Somewhere along the way, Bob Marley's Legend was accepted as absolute truth.
Legend, the hits collection released three years after the iconic singer's death, is by leaps and bounds the best-selling reggae album of all time, moving more than 12 million copies in the U.S. and an estimated 25 million copies globally - a perennial chart blockbuster that for many listeners defines both Marley's career and reggae as a whole. Legend did not just make history, however: it also changed history, reframing Marley's music and message to make him more palatable to a broader audience, primarily by de-emphasizing his signature songs of resistance and revolution while foregrounding lighter, more uplifting fare - a modus operandi established with the retrospective's opening track, the buoyant "Is This Love."
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