reggae v dub (terminology question)

When I tell people I like reggae they look at me as though there's a bad smell in the air. But I just have to say the word 'dub' and the whole atmosphere lightens and I suddenly appear like someone whose opinions can be trusted after all. Plenty of bands use reggae rhythms but prefer to call it dub for fear of... I don't know what.

So my question is: when did the word 'reggae' become stigmatised? What does the word 'dub' have that 'reggae' does not?

Hippy Bob Marley fans ruined the word.

Dub is reggae, of course

Hippy Bob Marley fans ruined the word.

otm. I think using the word "dub" probably just signifies that you know there's more to Jamaican music than Legend.

I'm kind of tired of "dub" as well now. I think The Wire music magazine has a dub column but never mentions dancehall.

I think using the word "dub" probably just signifies that you know there's more to Jamaican music than Legend.

Or that you don't know there's more to reggae than Legend

I'm kind of tired of "dub" as well now. I think The Wire music magazine has a dub column but never mentions dancehall.
--curmudgeon

That's pretty much always been the case...

Good point about Legend. It's also up to the other person to know that there's more to reggae than Legend and if they don't then that's their problem.

curmudgeon, I also think dub is an overused word, and it's often used inaccurately.

i think there's a thread about this very question but i only mention it for reference, not pedantry

dub is a branch of reggae imo and refers to specific stylistic/production conventions but you can't nail a genre label down so tight that it won't drift or get misused

people who like one of these but not the other can probably get tae fuck imo

Poor old reggae. Even in 2013, a wonderfully rich and adventurous genre still stigmatised by it association with white students who only like Legend.

this really ought to fit into a broader thread about the uses and abuses of genre labels

for example, "describing a sound or style that you like so you can explore it or draw connections" is good

"distancing yourself from a perceived hoi polloi that aren't as cool as you" = nobwork

xpost What we need's a little Reggae like it used to be....

Reggae is the best.