Restoring the house of worship and driving out the thieves and moneychangers is going to test the resolve of Rastas and roots aficionados alike.
For now, the corporados don't seem to be tiring of using reggae to suit their marketing desires. When will big business let go of reggae, leaving the music to chart its own course? Perhaps it won't be for a long time if the mega-popularity of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" is any indication. Then again, it might be next season, when fashion hounds decide their dread-extensions aren't so "irie" after all.
Dreadlocks, reggae's most visual element, now adorn the heads of today's leading fashion victims by way of hair extensions.
It is truly a dark day for reggae when Maxi Priest's bilious cover of Cat "Kill for Khomeini" Stevens' "Wild World" goes straight to No. 1 on the U.K. charts.