Now Ska mind you is a style of music that originated in
Jamaica sometime around the end of the 1950’s. “It is characterized by a
walking bass line accented with rhythms on the upbeat.” The walking baseline is
quite often used in baroque music and jazz, both of which influenced Ska. Ska
also was influenced and arose out of other styles of music like Caribbean
mento, calypso, and rhythm and blues. Ska is often unique for its inclusion of
a horn section (most often trumpet, saxophone, and trombone) in addition to
regular pop instruments. Ska is usually divided into waves. There are currently
three waves of Ska. Although, some people talk about, anticipate, and pray for
forth and fifth waves of Ska. The First wave of Ska is that early Ska that came
out of Jamaica in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Groups like The Skatalites, Derrick
Morgan, Byron Lee & the Dragonaires, and Prince Buster are good examples of
First Wave Ska. The Second wave of Ska is often called ‘English 2 Tone’ or just
‘2 Tone’ Ska. It developed in Britain in the 1970’s. 2 Tone Ska combined Punk
with Jamaican Ska rhythms. It was faster and harder than first wave Ska. Bands
who are examples of 2 Tone/Second Wave Ska are The English Beat (or The Beat), Madness,
Specials, and the Selecter. Third Wave Ska came mostly of the United States.
Third Wave came out of the American Punk scene in the 1980’s. The genre really
came to its own and enjoyed commercial success in the 1990’s. Third wave Ska
continued the trend with harder and faster music than its two earlier waves.
Bands typical of third wave Ska are Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, The Aquabats,
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt, and Goldfinger. There hasn’t been a lot
of development with Ska since the 1990’s. Though many Third Wave Ska bands are
still together and making music. One sizable development was that towards the
end of the 1990’s there was a fairly huge explosion of Christian Ska music. For
the most part this was Third Wave Ska with Christian themes and band members.
Strangely enough many of them were quite good. Some bands worth mentioning in
this movement are Five Iron Frenzy, The O.C. Supertones, and BUCK Enterprises.
Fast-forward till almost today. There are still a lot of
third wave band keeping Ska alive. There are even some new smaller acts
creeping up here and there. I have heard unverified rumors from several
different people that Ska is starting to make a comeback. I know there is a lot
of Nostalgia out there. A Nerdcore artist named MC Lars wrote a great song
called “This Gigantic Robot Kills.” The Track and the video are filled with Ska
and 90’s nostalgia. I certainly don’t know if Ska is making a comeback or not. What
I do know is I have discovered at least one new good Ska band. The Anchorage is
from Salt Lake City, UT. The sound like Queens of the Stone Age if they were to
become a Ska band. On top of that they have a killer horn section!
Just so some of you don’t kill me. I have not mentioned all
there is to know about Ska. I have left out thousands of bands. I have left out
the subcultures who have developed around this music. And for the most part I
have left out Ska’s connections to other musical Styles. If I have left out
your favorite element of Ska music please post in the comments below. And let us
all keep an ear out for the next wave of Ska!
Resources:
- Ska (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ska)The Wikipedia page! Yeah yeah, I know…but hay its distilled knowledge. If it still bothers you just look at the resources they site.
- Origins of Ska (http://jamaicansmusic.com/learn/origins/ska) History overview
- History of Ska (http://thereggaskas.com/useful-information/history-of-ska/) History Overview #2
- The Origins of Ska, Reggae and Dub Music (http://www.potentbrew.com/skaregdu.html) History Overview #3
- The History of Ska (http://sonic.net/~raj/disciples/history.html) History Overview #4
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