UK-made video ahead of reggae pack
THE FIRST TIME Junior Tucker performed Don’t Test in Jamaica, it was at a White River Reggae Bash in Ocho Rios, St Ann.
The video was shot in England, as Virgin was behind the project. It was done on a sound stage by Limelight Video Productions. An indication of their credentials, is that after the company folded, the principals went to work for Disney.
Done in 1990, Tucker said the music video was “high quality stuff all the way”, resulting in a video which he said was ahead of the reggae visuals of the time.
It took a lot of work, Tucker describing working on the video for 12 to 13 hours on the trot. He describes it as real fun and recalls a group of singers who came to do the section which required classical voices. They wanted to imitate Jamaicans, Tucker told The Sunday Gleaner, “but I said no, I want them to be how they are.”
The song and video have lasted, Tucker saying that about two weeks ago he was driving with his children and they were singing Don’t Test. When they look at the video they ask, ‘Daddy, that’s you’?”
He has had people ask if he really took the S off Superman’s chest and everywhere he has gone, across Europe, England, Japan, through the Caribbean, Don’t Test is a song he is identified with.
“That song is always dear to me, because I feel like it changed the course of my career,” Tucker said.