Ska music. Where did it come from? Why did it get so popular in the 1990s an dearly 2000s? What ska bands are still making music today? And why can’t I get enough of it? We focus on ska and ska punk in this week’s podcast. Come join the fun!
Most American iterations of ska and ska-punk came erupted in popularity in the late 1980s and 1990s. Bands like Fishbone, The Specials, Dance Hall Crashers, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Suicide Machines, Skankin’ Pickle, Aquabats, the Mad Caddies, Operation Ivy, Less Than Jake, and Reel Big Fish became household names for many. However, the genre itself came to be in the 1960s.
What is ska?
Ska; Jamaican: is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae.[1] It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. (Wikipedia)
Ska /skä/ noun – a style of fast popular music having a strong offbeat and originating in Jamaica in the 1960s, a forerunner of reggae. (Oxford Languages)
Ska [skah] noun – a modern style of vocalized Jamaican popular music, which emerged in the 1950s as a blend of African-Jamaican folk music, calypso, and American rhythm and blues, notable for its shuffling, scratchlike tempo and jazzlike horn riffs on the offbeat. (Dictionary.com)
Ska is often compared to, and sometimes confused with reggae music. However ska style has a brass section, jumpy guitar rhythms, and a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beats. The genre was huge in the mid to late 90s, and although it lost much of it’s commercial appeal, the ska scene is still alive and well today.
And for those of you who asked, “What the heck is skanking?” Here a tutorial none of us knew we needed.
The Bizarre History of Ska [GUNGE]
A Guide to Ska Music [MASTERCLASS]
Celebrating The History and Evolution of Ska Music [GOODBLACKNEWS]
Ska’s not dead: 6 modern ska bands flying the flag [BLUNTMAG]
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