The Slits - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
The Slits are one of the original
UK punk bands, although they had a style that was completely different from all their contemporaries; they incorporated reggae/ska elements, but without ever really being a "reggae-punk" sort of band... They also experimented with strange harmonies and melodies, and did things that were really ahead of their time. They were also all women, which was definitely unique in the rough, often violent world of early punk. While they never got the mainstream success of bands like The Clash and the Sex Pistols, they definitely were responsible for influencing lots of the underground music that followed in the '80s and '90s which would eventually itself become mainstream through grunge and alternative.
Listen to I Heard it Through the Grapevine by The Slits here.
This song is a cover of the Motown classic,
although they definitely make it sound like a Slits song. I've always loved the metallic guitar tone on those "reggae" accents, it sounds so cool and gritty. The vocals are great, I love the way she chose to change certain things up and uses sort of a non-melodic speaking mixed in with melody lines. The rhythm section is also great here, they don't do anything particularly "shreddy", but they have always stood at to me as being perfect for the general feeling of Slits music. Lots of hihat and rimshot rhythms, which definitely help bring out the reggae/ska thing.