Ring The Alarm

Tenor Saw cut “Ring the Alarm” in Jamaica in 1985 for Winston Riley’s Techniques label, voicing it over the Stalag riddim. The record is documented as a Winston Riley production. The single became Tenor Saw’s signature hit and one of the defining dancehall records of the mid-1980s. It helped define the sound of the digital dancehall era and brought the Stalag riddim back into wide circulation. “Ring the Alarm” remains a standard of dancehall and sound-system culture, with later artists and selectors repeatedly citing, sampling, and reworking it. Its melody and hook have stayed in circulation through many reissues and later uses of the Stalag riddim.