Which British reggae group had a hit with 'Pass the Dutchie'?

Musical Youth had a hit with “Pass the Dutchie.” The British reggae group released the song in September 1982 as the lead single from their debut album, The Youth of Today.

The group formed in Birmingham in 1979 and included young musicians of Jamaican heritage. “Pass the Dutchie” became a major international success, reaching number one in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand. It also reached number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The song is a cleaned-up adaptation of “Pass the Kouchie,” originally recorded by the Mighty Diamonds. Musical Youth changed the drug-related references and used “dutchie,” a Jamaican term for a cooking pot. The commercial version therefore sounds like a cheerful food song, although the title later became associated with cannabis slang.

A common mix-up is to credit the Mighty Diamonds, because their recording supplied the underlying song. They wrote and recorded the source, but Musical Youth performed the international hit version. The song also became notable as the first music video by Black artists shown on MTV.