The bumbling henchmen usually work together to trick, fool, and foul the ninja turtles. So Bebop needs a sidekick, and that would be Rocksteady. The humanoid rhino was mutated at the same time as Bebop by the evil Shredder, using what is known as “the ooze.” While many fans wanted to watch Bebop and Rocksteady battle the turtles in 1990 live-action movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, they were forsaken. Lesser-known mutants, Tokka and Rahzar, took their place instead.
Rocksteady was a pudgy white thug, which doesn’t really lend itself to the argument that the creators wanted to use a culturally appropriate person to mirror the primary artists of the music genre for which he was named. “Rocksteady,” the art form, is an island music. Originating in Jamaica in 1960s and created by black Jamaican musicians, rocksteady was popularized by the vocal groups of the area. If the cartoon producers wanted Rocksteady to be the lifelike representation of the music, he would have been a black rhino with dreadlocks. Fitting in more with the later Rasta and Jah movements, a proud lion would have been most appropriate. But we’re talking about a “rude boy” here. We need something that could, at least in theory, be a credible threat to four of baddest ninjas the sewers of New York can offer.
Known as dancehall music, or just “old school reggae” by many, rocksteady was the precursor to modern day reggae. Classic artists like Bob Marley and modern innovators such as Sizzla can all trace their musical roots back to rocksteady. While modern Jamaican music may have little in common with the rhythms and approach on the instruments that rocksteady had, the subculture and beliefs penetrate the music on deeper levels. In a nutshell, pun intended, rocksteady is a slowed down version of ska. Everything slows down and gets more relaxed. It’s not a stretch of imagination to think that musicians traded in a stimulant like coffee or cocaine for a depressant like marijuana, and thus the music also deaccelerated. Who knows, maybe the weather was just too damn hot to play fast? While keeping the offbeat and staccato (short, sharp, accented) rhythms of ska present, the musicians laid back and thus created something entirely new.
There was a soft drink advertisement a few years ago which illustrated this perfectly. An overhyped LA-type DJ is “playing” records at an EDM event. The legendary Dr. Dre, of NWA and Straight Outta Compton fame, walks over to the DJ and places the can of Dr. Pepper on the turntable. The result is the vinyl record slowing down and the music suddenly becoming much more enjoyable (to some) and danceable. The party comes to life, and everyone gets drunk and laid… Ok, I added that last part.
This slowing of the tempo changed the music in a few key ways. First, it allowed the instrumentalists more space and freedom to experiment with alternate rhythms. Specifically, the guitarists and the bassists in the band reworked their parts. Electric bass became standard and also moved away from a more supportive role to be prominently featured. Next time Ziggy Marley and The Wailers come near to your town, go experience the live version of “Exodus” and you will viscerally understand this point. Secondly, the slower tempo allowed dancers to create new dance steps. The dance style ‘rock steady’ was born out of the lazier tempos and taken from the Alton Ellis song “Rocksteady.”
In the forthcoming movie, TMNT 2, Rocksteady and Bebop finally get their long-overdue screen time.
With TMNT 2 scheduled to hit the big screens in the spring of 2016, movie goers and fanboys are all waiting to see their favorite fumbling mutants try to take on the heroes in a half shell. Wait, Casey Jones was in the trailer too? What remains to be seen is if the musical villains of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stay true to their namesakes. Will they get the “dark” treatment, like so many other once light-hearted characters now get on the IMAX screen, or will they futilely attempt to bring down Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael and get a good laugh along the way?
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