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today. The stories

2:22

about Peter Tosh are

2:24

insane. He was

2:26

a reggae subversive who used his

2:28

music as a means to fight

2:30

corruption, oppression, and hypocrisy. Unlike

2:33

his one-time bandmate Bob Marley, Peter

2:36

Tosh did not fight for peace. He

2:38

fought for truth and justice. He

2:41

played a guitar shaped like an M16 automatic

2:44

rifle. He funded

2:46

an album that lobbied for the

2:48

legalization of marijuana by running

2:50

drugs from Jamaica to Miami. He

2:53

was arrested for smoking weed and then

2:56

beaten by seven police officers for over

2:58

an hour in a prison cell. All

3:02

of these trials and tribulations were

3:05

reflected in his music, great

3:07

music, some of the greatest reggae

3:09

music of all time, both

3:11

as a member of the Whalers and as a

3:14

solo artist. Unlike that

3:16

clip I played for you at the top of the show, that

3:19

wasn't great music. That

3:21

was a preset loop from my melotron called

3:24

Dread Kylie MK1. I

3:29

played you that clip because I can't

3:31

afford the rights to a clip from Night Fever

3:33

by the Bee Gees. And

3:35

why would I play you that specific

3:37

slice of falsetto cheese? Could I afford

3:40

it? Because

3:42

that was the number one song in

3:44

America on April 22, 1978. And

3:48

that was the day that Peter Tosh went

3:51

on a 30 minute tirade during the

3:53

One Love Peace concert, a

3:55

rant that nearly got him murdered.

3:59

On this. Part 1 of

4:01

a special two-part episode. Reggae

4:04

subversive, truth and justice,

4:06

M16 guitars, running

4:09

drugs, police brutality, and

4:11

Peter Tosh. I'm

4:14

Jake Brennan, and this is

4:16

The Space Land. Part

4:31

2 of a special

4:34

two-part episode. Seven-year-old

4:45

Peter Tosh was dangerous. Not

4:49

because he was involved in the political

4:51

violence that was quickly becoming commonplace in

4:53

this country. Even way

4:55

out here in Westmoreland, Jamaica's

4:57

westernmost parish. Peter

4:59

Tosh was dangerous because he knew

5:02

the truth. A

5:04

truth that was hiding in plain sight. It

5:06

was in the ocean, in the clouds, and

5:09

it was carried on the wind. But

5:11

few people actually saw it. Politicians,

5:14

the people in power, the

5:16

devil himself. They

5:19

all worked overtime and aligned each other to the

5:21

truth. They created

5:23

conflict, a divide, brother

5:25

against brother. All that

5:28

hate, all that bloodshed, diversions

5:30

away from what was really happening.

5:33

Lies, injustice, corruption.

5:37

The world was evil. Peter

5:39

Tosh knew this to his core. He

5:43

could feel the truth coursing through his veins.

5:46

It was in the blades of grass that he

5:48

trampled underfoot as he ran through the Westmoreland fields.

5:51

Running toward the sound of his parents' voices.

5:54

Voices that he hadn't heard in years. Voices

5:57

that his aunt told him he'd molt one day

5:59

here again. As

6:01

he got older, he would come to

6:03

realize this was nothing but wishful thinking.

6:07

Right now, however, as a child whose

6:09

parents had abandoned him, a

6:11

child who wanted that which he did not have, Peter

6:14

ran toward the voices. He

6:17

was so focused on them, so

6:19

disoriented by their ghostly sound, so

6:22

open to the truth that pulsed around

6:24

him in all aspects of life, that

6:26

he failed to see the barbed wire

6:28

fence. It was obscured,

6:31

just up ahead, covered in

6:33

lush green overgrowth, hidden

6:36

there by the devil himself. Peter

6:39

ran face first into the barbs. They

6:42

dug into his eyelids, the

6:44

ruck knots fighting through his skin. He

6:47

felt a burning sensation on the surface of

6:49

his eyes and felt the blood as he

6:51

began to run down his cheeks. Suddenly,

6:55

the world went dark. Peter

6:58

feared he would be like everyone else now, sightless,

7:02

silenced. His

7:04

own personal awakening obscured forever

7:06

by one fateful accident, his

7:09

consciousness in a slumber. He

7:11

knew he was destined for more than this, to

7:14

live his life fumbling through the darkness. Slowly,

7:18

carefully, he began to open his

7:20

eyes. There

7:24

staring back at him in the mirror, a

7:27

bloody reflection. The

7:30

devil may have tried to blind him, but

7:32

the devil was unsuccessful. Peter's

7:35

two eyelids were sliced open, one

7:38

cut so deep that he could see

7:40

right through the gaping hole to his

7:42

eyeball. He

7:45

breathed a sigh of relief. Wounds

7:47

would heal. He still had his sight.

7:51

He used that sight to watch an old

7:53

man up the road pluck out country and

7:55

western tunes on an equally old guitar. The

7:58

sound the man made was the sound of a of beauty

8:00

in an otherwise ugly world. Peter

8:03

internalized the chord voicings, the rhythms.

8:07

He made his own guitar from a piece

8:09

of wood, some fishing line, and a sardine

8:11

pan. And he watched his

8:13

own hands learn to make music. And

8:16

he watched as the devil kept pulling the wall, kept

8:19

separating black Jamaicans from positions of

8:21

power. There were no

8:23

black lawyers, black judges, black preachers,

8:26

not here, even the son

8:28

of God's white man. So

8:30

Peter Tosh was told in church, not

8:33

a house of the Lord, a

8:35

house where Peter and his family sang the hymns,

8:37

the devil wanted them to sing, Lord,

8:40

wash over me, and I will be

8:42

whiter than snow. No, no, no, dangerous

8:45

thinking, as dangerous as

8:47

being found with the truth in your possession. The

8:54

1960s, Kingston, the

8:56

Trenchtown ghettos, the

8:58

truth is being intimidated, shot,

9:01

blown up. Peter Tosh,

9:03

now a teenager, now truly on his own

9:05

for the first time in his life, adjusted

9:08

to his new city with some trepidation. Didn't

9:12

matter that Jamaica had finally achieved its

9:14

independence. Frustration was

9:16

everywhere. Frustration with

9:18

the establishment with authority, with a

9:20

two party system that failed to

9:23

serve the disenfranchised. Rube

9:25

boys, young, unemployed,

9:28

disaffected youth, it

9:30

did the bidding of the People's National Party

9:32

or the Jamaican Labor Party, whichever paid them

9:34

more to violently disrupt the other. They

9:38

threw stones. They sewed discord

9:40

at local polling stations. The

9:43

burgeoning ganja trade added weapons to the

9:45

mix, thanks to Americans and

9:48

Europeans who couldn't get enough Jamaican

9:50

grass. They traded

9:52

grass for guns, but guns

9:54

weren't enough. Pipe bombs,

9:56

malt-hoc cocktails, machetes, knives,

9:59

all. tools of the

10:01

trade, tools of the

10:03

poor, the oppressed, the burners

10:05

and the looters unable to express their anger

10:07

over the growing social divide in any other

10:10

way. They were under the

10:12

state's corrupt thumb and they wanted out. They

10:14

wanted money. They wanted power. They

10:18

wanted a voice. Peter

10:22

Tosh had a voice to mend. A

10:25

voice that could not be silenced from speaking

10:27

out, just like his eyes could not be shut

10:29

by tangles of barbed wire. A

10:32

voice that blended well with those of his

10:34

trench town friends, Bob Marley and Bunny Livingston.

10:37

At first, the whalers were a

10:39

du-op vocal group, a group

10:41

armed with only their voices, but

10:44

Peter had other weapons at his disposal. Not

10:47

that old fishing line and sardine pan guitar,

10:50

and not the guitar shaped like an M16. That

10:53

would come later. He

10:55

swung a Les Paul over his shoulder

10:57

and taught Bob Marley how to play

10:59

guitar. Percussive strokes

11:01

on the off-beat, sounding

11:03

like a machine gun when you squeeze the trigger.

11:06

Their goal, or rather the goal spurred

11:09

on by Peter Tosh's guidance was to

11:11

stir it up. Not

11:13

unlike the rude boys stirring it up in the streets,

11:16

but unlike the rude boys, the

11:18

whalers sought to combat the disinformation

11:20

making its way through their community.

11:23

They did this first by dropping the du-op

11:25

stick and finding their unique voice as a

11:27

group, and then they get down to writing songs.

11:31

Peter wrote 400 years about slavery,

11:33

and together Peter and Bob wrote

11:35

Get Up, Stand Up. Dangerous

11:38

songs. Songs without

11:40

compromise. Songs for

11:42

all the boys and girls who, like

11:44

Peter, had no parents, no hope, no

11:46

outlet. They were in

11:49

turn hypnotized by these songs. Songs

11:51

that were powerful weapons. Songs

11:53

that cut through all the noise and delivered

11:55

the very thing that everyone from the

11:58

devil to Jamaica's two-party system. They

12:00

hit the building as TGV was

12:03

so desperate to silence the

12:05

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13:04

Tosh was in the revolution business. And

13:06

with his bandmate Bob Marley and

13:09

Bunny Livingston, Peter Tosh revolutionized reggae

13:11

music. First working with

13:13

producer Cox and Dodd at the legendary Studio

13:15

One in Kingston. Then with

13:18

the eccentric Lee Scratch Perry at Black

13:20

Ark. And now with Chris

13:22

Blackwell of Island Records. From

13:24

Ska to Rocksteady to the Whalers own

13:27

unique strain of reggae. A

13:29

strain as potent as Jamaican ganja. As

13:32

well defined as the Rastafari religion with

13:34

which it identified it. Played

13:36

as tight as a Pax spliff thanks to

13:38

Peter. Who taught each of them

13:40

that a guitar could be more powerful than a

13:42

loading gun. But there

13:44

was no money in the revolution business. The

13:47

money was in the music business. To

13:50

get that money, the Whalers had to compromise

13:52

their original sound in order to break through

13:54

in the Western market. It's

13:57

hard now to overstate just how far

13:59

it really is. gay music sounded to

14:01

rock and roll fans circa 1972. Even

14:05

the seasoned American session musicians hired

14:07

to record overdubs on the Whalers

14:09

Island Records debut Catch a Fire,

14:11

their fifth album overall, had

14:13

trouble finding the one. And

14:15

those overdubs were the brainchild of Chris

14:18

Blackwell. Not only the

14:20

records producer, but Island Records

14:22

founder and Bob Marley, who

14:24

understood that compromise was necessary

14:26

in order for his message

14:28

to reach a larger audience.

14:31

Peter Tosh, however, did not

14:33

do compromise. Not when

14:35

it came to music, not when it

14:37

came to revolution, and certainly not

14:39

when it came to the money that he believed

14:41

he was owed. Money

14:44

that Chris Blackwell was now telling the

14:46

band they owed him 40,000 pounds in

14:49

tour expenses, expenses

14:52

Chris Blackwell promised to cover if the

14:55

Whalers came to England, played some shows,

14:57

started working on another record. In Peter

15:00

Tosh's eyes, Chris Blackwell broke

15:02

that verse. Just like

15:05

he was now breaking up the Whalers

15:07

long standing bond by putting Bob Marley

15:09

up front as the main attraction. The

15:12

Whalers were no longer the Whalers, they were

15:14

Bob Marley in the Whalers now. And

15:17

Peter Tosh was fucking pissed, irritated

15:20

that he was being screwed out of money, irritated

15:23

that he was being creatively demoted by

15:25

the very band that he made musically

15:27

literate. A band that was

15:29

supposed to be giving a voice to the voiceless, but

15:32

which was now being led by a

15:34

man groomed for pop starter, a man

15:36

who was singing, baby, baby, we've got

15:38

a date. Bob

15:40

Marley wasn't a revolutionary. Not like Peter

15:42

Tosh anyways. He wasn't dangerous

15:45

like Peter. And that's not to say

15:47

that Peter had actual real booze

15:49

with Bob. They weren't

15:51

in conflict, weren't divided. Though the

15:53

devil would like to make you think they were, they

15:55

were just on different paths. Bunny

15:57

living to be true, Bunny left the band to be true.

16:00

But Peter then follows shortly

16:02

after Shoot to himself and

16:04

cue to the songs of that kind stop

16:07

that tree. I'm leaving It

16:15

wasn't just the Bob Marley train that

16:17

chugged along without Peter Tosh. It was

16:19

Island Records, too They

16:21

didn't want anything to do with Peter

16:23

Tosh's debut solo album Legalize it. He

16:26

fucking crazy Marijuana was

16:28

100% illegal pretty much everywhere Advocating

16:33

for the decriminalization of something that could

16:35

get you serious jail time Even if

16:37

you were a Rasta and considered it

16:39

sacrament that wasn't a hill Chris

16:41

Blackwell and Island Records were willing to die on

16:44

If Peter Tosh wanted to put a target on his

16:46

head, that was his prerogative Didn't

16:50

matter Peter spoke his truth.

16:52

He didn't fear targets. He didn't

16:55

fear death either Even

16:57

though by the mid 1970s death was

16:59

all around him in Trenchtown and beyond

17:02

Fearing death meant becoming death

17:05

and this wasn't about cheating death either Peter

17:08

knew that every time he was knocked down. It

17:10

was another opportunity to get back up. He

17:13

was knocked down plenty His

17:16

guitars routinely suffered the consequences of

17:18

his actions Smashed to

17:20

pieces as he tried to jump fences or

17:22

walls as another cop nipped at his heels

17:26

The law made possession of marijuana a bigger

17:28

crime than smoking marijuana So the first part

17:30

of this little game Peter played with the

17:32

police Take a huge toke

17:35

off his joint when he was caught in the

17:37

act and then run Running

17:39

made his lungs burn even

17:42

for a veteran weed smoker like Peter He

17:44

knew he wasn't gonna be fast Not

17:47

this time, but it wasn't about

17:49

to give in so easily If

17:51

the cops wanted him they'd have to catch him and

17:53

they did two three four

17:56

that I couldn't quite tell from

17:58

this vanish point lying on the ground arms,

18:00

shielding his face. And then

18:02

the cops beat him

18:04

mercilessly with their batons. They hid him

18:06

until he bled and until a few

18:08

of his ribs were fractured. All

18:11

for a little ganja. Experiences

18:14

such as these strengthened Peter's

18:16

resolve. Knocked down but never

18:18

kept down. Public enemy number

18:21

one with no fear. Diving headfirst

18:23

and making a record called utilize

18:25

it. And not just no fear,

18:28

no cash. What little

18:30

his old friend Bob Marley gave him helped pay

18:32

for the recording of a few songs but he

18:34

needed more. Kingston

18:39

1976. The DC-3 was loaded

18:42

to the gills with Jamaican

18:44

herb. And there were

18:46

no passengers. Just the pilot,

18:48

the smuggler. Not a true

18:51

smuggler per se. More of a guy

18:53

who put thought into action and got shit done. And

18:56

for this, he had his associate Peter

18:58

Tosh his blessing. Hundreds of

19:00

pounds of marijuana on its way to a

19:02

buyer in Miami. The

19:04

whole idea was a win-win. The

19:07

farmers got paid and the island got that

19:09

much needed injection of foreign currency.

19:11

Peter Tosh got his album made. When the

19:15

pilot asked about his cut and the

19:17

would-be smuggler told him to chill out and

19:19

get this bird to its destination and you'll

19:21

be handsomely compensated on the back end. Just

19:23

like we discussed. The

19:25

pilot had no reason not to trust him.

19:28

And furthermore, no reason not to trust Peter

19:30

Tosh. A man who lived by the truth.

19:33

The pilot fired up the engine and got the plane in

19:35

the air. He kept it real

19:37

low. 100 feet from the ground. So

19:40

close to the Caribbean that the water quivered as

19:42

the hunk of metal rattled along above it. But

19:45

it wasn't a straight shot. The

19:47

pilot had a maneuver his way around Cuba.

19:50

There was zero doubt that Castro wouldn't blow their

19:52

ass out of the sky if he caught them.

19:55

So the trip took longer than either of them

19:57

wanted to. The sun went down.

20:00

Red skies at night, jugs

20:02

months, delight. Something

20:04

like that. Finally, they

20:06

made it. The DC-3 settled

20:08

onto a runway at the Miami airport. Its

20:11

propeller's humming. The buyer was waiting.

20:14

He took the ganja and handed over $75,000 in American bills.

20:19

Back home in Kingston, Peter Tosh

20:22

was happy. He finished

20:24

making legal as it, largely paid

20:26

for thanks to a massive shipment of grass

20:28

to the US. A strategy

20:30

that initially pissed off the drug dealers who

20:32

provided the product because the last thing they

20:34

wanted to see was marijuana legal laws,

20:37

thus destroying the way they made their money.

20:39

But I digress. Columbia

20:41

Records didn't know how Peter funded his

20:43

album, and they didn't care. They

20:46

released Legalize It in June of 1976. And

20:50

though it managed to crack the Billboard album chart

20:52

in the United States, it was

20:54

immediately banned in Jamaica. Peter

20:57

responded by buying a full page ad in

20:59

the local newspaper and printing the lyrics of

21:01

the title track. He

21:03

was undeterred. He didn't hold back.

21:06

He put it all out there. And

21:09

if anyone had a problem with that, they

21:11

could come talk to Peter Tosh. They

21:14

knew where to find him. We'll

21:20

be right back after this one. It's

21:23

me. Hey,

21:28

Discos. It's Jake here. Thank you so much

21:30

for listening to Disgraceland. Your support truly means

21:32

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21:34

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21:36

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23:08

The same month that Peter Tosh legalized

23:10

it in June of 1976, a state of

23:12

emergency was declared

23:15

in his home country. Jamaica

23:17

is in turmoil, economically

23:20

broken, distrusting of a

23:22

government that was seen as duplicitous. Prime

23:25

Minister Michael Manley could hardly hold

23:27

it together. And as the

23:30

general elections approached, the frustration,

23:32

anger, and resentment festering below

23:34

the surface began to bubble

23:36

up and leak out everywhere. And

23:38

with it came more violence and

23:41

more bloodshed. A

23:43

candidate for the People's National Party was shot

23:45

in the side while helping to set up

23:48

a podium. A candidate for the Labor Party

23:50

was viciously attacked by a mob. His

23:53

assistant cut down with a machete while

23:55

his car was riddled with bullets and

23:57

then blown out with a home-made bomb.

24:00

And they even came for Bob Marley. Two

24:03

teams of gunmen and exiting two

24:05

white dachshunds and moving fast through

24:07

the darkness. Fistles and

24:09

machine guns in hand. They

24:11

shot Bob Marley's wife, Ria, in the head,

24:14

outside in the couple's yard. One

24:16

of the gunmen made his way inside

24:18

Bob's house to the kitchen where Bob,

24:20

his manager, and his guitarist were sitting

24:22

ducks. The shooter entered

24:24

the clip of the submachine gun and

24:26

then disappeared. But

24:31

look at how Bob Marley bounced back. Just

24:34

two days later, on stage

24:36

at the Smile Jamaica concert. On

24:38

stage, two days later, after

24:41

getting shot, rolling up his

24:43

sleeve to show off his bullet holes

24:45

and show his would-be assassins that he

24:47

was not afraid. Bob

24:50

Marley was the struggle. Machine

24:52

was the hero. Bob

24:55

Marley was reggae music. At

24:57

least to most Americans who were now buying

24:59

his records in such quantities that he

25:01

finally cracked the Billboard top ten. But

25:04

not Bunny Livingston. And not Bob

25:06

Marley. And

25:08

if Bob Marley was the struggle, the hero,

25:11

then Peter Tosh was the truth. And

25:14

just like his friend and former bandmate Bob Marley,

25:17

Peter Tosh could put that truth on display for

25:19

everyone to see. Like

25:22

Bob, Peter feared nothing. Not

25:24

the devil. Not his enemies. Not

25:27

even death. The

25:31

gunman who came for Peter Tosh didn't

25:34

sneak into his home under the cover of

25:36

darkness. He didn't even hide

25:38

who he was. But the detective,

25:40

a so-called man of the law, he

25:43

pulled out his piece in broad daylight and put

25:45

it right to Peter's head. He

25:48

cocked it. Not even wanting to

25:50

do this for a while now. Ever

25:52

since Peter ran his mouth on stage

25:54

at the Kingston National Stadium, the One

25:56

Love Peace concert, two

25:59

years after Smough. Jamaica. 35,000 people

26:02

gathered together, many of them

26:04

hoping that music could help heal the wounds of

26:06

the ongoing civil war happening in their country. Peter

26:10

Tosh wasn't that naive. He knew that

26:12

his guitar was a weapon, just

26:14

like the real M16 it was modeled after,

26:17

but that it would take more than strumming

26:19

some machine gun rhythms. And

26:21

it would take more than joining the hands

26:24

of political rivals Michael Manley and Edward Siga.

26:27

That was Marley's bag. Peter

26:29

didn't want peace. Peace was the

26:31

diploma you got in the cemetery. You

26:34

rest in peace. Peter

26:36

didn't rest. Peter wanted justice.

26:39

Equal rights and injustice. Justice

26:42

for 400 years of oppression.

26:45

For the colonial, imperialistic situation

26:47

they now found themselves in.

26:50

The people in power, the government, the

26:52

forces of evil, doing everything they could

26:55

to snuff out progress. Manley,

26:57

Siga, all of them pirates like

26:59

Columbus and Francis Drake before them.

27:02

The people suffering, brutalized, malnourished,

27:04

trying to make it through

27:06

each day. Each week can't

27:08

get any worse than this.

27:10

Any worse is dead. Peter

27:13

Tosh was a steppin' razor. Dangerous.

27:18

For half of his hour-long set

27:20

on stage, Peter carried on like

27:23

this for 30 minutes, delivering a

27:25

fiery rant that rejected the very

27:27

notion of peace that was

27:29

aimed at both sides of the political

27:31

aisle, both of whom were in attendance.

27:34

It cemented him as a beacon of truth, a

27:37

voice for the voices, and it also

27:39

made him a marked man. Guys

27:41

like this detective who had the barrel of his

27:44

pistol to Peter's head weren't just

27:46

bothered by Peter's words. That was

27:48

only part of it. They were bothered by

27:50

his actions. Lighting up a

27:52

spliff right there on stage and smoking

27:54

it, Mr. Legalized it himself as if he

27:57

were immune to the laws of land, as

27:59

if he'd didn't know his place. The

28:02

detective wanted to pull the trigger. He really did.

28:04

But not like this. Not

28:06

for nothing. He knew Peter

28:08

Tosh would get his eventually. He

28:11

hoped he would be there when it happened. Peter

28:16

didn't show the detective an ounce of fear. He

28:19

wasn't about to give these colonial bastards the

28:21

satisfaction. The devil's legion

28:23

doing the devil's work, hiding the

28:25

truth behind corruption and lies. He

28:28

just kept on doing what he did, which

28:31

right now, in 1978,

28:33

meant touring the United States behind

28:35

his new record, Bush Doctor, released

28:38

on the Rolling Stones as record label. The

28:41

support of Keith Richards and Mick

28:43

Jagger, who appeared on the album's

28:45

opening track, helped boost Peter's profile

28:47

in the global market that continued

28:49

to equate reggae solely with Bob

28:51

Marley. Back

28:54

in Jamaica, there was no confusion over

28:56

who Peter Tosh was. He

28:58

was the guy standing outside a Kingston

29:01

recording studio, fresh spliff burning

29:03

between his fingers. The one

29:05

who called himself Stepin Razor, a

29:07

real tough guy up on the One Love Peace concert

29:09

stage. Two men in

29:11

plain clothes then approached him, and they

29:14

didn't say anything. One took the

29:16

joint from Peter's hand. Power

29:18

moved bullshit. Peter took it back.

29:20

The man tried to take it again,

29:22

so Peter mashed it up and tossed it on the ground.

29:24

And that's just off the guy in

29:26

plain clothes to no end. He put

29:28

his hands on Peter. Peter Tosh

29:31

was a big dude. Six-five. The

29:33

guy couldn't take him alone, not even with

29:35

his friend. They called over a third guy,

29:38

this one with a pistol in his hand,

29:40

and he wrapped the gun tight inside his

29:42

clenched fist and took a hard swing. Peter

29:45

moved fast. The fist missed Peter's head by

29:47

inches and hit one of the other men

29:49

standing behind him. Cracked the

29:51

guy's nose open, blood everywhere.

29:53

Then fucked Peter. He knew it.

29:56

More men were coming now. These

29:58

men were wearing police uniforms. They

30:01

grabbed him and dragged him to the station. They threw

30:03

him in his cell. And then, they

30:06

got to work. Finishing

30:08

what that detective with the load had done had

30:10

started. Working over Peter

30:12

Tosh. Their hands, their

30:14

truncheons, their bootyields. They

30:17

attacked Peter with everything they had. They

30:20

took turns. They hit him in the wrist,

30:23

his chest, his face. They

30:25

put a hand up to block the load. They

30:27

broke that hand. And they hit him to the

30:29

blood. To their own knuckles' blood.

30:31

Till they couldn't tell whose blood was

30:33

whose anymore. Peter tried

30:35

to escape through a window, but there were too many

30:37

of them. They pulled him down and he fell to

30:39

his knees. And they hit him some more. Peter

30:43

collapsed to the ground, splayed out, where

30:45

seven police officers continued to assault them

30:48

for over an hour. Beaten

30:50

until his face was swollen and blood oozed

30:52

from his head. Beaten until

30:54

his eyes rolled into the back of his

30:56

skull. Beaten until the cops were

30:59

sure they had actually done it. Silence,

31:01

the one man brave enough to

31:03

tell the truth. Kill

31:06

Peter Tosh. Tosh. 1981,

31:32

Bob Murley was dead. Peter

31:36

Tosh wept just like Bob had wept

31:38

when he rushed to the Kingston police

31:40

station three years prior to find his

31:42

friend Peter, a crumpled mass of battered

31:44

flesh, hand broken, skull cracked

31:47

open, nearly beaten to death by

31:49

seven cops in his jail cell.

31:51

Beaten for over an hour for the crime

31:54

of speaking his mind and smoking a joint.

31:57

But Peter wasn't actually dead. only

32:00

played dead to get the police to stop

32:02

attacking him. When

32:04

it came to Bob, playing dead couldn't

32:06

stop the cancer that took his life. Losing

32:09

Bob Marley left a hole in the reggae world.

32:13

Many looked to Peter Tosh to ascend

32:15

to superstar status, to

32:17

take his former bandmates place as

32:19

the genre's dominant avatar. They

32:22

called him the new King of Reggae, but

32:24

there was nothing new about Peter Tosh. Besides,

32:28

Peter had been Bob's teacher. Bob Marley would

32:31

have been nothing without Peter Tosh. In

32:33

Peter's mind, at least. Peter

32:36

was not a superstar. He

32:38

was an architect, a missionary, a

32:40

messenger, a man who used

32:42

music to shine light on the truth. He

32:48

feared nothing. Not the

32:51

retribution of political leaders, not detectives

32:53

pointing guns in his face, not

32:55

plainclothes cops trying to get him to step out

32:58

of line, and certainly not

33:00

the maniacal Keith Richards of the

33:02

Rolling Stones. Technically, Peter's boss, seeing

33:04

as Peter was signed to Keith's

33:06

record label. Keith could

33:08

be a prickly fuckbutt. Peter didn't care.

33:11

The Stones were hosing him now, just like

33:13

Chris Blackwell and Island Records hosed him all

33:15

those years before. Using

33:18

Peter to boost their own bad boy image, Keith

33:20

fighting a heroin bust up in Canada, around

33:22

the same time Peter was fighting for his

33:24

life in a prison cell. But

33:27

the Stones weren't doing shit for Peter's career.

33:30

They weren't properly promoting his records. They

33:33

wanted him to pay for his touring expenses.

33:36

Money. It was always about

33:38

money. In reality,

33:41

the Stones were the ones who earned debt to Peter.

33:43

That's how Peter saw it anyway. At

33:46

least Keith was nice enough to let Peter stay

33:48

at his place in Otro Rios for a few

33:50

days. The Jamaican

33:52

resort town was geographically and spiritually

33:55

far removed from the dangerous ghettos

33:57

of Trenchtown. Too

34:00

much. He didn't want to leave. Neither

34:03

did the collection of roughneck Rastafari, skanksters, and

34:05

goats that were now squatting with him in

34:07

the mansion of one of the most famous

34:09

rock stars in the world. Peter

34:12

figured, what the hell? Keith

34:15

Richards owed him. And if Keith

34:17

Richards wasn't going to pay up, then Peter Tosh was

34:19

going to take what was his. News

34:22

of Peter's intention made its way to the

34:24

stones out on tour. Keith

34:27

was furious. He picked up

34:29

the phone and dialed the number of his house

34:31

in Otorios. Peter answered. Keith

34:34

told him in no uncertain terms to vacate

34:36

the premises. The step

34:38

and razor had officially taken advantage of

34:40

Keith's generosity. Peter

34:42

told Keith to fuck off if

34:45

he even tried to physically remove Peter from the house.

34:48

Peter said he would use one of the machine

34:50

guns he found stashed in the mansion's many rooms

34:52

to stand his ground. Keith

34:55

called Peter's bluff. He was on

34:57

his way back to Jamaica right now. Get

35:00

lost. We're fucked. Keith

35:04

Richards arrived in Otorios a few days

35:06

later to find Peter Tosh no longer

35:08

in his house. And

35:10

it wasn't long before Peter was no longer

35:12

on Keith's record label either. Peter

35:15

wasn't about to steal from anyone, not

35:17

even Keith Richards. He

35:19

who steals me steals destruction, Peter

35:21

Tosh said. And destruction.

35:24

That was the devil's business. Peter

35:29

Tosh's business was to stay the course. Whether

35:32

or not he was in league with the Stones or filling

35:35

the shoes of Bob Marley, it was irrelevant.

35:37

It was happening all the same. He

35:40

was filling the shoes. He

35:42

was performing at that heightened level. He

35:44

was the guy. The guy who

35:46

gave voice to the people. But

35:50

like he said on stage at the One Love Peace concert

35:52

in 1978, hungry people are angry

35:55

people. People

35:57

like Dennis Lefolovin. hangars

36:00

on who hit up Peter for money on the

36:02

regular. A usual suspect

36:04

at Peter Tosh's house. The

36:07

ex-con asked for 50 bucks here and

36:09

100 bucks there. Peter once

36:11

bought Leppo a mattress after he did a stint

36:13

in prison. Some said he

36:15

did that stint because he took the rap for

36:18

a gun possession charge that threatened Peter's freedom. Didn't

36:21

matter. The point is that Leppo

36:23

had come to expect that Peter would take care of

36:25

him. But now Peter Tosh

36:27

was on tour in America and

36:29

no one was taking care of Leppo. It

36:32

ate at him. Listening to

36:34

Peter interviewed on the radio talking about

36:36

the United States, talking about making records,

36:38

talking about his good life and large

36:40

sums of money he was making. The

36:43

money he was owed. Millions of dollars

36:45

by Peter's math. Everyone

36:47

thought they were owed something. Peter

36:49

Tosh thought that Keith Richards owed him. Dennis

36:52

Leppo Logan thought the Peter Tosh owed

36:54

him. Just like Peter had

36:56

gone to Keith's house to get what was owed, Leppo

36:59

was going to do the same at Peter's house.

37:02

But unlike Peter, Leppo wasn't

37:04

going to back down and leave. And

37:07

that was the truth. I'm

37:11

Jake Dennin and this

37:13

episode of Disgraceland is too

37:15

big a deal. Disgraceland

37:30

was created by yours truly and is

37:32

produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits

37:34

for this episode can be found on

37:36

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38:22

He's a bad, bad man.