Exodus at 40: Bob Marleys Plea for Peace and Black Liberation After Facing Death

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Bob Marley’s Exodus is one of the epochal albums in the history of popular music. There are a select few albums that are as culturally impactful and musically rich as the album Marley released in June 1977, barely six months after armed gunmen shot him and his wife at their home in Kingston, Jamaica.

“When I come here, I want to get through to the people. I don’t come here for joke…”

Bob Marley had been in a period of great transition for about two years. The Wailers had become international stars following the success of 1973’s Catch A Fire, but things had gone awry between the original Wailers of Bob, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston. The three would split in 1974, with Tosh and Livingston going on to successful solo careers and Bob refashioning the Wailers as “Bob Marley and the Wailers.” His new band featured Aston “Family Man” Barrett and his brother Carlton on bass and drums, respectively; Junior Marvin along with Al Anderson on guitar, with Earl Lindo adding keys and Junior Braithwaite singing backing vocals. Marley’s wife Rita Marley, Marcia Griffiths, Judy Mowatt as backing singers the I-Threes.

Bob Marley and the Wailers had made their recording debut with Natty Dread, but some tracks still featured contributions from Tosh and Livingston. And Marley had delivered one of his most committed political statements on 1976’s Rastaman Vibration. But as his new band approach was beginning to gel, the violence of the outside world came crashing into Bob Marley’s universe.



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