"Simmer Down" was the first single released by The Wailers, accompanied by the ska

Ska

Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

 supergroup, The Skatalites

The Skatalites

The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including "Guns of Navarone". They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many other Jamaican artists who recorded during that period...

, and produced by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd in 1963. It was the number one hit in Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

 in February, 1964.

The song was directed to the "Rude Boy

Rude boy

Rude boy, rudeboy, rudie, rudi or rudy are common terms used in Jamaica. In the 1960s it was also used for juvenile delinquents and criminals in Jamaica, and has since been used in other contexts...

s" of the ghetto

Ghetto

A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...

s of Jamaica at the time, sending them a message to cool down or "Simmer Down" with all the violence and crime going on in Kingston

Kingston, Jamaica

Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

. The subject matter of "Simmer Down" made The Wailers stand out amongst their contemporaries. The Wailers at this time contained Bob Marley

Bob Marley

Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...

, Bunny Wailer

Bunny Wailer

Bunny Wailer, , also known as Bunny Livingston and affectionately as Jah B, is a singer songwriter and percussionist and was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh...

, Peter Tosh

Peter Tosh

Peter Tosh, born Winston Hubert McIntosh , was a Jamaican reggae musician who was a core member of the band The Wailers , and who afterward had a successful solo career as well as being a promoter of Rastafari.Peter Tosh was born in Grange Hill, Jamaica, an illegitimate child to a mother too young...

, Junior Braithwaite

Junior Braithwaite

Franklin Delano Alexander Braithwaite, better known as Junior Braithwaite, was a reggae musician from Kingston, Jamaica, the youngest member of the vocal group, The Wailing Wailers. The Wailing Wailers was a vocal group Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer started in 1963, together with Braithwaite, when...

, Cherry Smith

Cherry Smith

Cherry Smith was a backing vocalist for the original Wailers from 1963 to 1966.Smith was also called Cherry Green , but was born Ermine Ortense Bramwell in the Trench Town district of Kingston. She was nicknamed "Cherry" as a girl due to her light complexion...

 and Beverley Kelso

Beverley Kelso

Beverley Kelso is a Jamaican singer. She was a backing vocalist, and one of the founding members of The Wailers . The death of Junior Braithwaite in 1999 and the death of Cherry Smith in 2008 left Kelso and Bunny Wailer as the only surviving founding members of the Wailers Beverley Kelso is a...

. It was Bob Marley's first hit and his career as a song writer and performer took off from there.

Although "Simmer Down" was a hit, Peter Tosh, one of the three original Wailers, has said in an interview that he hated it.

The song was later covered by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. Since the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky Barrett, bassist Joe Gittleman, tenor saxophonist Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton and dancer Ben Carr have remained constant members...

 for their EP Ska-Core, The Devil, and More

Ska-Core, the Devil, and More

Ska-Core, the Devil, and More is an EP by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. It was first released in 1993 by Mercury Records. This EP includes one ska and three hardcore covers.-Track listing:#"Someday I Suppose" – 3:26#"Think Again" – 1:56...

, as well as by The Specials

The Specials

The Specials are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude", and had a "more focused and informed political and social stance" than other ska groups...

for their cover album Today's Specials.