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Music historians typically divide the history of ska into three periods: the original Jamaican scene of the 1960s; the 2 Tone ska revival of the late 1970s in Britain, which fused Jamaican ska rhythms and melodies with the faster tempos and harder edge of punk rock forming ska-punk; and third wave ska, which involved bands from a wide range of ...
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Aug 23, 2024 · In the 1970s ska was a significant influence on British pop culture, and so-called groups (whose name derived from both the suits they wore and their often integrated lineups) such as the Specials, Selector, and Madness brought punk and more pop into ska.
A Brief History of Ska Punk Ska punk’s roots can be traced back to the earlier waves of ska, which originated in Jamaica in the 1950s and later influenced British music scenes in the 1960s. The genre itself blossomed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, primarily in the UK and the United States, as punk bands began incorporating ska’s ...
- The Sound
- Coxsone Dodd
- Rude Boys
- Skanking
- Traditional Ska Musicians and Bands
- Second-Wave Ska Or "Two-Tone" Ska
- Two-Tone Ska Musicians and Bands
- Third-Wave Ska
- Third-Wave Ska Musicians and Bands
Ska music was made for dancing. The music is upbeat, quick and exciting. Musically, it can be characterized with a drumbeat on the 2nd and 4th beats (in 4/4 time) and with the guitar hitting the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th beats. Traditional ska bands generally featured bass, drums, guitars, keyboards, and horns (with sax, trombone, and trumpet being most co...
Clement "Coxsone" Dodd is one of the most important figures in ska history, though he was not a musician. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Jamaica was about to receive its independence from Great Britain. Coxsone, a disc jockey, recognized the country's need for national pride and identity and began recording popular bands in his now-legendary st...
The "rude boys" were a Jamaican subculture of the 1960s. Rude Boys were generally unemployed, impoverished Jamaican teens who were hired by sound system operators (mobile DJs) to crash each other's street dances. These interactions often led to further violence and the Rude Boys frequently formed feuding gangs. Fashionable clothing for rude boys wa...
Skanking is the style of dancing that goes along with ska music. It has remained popular among ska fans since the beginning, and it's a relatively easy dance to do. Basically, the legs do "the running man", bending the knees and running in place to the beat. The arms are bent at the elbows, with hands balled into fists, and punch outward, alternati...
Among the artists that made early ska so popular were Desmond Dekker, The Skatalites, Byron Lee & the Dragonaires, The Melodians and Toots & the Maytals. Many ska bands also later played reggae music, which came about later in the 1960s.
Two-tone (or 2 Tone) ska is the second wave of ska music, created in England in the 1970s. In creating this genre, traditional ska was fused with the (then) brand new style of music known as punk rock. The name "2 Tone" refers to a record label that put out these records. The UK-based bands were often racially mixed, with black and white members.
Popular two-tone ska bands include The Specials, Bad Manners, The Higsons, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers.
Third-wave Ska refers to American ska bands that were influenced more by two-tone ska than by traditional ska music. These bands range in their sound from nearly traditional ska to mostly punk. In the early to mid-1990s, third-wave ska saw a major growth in popularity, with many bands having several chart-topping hits.
Among the most popular third-wave ska bands are The Toasters, Operation Ivy, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, Fishbone, Less Than Jake, Save Ferris, Sublime and The Aquabats.
- Megan Romer
Jun 7, 2021 · Ska music serves as a bridge between 1960s Jamaican music, 1970s British dance music, and 1990s American punk music. It does this by fusing many musical influences to create a genre unique unto itself.
Sep 18, 2018 · Ska music, a genre commonly known as “the music of the people,” was formally birthed in 1959, and is a hybrid sound that owes much of its success to the popularity of its influences.
Jun 2, 2021 · While most American iterations of ska and the more commonly-heard ska-punk have tended to be dominated by white musicians and bear a permanent association with the '90s, the genre was actually invented in Jamaica by Black artists in the mid-1960s.
