with John Lydon to A&R the indigenous reggae scene for Virgin, filmed The Clash on Broadway and wore his nonmusicianship as a badge of honour as sampler and keyboardist for Big Audio Dynamite. His autobiography chronicles it all with a wry grin and a charming reticence to delve too deeply into personal matters. Instead, he describes how the frame of mind and attitude that punk espoused became a way of doing things: a life spent as an inside outsider.
