Musical Youth Thrilled After ‘Stranger Things’ Taps ‘Pass The Dutchie’, Twice
Pass the Dutchie, a 1982 hit by Grammy-nominated British-Jamaican band Musical Youth, is the latest Reggae song to be featured in an American TV series.
The song, which is a cover of The Mighty Diamonds’ 1981 hit Pass the Kouchie, made its appearance in not one, but two episodes of season four of Stranger Things, which premiered on Netflix on May 27. It’s the first Reggae song to be featured in the very popular series, which makes extensive use of 1980s music and popular culture.
Musical Youth is now a duo, which comprises frontman Dennis Seaton and Michael Grant.
Seaton told DancehallMag that, after four decades, he was thrilled that the group’s track was featured in the official soundtrack of the Netflix series, but it was a bitter-sweet moment in light of the recent passing of two Mighty Diamonds members. In early April, Fitzroy “Bunny Diamond” Simpson died from heart complications, just a few days after Donald “Tabby Diamond” Shaw was shot dead.
“We are pleased to know that Pass the Dutchie is featured in Stranger Things as it was a bit of a shock,” Seaton said. “This along with passing of two of the Mighty Diamonds has a bitter sweet feeling for us, as they are reggae legends who [we] will hear no more. Our deepest sympathies go out to both families.”
🚨ST4 VOLUME 1 IS NOW STREAMING🚨 pic.twitter.com/8KpNc3hBNi
— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) May 27, 2022
Produced by Peter Collins, Pass The Kouchie had also sampled lyrics from U Roy’s Rule the Nation (1974) and U Brown’s Gimme the Music (1981).
The song reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. It remains Musical Youth’s only hit in the US and also scored the No. 1 position in five other countries, eventually selling more than five million copies worldwide including at least 400,000 copies in the UK, where it was certified Gold in 1982.
The song appeared on the group’s debut studio album, The Youth of Today, which peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard 200 and No. 24 on the UK chart. The band followed up with their second album Different Style! in 1983, and later received a nomination for the Best New Artist award at the 26th Grammy Awards in 1984. They split up in 1985 and re-emerged as the duo in 2001.
In 2004, the band lost a lawsuit against their former lawyer, who they claimed had given them bad advice about the royalty money they might make from Pass The Dutchie, and that they had failed to protect the song’s “distinct copyright”. According to the Guardian, a judge ruled that the claims were without merit.
While Pass the Dutchie hasn’t hit any modern-day charts (yet), it has been introduced to quite a number of Stranger Things’ Generation Z viewers on Twitter, who admitted that they’ve been unable to shake the tune after watching Episode 4.
In the episode, Pass the Dutchie is blared by pot-lover Argyle, played by Eduardo Franco, as he comes to the rescue in his pizza truck. The classic Reggae tune paints a contrasting image of the bloody and tense shoot-out at the Byers household that was depicted in the previous scene. In episode six, the song is featured again as Argyle and another character are discovered in the back of said pizza truck ‘burning a spliff.’ By the time they’re found, the back of the truck is a hotbox and both characters are high.
International producers have made it a habit to insert older Jamaican music into the soundtrack of their film productions. Recently, Bam Bam was featured in the popular Netflix series Ozark and Bob Marley and the Wailers’ I Shot the Sheriff included in Showtime Network’s The First Lady.
Meanwhile, Seaton said he and Grant have been busy, as they gear up for the group’s 40th-anniversary tour, as well as other live performances and the celebration of a new album.
“We are playing the Reggae Land festival on July 30 in Milton Keynes. The latest album is called “When Reggae Was King” out on Thump Records via all online outlets. Look out for the 40th Anniversary tour later this year,” Seaton told DancehallMag.
The album, released in 2020, included an updated version of the song dubbed Pass The Dutchie 21.
The former members of the group include Kelvin Grant, Freddie “Junior” Waite, and Patrick Waite. The group’s other songs include Youth Of Today, Never Gonna Give You Up, and Heartbreaker.