The Evolution of Ska Music

As Jamaica was being released from British rule after World War II, American music was swinging away from the Big Band jazz sound and turning to smaller combos playing bop. Local bands in Jamaica were playing mento and more traditional calypso, but began to incorporate the horns and beats from bop and jazz into what they were already doing. Such cross-fertilization continued for decades, leading to a fusion of several musical styles and the development of ska music.

Rosco Gordon often gets credit for "creating" ska, but he drew upon the prevailing music trends, including the signature afterbeat sound that distinguishes ska from most popular music. The sound grew and became a part of the Rude Boy movement fostered by poverty and race issues growing in Jamaica in the early 1960s. (For an excellent discussion of this, check Raj Records' History of Ska page.) As these pressures peaked in the mid-sixties, ska evolved into Rocksteady and then into reggae. The ska musical movement was far from over, however.

Some names of note: Prince Buster (of course), Duke Reid, The Heptones, Owen Grey, The Skatalites, The Overtakers, early Derrick Morgan, and the Matador Allstars.

The Two-Tone Ska scene endured from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, with a reputation for violence and a lasting influence on the world of music, much like punk and Jamaican ska themselves. As the sound of Jamaican ska spread, particularly to Great Britain, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, proto-punk bands like The Clash picked up the sound and incorporated it into their style of own rock and roll.

The seventies were a time of race riots and upheaval in both the US and the UK, and the two-tone ska was in-your-face about including members of all races in their bands. The black and white clothing that two-tone ska bands and fans wore symbolized their dismissal of racism and division, at least in the name of music. Women became integral members of two-tone ska bands as well, most notably with The Selector. Two-tone bands covered and re-imagined a lot of original Jamaican ska hits, which most listeners didn't realize were not original songs. Some of the original performers of those songs, like Derrick Morgan, crossed the ocean to lend his voice and expertise to these bands as well.

The two-tone period picked up and expanded the ska pun tendencies that riddle the genre. Both band and song names work the word ska into as many places as possible, like The Ska-Dows and their Ska'd for Life, a play on "scarred for life", included in the videos below. The Third Wave and Ska Punk movements haven't shirked their punning duties, either, and the trend remains alive and well today.

Some names of note: The Specials, The Selector, Madness, The Beat (The English Beat in the US), Westbound Train, Ska City Rockers

If two-tone ska was all about black and white, third-wave ska brought technicolor to the music. Plaid suits became a hallmark for ska bands in the 1990s (as you can see from this great shot of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones). In the 80s, punk and New Wave absorbed ska music as part of a larger "British invasion" of the US. Band like Fishbone and The Toasters carried on the ska back-beat and horn sections until the third wave took hold in the 90s.

The later you get in time, the harder it is to draw a line between third-wave ska and ska punk, which moves farther and farther from the back-beat sound of Jamaican ska (and often from the political base of the two-tone era). Big D and the Kids Table and Reel Big Fish, for instance, keep the second-and-fourth-beat emphasis while generally singing songs written more for humor and shock value than for influencing the opinions of others. Others, like Skankin' Pickle and The Aquabats, managed to keep their music fun and socially relevant at the same time.

Some names of note: The Aquabats, Suburban Legends, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Pietasters, and Big D and the Kids Table

Along the way, bands incorporating the ska-based horn sections started moving away from the typical ska back-beat and toward a more punk attitude and sound. There's more to come, for this section. I apologize that it's not quite ready for you, but please check back as there's more to come.

Names of note: Streetlight Manifest, Mephiskapheles, Sublime, Voodoo Glow Skulls,