Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “One Love” truly became the anthem it is today on April 22, 1978, when it was used to title the “One Love Peace Concert” in Kingston, Jamaica. The concert in question was held to draw attention to the ongoing political violence on the island and to share Prime Minister Michael Manley’s call for the restriction of guns, which had taken the lives of hundreds of Jamaicans during the course of the decade.
The Wailers took to the stage for a headline performance that included the group’s greatest hits so far. Notable on the set list was the hit single “Jamming,” during which — if reggae lore is to be believed — lightning abruptly struck, a freak occurrence that many interpreted as a heavenly response to Marley’s direct calls to Jah, the Rastafarian configuration of the Christian God. But the defining image of the show came right at the finale, when Marley, keen to make a physical show of unity across the political divide, convinced Manley and his arch-rival Edward Seaga to join him on stage and join hands together onstage. The unprecedented and unexpected stunt was an attempt to show the world that “One Love” might eventually be achieved in Jamaica. Though political violence continued on the island long after the iconic concert, the event and the song that inspired it remain symbols of hope in Jamaica and beyond.
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